D4.1/D2.1 - State of the art
Mistra Future Fashion
eco-efficient textile materials and process and the sustainability of cotton.
The world white cotton production has reached a point called Peak cotton. Global production has stagnated. Farmland area cannot increase any more and the prices of food and raw materials are rising significantly. Synthetic fiber cannot meet expectations regarding comfort and moisture that the natural ones can offer. The paper consumption has started to decrease and new solvents for cellulose create new business opportunities.
Cotton is considered the world’s dirtiest crop due to heavy use of insecticides and pesticides. Cotton covers 2.5% of the world’s cultivated land yet uses 16% of the world’s insecticides.
Therefore it is necessary to find some alternative to cotton. Cellulose material has large potential and the dissolvent fabrics are waiting for new products to develop from their dissolvent pulp.
-----
The MISTRA Future Fashion programme (MiFuFa) is a multidisciplinary research and development project which includes a range of activities. Applied scientific research is complemented by analysis of business models, political structures and customer perceptions. In this report, three of the key participants (Chalmers University of Technology, Innventia AB and Swerea IVF) have combined their initial assessment of the state of the art in several areas of relevance to the development of more sustainable textile product life cycles. They include improving the textile materials, the processes that manufacture them, knowledge of consumer use ( through garment tagging/tracking), assessment of chemical issues in textiles sustainability, social impacts and communication of sustainability information with designers and consumers.
