Textile workers in developing countries and the European fashion industry: Towards sustainability? | Think Tank | European Parliament (2024)

FAQs

Who made up most of the workers in the textile industry? ›

These "operatives"—so-called because they operated the looms and other machinery—were primarily women and children from farming backgrounds.

The biggest producers in the industry are Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. Together, they account for about three-quarters of EU production. Southern EU countries contribute more to total clothing production.

In Europe, there are 1.3 million people employed in the textile and clothing industry at 143,000 companies. 537,482 people work in textiles and 760,637 in clothing. *2021 estimates. Source: Report Facts & Key figures 2022 of the European Textile and Clothing Industry by Euratex, June 2022.

The fashion industry is responsible for the production of up to 10% of the global carbon dioxide output and accounts for one-fifth of the 300 million tons of plastic produced globally each year, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (via Bloomberg).

The main source of textiles in municipal solid waste (MSW) is discarded clothing, although other smaller sources include furniture, carpets, tires, footwear, and other nondurable goods such as sheets and towels.

The Republic of Poland is a Central European country that benefits from its location in the textile industry as this allows it to export its products all over Europe.

China is the largest textile producing and exporting country in the world.

The textile industry in Europe covers a wide range of products and processes such as spinning, weaving, and finishing of textiles, manufacture of knitted and crocheted fabrics followed by the production of carpets, ropes, nettings, but also industrial and technical textiles.

The 15 nations in the EU creating the most textile pollution have been listed in a new study, with Italy, Portugal, Austria and the UK named the biggest culprits.

Why are so many clothes made in developing countries? ›

The short answer is cheap labor. The long answer is quite a different story. Most of our clothes are made overseas for financial reasons. That is, manufacturing in the United States is more expensive than outsourcing manufacturing to developing countries.

The factories provided a wide variety of textile products to everyone, everywhere. They were also an important source of new jobs. People moved from farms and small towns to larger towns and cities to work in factories and the many support businesses that grew up around them.

Sustainable fashion is a strategic business approach that aims to make garments in a way that meets business economic needs, without compromising the needs of the environment or social systems. Sustainable fashion is more than simply addressing the sustainability of textiles and products.

The largest textile company in the world is TJX Companies, with a revenue of $48.55 billion. As of 2021, the global textile industry has a market size of $993.6 billion.

The fatal disease of byssinosis, commonly known as brown lung, is caused among people working in the textile industry on account of excessive exposure to cotton dust. The symptoms of this disease include tightening of the chest, coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.

China is the largest textile producer in the world. With its rapid growth over the last two decades, the Chinese textile industry has become one of the main pillars of the country's economy.

As about 69% of clothes are made of synthetic fabrics, most of the wasted garments take hundreds of years to decompose in landfill. Natural fabrics, on the other hand, release methane in landfill—contributing to climate change.

Water pollution

A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres that can end up in the food chain.

Some Facts About Textile Waste (Council for Textile Recycling) 15 percent of that gets donated or recycled, and the remaining 85 percent goes to landfills.

Which country has best textile quality? ›

China is renowned to produce the best silk fabric in the world. It is a strong, lightweight, and beautiful fabric that is durable and affordable. Apart from this, many companies also source cotton from China.

Europe is a strong apparel market and has some of the world's biggest and most famous apparel companies. Europe's apparel import market was valued at €144.5 billion in 2021, up from 127.7 billion in 2020. This big increase of 13.1% was the result of the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The textile industry of China is the largest manufacturer and exporter in the world with an export turnover of $266.41 Bn.

With 1.7 million tons of CO₂ emitted annually, accounting for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, the textile industry is a major contributor to global warming.

The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.

India: The Textile Capital of the World | DecoratorsBest.

Germany has consistently produced the most carbon dioxide emissions in the European Union since the turn of the century. In 2021, Germany produced nearly 629 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions. This was more than the combined emissions produced by the next largest emitters in the EU - Italy and Poland.

European countries with the highest GHG emissions

In 2021 Germany, France, and Italy were the European countries with the highest overall GHG emissions – ranging from ~375,000 to 740,000 ktonnes CO₂ eq.

Who pollutes the most in Europe? ›

The biggest carbon polluter in the European Union is the Bełchatów lignite-fired power plant in Poland. In 2021, the Bełchatów power plant emitted 33.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (MtCO2), accounting for roughly 10 percent of CO2 emissions in Poland that year.

A successive wave of trade liberalization polices in the 1990s, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, effectively wiped out most import restrictions and duties on foreign-made clothing.

Excessive Pollution

China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and several poor Asian countries account for almost all textiles made for fast-fashion retailers. These countries and other predominantly non-white nations are the largest producers of textiles.

At present, more than 60 percent of world clothing exports are manufactured in developing countries. Asia is the major world supplier today, producing more than 32 percent of the world's clothing exports.

Because of clothing and protective gear, farmers can use fertilizers, herbicides, or pesticides to increase crop yields. They can also use equipment filters and protective coverings for planting, harvesting, and protecting their crops. Without all of these technical textiles, food production would be less reliable.

Textiles funded the Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; they gave us banks and bookkeeping, Michelangelo's David and the Taj Mahal. The cloth business spread the alphabet and arithmetic, propelled chemical research, and taught people to think in binary code.

The textile industry plays a significant role in Indian economy by providing direct employment to an estimated 35 million people, by contributing 4 per cent of GDP and accounting for 35 per cent of gross export earnings. The textile sector contributes 14 per cent of the value-addition in the manufacturing sector.

The list of issues surrounding our environment go on, but there are three major ones that affect the majority of them overall: global warming and climate change; water pollution and ocean acidification; and loss of biodiversity.

So what is sustainable fashion? Well, Sustainability, in general, is built on three pillars: Economic development, social development, and environmental protection. These three pillars are all about creating growth and development in a way that protects the earth and the people on it.

Recycled and upcycled materials — such as fabrics made from second-hand clothing. Bio-based materials — such as cotton grown without pesticides or chemicals. Conventional materials that are naturally biodegradable — such as wool or silk.

What are the 5 R's of sustainable fashion? ›

The 5 Rs of Fashion: Reduce, Rewear, Recycle, Repair, Resell.

6Rs: Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair

Many of the GCSE examination courses for D&T have included the 6Rs as an approach to help students think about sustainability within product evaluation and their own coursework.

Sustainable clothing uses biodegradable components from natural or recycled fibers. These materials grow with no pesticide or fertilizer use, consume less energy and water, and employ no chemical treatment, thus reducing the overall carbon footprint of these brands.

So, sustainable fashion is simply about fostering a fashion industry that takes a long term approach to the design, manufacturing, and consumption of clothes and accessories. It's about fashion that both creates good and avoids harm, whether to people, the planet, or animals.

Who invented textile mills? Textile mills were first invented in England by Richard Arkwright. After John Kay created the flying shuttle, Arkwright saw more need to efficiently produce textiles. He created the water-powered spindle for quickly spinning cotton and wool into thread.

Most Garment Workers Are Women

Some 85 percent of garment workers are women.

In the 1820s, America's textile industry became well established in New England, specifically in Lowell, Massachusetts where the largest textile factories were built. Young women flocked from family farms to the city where they found work as operatives in the water-powered textile mills.

To work in the textile mills, Lowell hired young, unmarried women from New England farms. The "mill girls" were chaperoned by matrons and were held to a strict curfew and moral code.

In the 1960s, American textile companies produced 95% of bedding and clothing in the United States. But the American textile industry began to slow down in the late 1990s. Roughly 650 textile plants closed between 1997 and 2009, and North Carolina only had 1.1% of jobs in the textile industry in 2013.

Which country is known for its textile industry and its famous place? ›

1) China. The textile industry of China is the largest manufacturer and exporter in the world with an export turnover of $266.41 Bn.

China is the largest textile exporter in the world. The country's exports account for over half of the supply in the global market. Germany and Vietnam focus on manufacturing high-quality products and not so much on producing larger quantities. Bangladesh supplies textiles to numerous western fashion brands.

China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India are four of the largest garment exporters in the world.

Historically, many countries began their process of industrialization through focusing on labor-intensive industries, typically the textile industry.

They called themselves “Luddites” after Ned Ludd, a young apprentice who was rumored to have wrecked a textile apparatus in 1779. There's no evidence Ludd actually existed—like Robin Hood, he was said to reside in Sherwood Forest—but he eventually became the mythical leader of the movement.

Throughout the 1700s, inventors such as Richard Arkwright, Eli Whitney, James Hargreaves, John Kay and Edmund Cartwright, developed machines and techniques that helped improve production, especially in terms of the textile industry.

Though Textile mill workers were often known as “Lint Heads” due to being covered with cotton lint after their shift. By the 1960s technology and society norms changed the textile worker positions and the community of the textile villages.

All the girls in the carding and spinning room were paid the same. The young men who were piecers on mules and card strippers were paid $4 to $4.50 per week. The weaving in a cotton mill was done by older girls and women, who ran four looms and averaged $1 per loom a week.

The Luddites were a secret oath-based organisation of English textile workers in the 19th century who formed a radical faction which destroyed textile machinery. The group is believed to have taken its name from Ned Ludd, a legendary weaver supposedly from Anstey, near Leicester.

What did textile workers do? ›

Textile manufacturing workers prepare natural and synthetic fibers for spinning into yarn and manufacture yarn into textile products that are used in clothing, in household goods, and for many industrial purposes.