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Critical Review on Sustainability in Denim: A Step toward Sustainable Production and Consumption of Denim

ACS Omega 2023 98 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 65 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.
Aravin Prince Periyasamy, Saravanan Periyasami

Summary

This review examines sustainable alternatives to conventional denim manufacturing, including eco-friendly dyeing and finishing methods. It highlights how traditional denim processing releases microplastics and microfibers during washing, contributing to environmental pollution. The findings suggest that adopting greener production techniques could significantly reduce the amount of microplastic fibers that end up in waterways from clothing.

The exponential development in knowledge on the health and environmental concerns linked to conventional denim processing is directly responsible for the continuous increase in demand for the exploitation of sustainable denim. Research is essential to explore alternative methods to reduce the environmental impact caused by these industries. This review examines the many sustainable ways to produce denim, keeping in mind the problems that the denim industry is now facing in finding alternatives to conventional manufacturing practices. The most current advancements in environmentally friendly dyeing techniques for denim have been extensively discussed. These processes include the production of indigo from bacteria as well as different dyeing processes, such as digital spray, microbially assisted dyeing, and foam dyeing denim with indigo. In addition, this review covers the many environmentally friendly finishing methods for denim garments, such as ozone fading, e-flow, enzyme-based bleaching, water, laser fading, and so on. Finally, it is described how the chemical and mechanical processes used to finish denim might affect the amount of microplastics and microfibers released from the denim garment during domestic washing. As a result, the content presented in this review aims to address the importance of sustainable denim processing, that is, something that can be rethought, reevaluated, renewed, and restructured within the scope of conventional denim processes, while taking eco-responsible solutions for increased environmental sustainability into account.

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