Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Sustainability Challenges of the Textile Industry

This review examines the environmental, social, and economic sustainability challenges facing the global textile industry, including high water consumption, chemical pollution, labor exploitation, and the compounding effects of fast fashion on waste generation and resource depletion. The authors argue that addressing these interconnected challenges requires a multidimensional approach spanning supply chain transparency, regulatory reform, and shifts in consumer behavior.

2025 IntechOpen eBooks
Article Tier 2

Sustainability trends and gaps in the textile, apparel and fashion industries

Researchers conducted a 20-year systematic review of sustainability in the fashion and textile industry, identifying consumer behavior, circular economy practices, and supply chain transparency as the three main research themes. The review highlights that synthetic textile fibers — a major source of microplastic pollution — are embedded in a complex industry that still lacks coherent sustainability standards across its global supply chains.

2023 Environment Development and Sustainability 223 citations
Article Tier 2

Gaps, challenges and drivers for environmentally sustainable textile and garment manufacturing in India

This is a policy and sustainability study reviewing the challenges and opportunities for environmentally sustainable textile manufacturing in India; it is not a microplastics research paper, though synthetic textile production is indirectly linked to microfiber pollution.

2023 8 citations
Review Tier 2

Mapping sustainable options in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and a future research agenda

This systematic review examined 187 studies on sustainable practices in the fashion industry, which is a major contributor to microplastic pollution through synthetic textiles. Researchers classified sustainable solutions across the purchase, use, and disposal phases of clothing and identified key gaps in current knowledge. The study suggests that addressing fashion industry practices is critical for reducing textile-related microplastic contamination in the environment.

2024 Sustainable Development 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainability Initiatives in the Fashion Industry

This paper examines sustainability efforts in the fashion industry, where synthetic textiles are a major source of microplastic fiber pollution during washing. It reviews industry initiatives and consumer behavior changes aimed at reducing environmental impacts, including microfiber shedding.

2019 IntechOpen eBooks 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Analysis of the polyester clothing value chain to identify key intervention points for sustainability

Researchers analyzed every stage of polyester clothing's lifecycle and found that microfibers shed during laundry are a significant pollution source, concluding that sustainability improvements — including better recycling and design changes — are needed across the entire supply chain to reduce environmental harm.

2021 Environmental Sciences Europe 230 citations
Article Tier 2

A Review of Sustainability Standards and Ecolabeling in the Textile Industry

This review examines sustainability standards and eco-labels in the textile industry, which is a major source of microplastic pollution through synthetic fiber shedding during manufacturing and washing. The authors found that while many eco-labels exist, they vary widely in rigor and often do not specifically address microplastic release. Stronger and more consistent standards are needed to reduce the textile industry's contribution to microplastic contamination in waterways and the environment.

2023 Sustainability 72 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Textile Industry: An Overview

This review examines the environmental sustainability challenges of the textile industry, covering chemical pollution, high water and energy consumption, and solid waste generation at every production stage, while discussing strategies such as sustainable materials, cleaner processing, and circular economy approaches.

2022 Non-Metallic Material Science 26 citations
Article Tier 2

From Simplistic to Systemic Sustainability in the Textile and Fashion Industry

This paper is not about microplastic pollution. It examines sustainability challenges in the textile and fashion industry, arguing that current approaches are simplistic and insufficient. It proposes systemic solutions focused on circular value retention and sufficiency-based consumption to address waste, resource depletion, and pollution from fast fashion.

2023 Circular Economy and Sustainability 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding the Flows of Microplastic Fibres in the Textile Lifecycle: A System Perspective

The lifecycle flows of microplastic fibers through the textile industry were mapped, identifying key stages from fiber production through washing and disposal where fibers are shed and enter the environment. This systems-level analysis supports targeted interventions to reduce fiber microplastic pollution at source.

2025 Sustainability 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploración de la corrupción textil transnacional: ¿Excepcionalidad o norma sistémica?

This Spanish paper analyzes corruption and regulatory failures in the transnational textile industry, focusing on how global supply chains evade accountability for labor and environmental violations. The fashion industry is a major source of microplastic pollution through synthetic fiber shedding during laundry.

2018 Revista Empresa y Humanismo 21 citations
Article Tier 2

The Business of Sustainability in Fashion: Following the Threads

This book examines how the fashion industry can pursue sustainability, exploring the interconnected environmental, economic, and social challenges of making apparel production more responsible and reducing plastic fiber pollution.

2023 University of North Texas Digital Library (University of North Texas)
Article Tier 2

Evaluating the environmental impacts of textile and fashion industries

This review evaluated the environmental impacts of the global textile and fashion industries, finding that resource overconsumption, water pollution, synthetic fiber microplastic release, and vast waste generation make these sectors major drivers of ecosystem degradation.

2023 International Journal of Geography Geology and Environment
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Supply Chain in the Textile and Garment Industry of Vietnam

This review evaluates Vietnam's textile and garment supply chain using a sustainable development framework, examining economic, social, and environmental dimensions. The authors identify achievements and challenges across the supply chain and offer recommendations for government and industry to advance sustainability in one of Vietnam's key export sectors.

2023 Journal of Economics and Business
Article Tier 2

A review of the socio-economic advantages of textile recycling

This review analyzed current trends in textile recycling, identifying economic, logistical, and technical barriers that keep global textile recycling rates low despite significant environmental and socioeconomic benefits. The authors argue that moving toward circular economy models for textiles would reduce microfiber pollution, conserve resources, and create employment, but requires coordinated policy incentives.

2019 Journal of Cleaner Production 376 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Fashion

This review of sustainable fashion examines how the textile industry's shift to fast fashion has accelerated environmental damage, including the shedding of synthetic microfibres — a major source of microplastic pollution in waterways — and argues that circular production models and consumer behaviour change are needed to reduce the industry's footprint. The paper is relevant because textile microfibres are among the most commonly detected microplastics in marine and freshwater environments.

2026 International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology
Article Tier 2

Textile industry as a major source of microplastics in the environment

This review examines the textile industry as a major source of microplastic pollution, synthesizing data on recycling technologies and lifecycle assessments for synthetic textile fibers. It identifies barriers to progress — including fiber lamination with metals, rapidly changing fiber types, and low recycling efficiency — and argues that only a globally coordinated reduction in synthetic fiber production will meaningfully curb microplastic release. The textile sector is one of the largest contributors of microfibers to aquatic environments, making systemic change in this industry critical.

2023 Global Journal of Ecology 9 citations
Article Tier 2

Sustainable Fashion—Rationale and Policies

This review examines the environmental and social impacts of the fashion industry — from synthetic fiber microplastic pollution and water contamination to labor exploitation — and surveys emerging global policies aimed at driving the sector toward greater sustainability.

2022 Encyclopedia 26 citations
Article Tier 2

Towards Sustainable Textiles for a Safer Planet: Main Topics

This review critically examines sustainability claims in the textile industry, arguing that despite advances in fiber development and recycling, true sustainability requires addressing microplastic shedding, energy use, and resource depletion throughout the full textile lifecycle. The authors distinguish between genuine sustainability and greenwashing.

2024 Sustainability 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Recycling and valorization of textile waste

This review examines the textile industry's contribution to environmental pollution, focusing on synthetic fiber waste, greenhouse gas emissions, and microplastic release driven by fast fashion and overconsumption. It surveys EU regulatory efforts and circular economy strategies aimed at improving textile recycling and reducing the environmental footprint of synthetic materials.

2025 Serbian Journal of Engineering Management
Article Tier 2

Systematic Insights into a Textile Industry: Reviewing Life Cycle Assessment and Eco-Design

This systematic review of life cycle assessments for the textile industry identified key environmental impact hotspots across the supply chain, finding that fiber production and dyeing processes dominate environmental burdens and that eco-design strategies offer the greatest improvement potential.

2023 Sustainability 25 citations
Article Tier 2

El costo ambiental de los textiles

This article examined the environmental cost of the textile industry, focusing on synthetic fiber production, microplastic fiber shedding during use, and end-of-life disposal as interconnected contributors to plastic pollution.

2024 AZCATL
Article Tier 2

Tracing Fiber Sustainability

This review examines the sustainability claims surrounding textile fiber production in the fashion industry, addressing widespread consumer misconceptions and greenwashing practices that misrepresent the environmental impact of various fiber types. The authors analyze how misleading environmental labeling — particularly for synthetic fibers that shed microplastic particles during use and washing — obscures genuine sustainability assessments and hinders meaningful industry progress.

2024
Article Tier 2

Synthetic dyes: a barrier to circular economy within the textile industry?

This review found that synthetic dyes embedded in textiles are a major barrier to fiber-to-fiber recycling because dye removal is chemically complex, generates hazardous byproducts, and can itself release microplastic fibers and toxic solvents. Life-cycle analyses of recycled textiles show inconsistent environmental benefits, partly because the recycling process creates new pollution. The authors argue that designing clothes without synthetic dyes from the outset would dramatically improve the environmental performance of the fashion industry's growing circular economy ambitions.

2026 Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability