The present and future sustainability of clothing and textiles in the ...

Executive Summary
In 2000 the world’s consumers spent around
US$1 trillion worldwide buying clothes. Around one
third of sales were in Western Europe, one third in
North America and one quarter in Asia.
• Today, clothing and textiles represent about seven
per cent of world exports.
• Globally, the workforce in clothing and textiles
production was around 26.5 million in 2000.
• More than a quarter of the world’s production of
clothing and textiles is in China, which has a fast
growing internal market and the largest share of
world trade. Western countries are still important
exporters of clothing and textiles, particularly
Germany and Italy in clothing and the USA in
textiles.
• Output from the sector is growing in volume, but
prices are dropping, as is employment, as new
technology and vertically integrated structures
support improved productivity.
• Growth in volumes is almost entirely associated
with polyester – volumes of natural fibre
production and use having remained approximately
constant for several years.
• The sector is freer than for many years following
the phasing out of international quota agreements
in 2005, but plenty of agreements that distort
the free-market still exist – with USA government
subsidies of cotton farmers being prominent.
The major environmental impacts of the sector
arise from the use of energy and toxic chemicals:
• The sector’s contribution to climate change is
dominated by the requirement for burning fossil
fuel to create electricity for heating water and
air in laundering. Other major energy uses arise
in providing fuel for agricultural machinery and
electricity for production.
• Toxic chemicals are used widely in cotton
agriculture and in many manufacturing stages such
as pre-treatment, dyeing and printing.
• Waste volumes from the sector are high and
growing in the UK with the advent of ‘fast fashion’.
On average, UK consumers send 30kg of clothing
and textiles per capita to landfill each year.
• Water consumption – especially the extensive use
of water in cotton crop cultivation – can also be a
major environmental issue as seen dramatically in
the Aral Sea region.
Social concern has always been a feature of the
sector – and campaigns for improved social conditions
for low paid workers in developing countries have
been effective and continue:
• UK based retailers are increasingly specifying
codes of good practice in labour standards to their
suppliers, but there are difficulties in imposing
these throughout the supply chain, leading to
concerns about working hours, safety and use of
child labour.
• Most countries in the supply chain have a legal
minimum wage, but in some cases this is lower
than a realistic minimum living wage – so while
the sector offers an opportunity for development
by creating many relatively low skilled jobs, some
workers are unable to escape from a cycle of
poverty.
• In some countries the right of workers in the sector
to form associations (unions) to represent their
concerns in collective bargaining is suppressed.
The flow of material through the UK: As part
of the work described in this report, a clothing and
textiles mass balance for the sector was calculated for
the UK.
• 3.25 million tonnes of clothing and textiles flow
through the UK each year – approximately 55kg
per person.
• Of this, around half is imported as textile products,
a quarter as ‘intermediate products’ (mainly
fabric and yarn) and the rest as fibre (imported or
produced in the UK). Approximately two thirds of
the imports of fibres, yarns and fabrics to the UK
are man-made.
• The UK exports 1.15 million tonnes of clothing and
textiles each year, comprising fibres, fabric and
some completed products – mainly clothing and
carpets.
• One fifth of the UK’s annual consumption
(by weight) of clothing and textile products is
manufactured in the UK.
• Consumers in the UK spend about £780 per head
per year, purchasing around 2.15 million tonnes
(35kg per person) of which one eighth is sent for
re-use through charities and the rest is discarded.
• The UK clothing and textile industry employed
around 182,000 people in 2004 split evenly
between clothing and textiles.
The future of the sector: in order to anticipate
likely trends in the sector, we conducted a structured
‘Delphi’ study, gathering information from a panel of
experts across the sector. Their major predictions are:
• Competition in the sector will increase, as skill
levels and investment in developing countries
continues to grow. Prices in the UK will continue to
be driven down.
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