Introductory Chapter: Sustainability from Past to Future

1. Introduction

‘Sustainability’ has become very popular in daily life and scientific publications. Sustainability is not a concept terminologically. The definition of sustainability is identifying and connecting what needs to last. Sustainability is a ‘life principle’ and an ‘ethical principle’. It is characterized by transparency, participation and an enlightened, process-related (holistic) perspective [1]. Indeed, sustainability is not a new term and has a long history. Pastoralist, hunting and gathering and agricultural societies also affected the living and working areas. However, in a world where industrial production, nuclear waste, plastics, etc., were not available in the past, pollution and damage to nature are less serious than in the present [2]. First, sustainability was introduced as a principle in the eighteenth century. Saxony mining manager Hans Carl von Carlowitz (1645–1714) wrote the first documented idea of sustainability for the German forestry industry [1]. It caused problems that can be examined under sustainability because of manufacturing with machines during Industry 1.0. In Industry 2.0, production started with electrical energy, and automobiles entered our lives. In Industry 3.0, electronics were used in production, and humanity encountered a new world with digitalization.

2. Sustainability in textile industry

The conversion of the world economy from agricultural- to industrial-based economies has occurred much faster than the adaptation of societies and natural habitats. These ongoing conversions have triggered different ideas and discourses behind them. These discourses and ideas have shaped world politics and also affected socioeconomic life. One term that can be evaluated in this context is ‘sustainability’. Sustainability originates from the 1987 - Brundtland Report as a policy concept [3]. Making a simple definition of the suitability term is complex, and it is possible to define it from multiple perspectives [4]. However, sustainable development was defined in the Brundtland Report 1987. It can be defined semantically and briefly as meeting today’s needs without risking future generations’ ability to fulfill their own [5]. Then, in 2015, the UN agreed on the 2030 Agenda with the goals and targets for sustainable development to reach sustainable development worldwide regarding social, economic and environmental aspects [6]. All three social, economic and environmental concepts come to life in the textile industry. In other words, the textile sector is a sector that has a social dimension through employment and is, of course, economically important due to its essential place in world trade. Due to the environmental burdens arising from production processes and use, it also has environmental aspects. Within the global consumer goods industry, the textile industry is the second largest one, following the food industry [7] and has a significant place in world trade [8]. The size of the global textile market reached $ 961.5 billion in 2019 [9] and is foreseen to be roughly $1.4 trillion by 2028 [10, 11]. It is a global industry that employs tens of millions of people worldwide [8] and more than 300 million workers are employed in the textile value chain [12]. So, the textile industry has a vital place in terms of creating employment in many different countries [12, 13, 14, 15, 16]. Although the textile industry contributes significantly to economic growth, it is also known as the production sector that causes the most significant pollution [17]. It can be listed as second most polluting industry in the world. It is placed just after the oil industry, which is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions (nearly 1.2 billion tons). This value is higher than the total from international flights and maritime shipping [18, 19]. It is expected to be responsible for 25% of the world’s carbon budget in 2050 [18]. Additionally, this industry is the second highest water consumer in the world, causing 20% of global wastewater [18, 20]. Approximately 100–150 L of water are consumed to process 1 kg of textile material [21]. The world’s annual water consumption for textile production (including fiber production) is around 93 billion cubic meters [22, 23]. The water released after the processes mainly contains much chemical waste. It is known that approximately 2000 varied chemicals can be used in the textile industry [24]. So, another critical issue is using chemicals during the finishing processes of textiles. It is estimated that more than 35% of chemicals released into the environment result from different textile processes [25, 26].

Moreover, solid waste is another term related to textile production and consumption, and it can be of huge amounts. For example, the EU textile industry causes waste expected to be 16 million tons/year [27]. Post-consumer textile waste in the USA is projected to be 10.5 million tons/year [28]. These textile-related issues will remain on the public agenda by considering the increase in textile consumption. Annual textile consumption increased from 7 to 13 kg per capita [29], and it is foreseen to be about 17.5 kg/person by 2030 [28]. Moreover, the growth of the fast fashion business model 40 years ago and the shift of the textile sector to developing countries made this industry one of the world’s most unsustainable industries [30]. For this reason, one of the areas where the concept of sustainability first came to life and was questioned is the textile industry. At this point, the textile industry’s structure, which spreads worldwide and includes social, economic and ecological issues, is of great importance. On the other hand, applying a single sustainability policy to the textile industry is very difficult due to its structure. Because the sector consists of very different sub-sectors that need very different raw materials and inputs and cause wastes of different characteristics, this multi-dimensional structure makes it a priority to carry out sustainability-related studies in the textile sector and areas related to this sector in terms of sustainable development in general.

The environmental effects of the clothing sector are incredibly high at the both production and consumption stages. Excessive use of natural sources during production and the waste and pollution that occur during consumption harm the environment. A garment pollutes the environment during its product life cycle by causing harmful chemicals and pollutants to be released into water and air. Besides, excessive energy is consumed during a garment’s production and care. For example, 400 megajoules of energy and 1500 gallons of water are consumed, and 71 pounds of carbon dioxide are released to produce a pair of jeans. The energy consumption during the washing (82%) is the highest energy consumption within the life cycle of a garment [31]. The clothing sector is second in the world, which pollutes the environment mostly and constitutes 10% of global carbon emissions [31, 32].

Particularly fast fashion products, which can be easily found at affordable prices, have caused an alteration in consumers’ clothing consumption and disposal habits. Fast fashion has enormously increased clothing consumption by selling excessive amounts of garments at affordable prices [33]. Fast fashion is a catalyst for increasing garment consumption, and it is a fashion trend in which excessive amounts of garments are thrown away before they wear off [34]. Consumers think fast fashion garments are disposable due to low prices [35]. Therefore, due to the increase in the use of fast fashion products, the waste problem has become a global issue. Global waste from the fashion industry is estimated to reach 148 million tonnes, with a 60% increase from 2015 to 2030. The garments degraded in landfills cause negative environmental effects due to their contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, soil erosion and underground water pollution [36].

Therefore, the sustainability issues in the clothing sector can be summarized as negative working conditions, short and seasonal product life cycles, high product diversity, low product predictability, a demand which is affected by various factors, impulse buying behaviors of consumers, different consumer choices and emotional factors that affect the consumers’ buying decisions [37, 38]. Moreover, most of the workers within the fashion industry are women and young workers whose education levels are very low. These workers are vulnerable to long working hours, low wages and abuse [39]. Issues like long working hours due to time pressure, unhealthy working conditions, unpaid or delayed wages, and lives far away from families living in rural areas contradict the shiny face of the fast fashion industry [40].

At this point, organic fiber use, reuse of materials, recycling of materials, clean technology use, product certificates, green/sustainable processes, green/sustainable design, green/sustainable production, green/sustainable logistics, fair trade, internal and external supervision are some examples for providing sustainability in clothing sector [41].

In this context, the studies within the literature related to clothing sector focus on sustainable clothing consumption and buying behaviors and determining the reasons of these behaviors, the relations between the sustainability and brand concepts in clothing sector, sustainability activities and strategies of fast fashion companies, brands and retailers and sustainable supply chain management of clothing brands and enterprises [31, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48].

3. Conclusion

The social, political and technological developments experienced during the above-mentioned historical process have significantly affected textile and apparel sustainability.

On the other hand, the Covid period has shown by experience how much damage it has caused to humanity, nature and the environment and how difficult it has become to sustain life. The cessation of operations due to COVID-19 has reduced transportation activities, resulting in less energy consumption and lower demand for fossil fuels. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) have published new evidence showing that environmental quality is improved and NO₂ emissions are reduced by up to 30% [49].

During the COVID-19 period, it has been observed that there is inequality between people in topics such as education, poverty and health, which are included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SGHs). Today, when every organization and every individual can say something about sustainability, the fact that these 17 goals mentioned above have still not been achieved is an important issue that needs to be considered. Unfortunately, social, economic and environmental problems will not be solved when sustainability is not a life principle but a slogan or marketing tactic.

If human beings want to achieve sustainability, they must first see that they are a part of nature and should not engage in activities despite nature or insist on human-centred approaches. Since we are a part of nature, every activity carried out despite nature harms humanity.

With developing technology, the world has become smaller, and an economic, political or social event in geography far away from us affects the whole world. Therefore, individuals living in prosperity should not be insensitive to people living in poverty and poor conditions. For a part of society to maintain a prosperous life, it is necessary to ensure everyone lives humanely.

We must collaborate as conscious and conscientious people to discuss the future instead of empty sustainability demonstrations. Otherwise, the world will become uninhabitable for the poor and the rich.