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Life cycle assessment in fashion industry: a systematic review
Summary
This systematic review of life cycle assessments in the fashion industry (2010-2024) found persistent methodological inconsistencies that undermine the reliability of sustainability claims. The review identifies microplastic emissions from textiles as a growing but poorly incorporated impact category, highlighting a gap in understanding the full environmental footprint of clothing.
The fashion industry exhausts natural resources like fresh water and natural gas while generating significant greenhouse gas emissions and textile waste. This US$1.7 trillion industry is globally fragmented, making environmental impact difficult to quantify. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the key tools for evaluating cradle-to-grave impacts of products, but methodological inconsistencies reduce its reliability as a decision-support instrument. This study conducts a systematic literature review (2010–2024) of peer-reviewed LCAs and industry reports on textiles and apparel, following PRISMA guidelines. The review finds persisting limitations, including limited access to reliable primary and secondary data sets, inconsistent system boundaries and allocation techniques, incomparable functional units, and weak incorporation of growing priorities, including circularity, microplastic emissions, and biodiversity impacts. These impede cross-study comparability and hinder the reliability of sustainability claims. By summarising patterns in LCA practice, the study suggests a research agenda that prioritizes methodological standardization, hybrid attributional-consequential-prospective methodologies, and region-specific inventory datasets. The findings underscore the importance of transparent, traceable, and decision-oriented LCAs in guiding material innovation, circular design strategies, and regulatory compliance.
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