Sustainability in Apparel Production Supply Chain

The waste problem has become a non-ignorable issue in apparel industry like other manufacturing industries and the concept of sustainability has come to the forefront. The term ‘sustainability’ refers to the long-term viability of business operations and their subsequent effects on environmental and social well-being. As it can be understood from the meaning of the term, sustainability is actually contrary to the concept of trend change relevant to fast fashion in apparel industry. Providing a sustainable fashion is difficult because the apparel production supply chain is very complex. The raw material of apparel industry passes from many production processes involving fiber production, yarn manufacturing, fabric production and while passing from these steps, natural resources (water, oil, land) are consumed, toxic chemicals are used, large amounts of carbon dioxide is generated and million tons of wastes come out. In order to obtain sustainable apparel production, all these steps should provide sustainability. From this point of view, in this study, we firstly presented environmental impacts of common raw materials used in apparel manufacturing and their recycling/reclaiming possibilities. In the second part, we discussed the challenges that need to be competed through the apparel supply chain. Finally, perspective of international apparel retailers to the issue of sustainability has been mentioned.