The Department has commissioned Sheffield Hallam and Nottingham Trent Universities to conduct a study on consumer behaviour and clothing in a bid to understand in what areas and how the industry can become more sustainable.
In particular, researchers will look at behaviour surrounding laundering, the role of clothing icons and celebrity, fast fashion, longevity and end of life recovery.
At the heart of the research, focus groups will be held next month to investigate the public understanding of “sustainable” clothing – using items requested from retailers.
The study will be discussed at the next meeting of Defra's Sustainable Clothing Roadmap stakeholders on March 31 2008 – which includes representatives from organisations including M&S, Tesco, the Ethical Fashion Forum, TRAID, WAMITECH, TRA and the Environment Agency.
A final report is be published after the project is completed around June.
Dr Dorothy Maxwell, Defra's lead on the project, said: “From March, a number of focus groups encompassing up to 100 people will be held around the UK during this project. One aspect of these will be investigating the public understanding of 'sustainable'.
“To make this tangible we are asking retailers and manufacturers to provide one sample of sustainable clothing that can be used in these workshops. This could be a T-shirt, fleece, dress etc. This would facilitate the study greatly, as well as provide a marketing opportunity for your clothing,” she added.
Consumption
Defra's Sustainable Clothing Roadmap forms part of the government's work on sustainable consumption and production, which looks at 10 waste streams outlined in the English Waste Strategy 2007 (see letsrecycle.com story).
Within the EU-25, it is estimated that clothing and textiles account for approximately 5-10% of our environmental impacts, which are being tackled as they are believed to be increasing.
Other initiatives under the Clothing Roadmap currently include proposals for a collaborative project with India – which produces many of the textiles imported to the UK – to look in detail at improving raw material efficiency, increasing efficiency at manufacturing sites and encouraging sustainable design.
Dr Maxwell said: “We are submitting a proposal under the UK/India Sustainable Development Dialogue (SDD) to apply for part funding of three UK/India collaborative sustainable clothing projects. We have done initial scoping and visits with Indian stakeholders and 3 potential projects are of interest to them.”
Outlining the project, Defra said: “We would like to develop a project that illustrates the benefit of using an Sustainable Consumption and Production approach to address the sustainability impacts of the textile industry in India, caused in part, by patterns of UK consumption. This will inform both the UK: India Sustainable Development Dialogue and support the implementation of action areas within the UK led Sustainable Clothing Roadmap.”
• The issue of textile sustainability will be discussed at this year's Recycling and Waste Forum 2008, in a special seminar looking at clothing waste and recycling. For more information see the Recycling and Waste Forum website .
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