Life Cycle Logistics of Clothing and Textile Products and their Impact on Developing Countries

The importance of textiles to humanity cannot be understated. They are used for clothing, domestic furnishings and industrial applications. Selection and choice of textiles and clothing follows fashion trends. Unfashionable textiles are discontinued from production lines, discarded in landfills, burnt, or sold as second-hand items often to poorer communities. Textile industry in less industrialised countries especially in Africa is facing steep decline and, in some cases, the entire sector has collapsed leaving the population relying on preowned products. Developed countries often sell preowned textile products to less developed nations. The uncontrolled influx of these products is causing deindustrialisation due to local firms failing to compete and loss market share, unemployment, and environmental pollution as excess stock and degraded textiles end of in landfills and illegal dumpsites outside cities. Local industry needs to adopt new manufacturing technologies and strategies to revive and survive in light of these challenges. This paper takes a life cycle approach to investigating the problem of declining textile industry in African countries and the impact of imported preowned textiles and how local industry can improve their manufacturing capability and responsiveness. This is exploratory research from literature sources. A life cycle logistics of textile products, and their economic and environmental impact in developing countries are studied from literature sources. A framework for responsible production, use, recycling, and reuse methods are identified. Ways of improving resilience of textile industries in developing nations together with the required technology are also prescribed.