Environmental life cycle assessment of garment production at a company in India

In 2010, a record amount of apparel fibres was consumed, with increasing demand from developing nations. Over the life cycle of textile production and consumption however, numerous environmental impacts occur. Since the International Organisation for Standardization developed the first methodological framework, environmental life cycle assessment has become an important tool to comprehensively evaluate impacts of production and consumption. By conducting an environmental life cycle assessment of four garments with highly case specific data, this research helps the local company in India to find most impact causing production inputs as a first step towards impact reduction. Furthermore, this research can be used to assist designers and consumers to make better substantiated choices regarding the environmental impact of the fabrics and garments they purchase. For this purpose, impact assessment has been conducted to allow the results to be submitted to the Materials Sustainability Index from the Sustainable Apparel Coalition. From the results, dyeing and finishing processes consistently show up as the most impact causing process steps. However, the sources of impact differ per impact category. Whereas heat production from fossil fuel combustion is the main source of Global Warming Potential, production of dyes and softeners is the main source of toxicity and eutrophication. As such, this research improves the understanding of environmental impacts from textile production and emphasizes the importance of local and case specific considerations