Northumbria University leads a groundbreaking £2m project to assess and measure the environmental impact of the fashion and textiles industry, addressing a critical gap in understanding.
Fashion, often dubbed as an industry with a hidden environmental cost, is now under the microscope as a major project, spearheaded by Northumbria University, embarks on examining how the environmental impact of the fashion and textiles sector is measured and assessed.
The project, named IMPACT+: Environmental Index Measures Promoting Assessment and Circular Transparency in Fashion, secured almost £2 million in funding through a collaboration between the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), and Innovate UK. Dr Alana James, focusing on sustainable change in the fashion industry, will lead the project alongside experts from Northumbria, King's College London, and Loughborough University.
The collaboration includes global fashion brands like Barbour, Montane, and ASOS, sustainable clothing companies Agogic and This is Unfolded, as well as campaign groups Fashion Revolution and WRAP. The ambitious initiative aims to understand how environmental impacts of fashion garments are currently measured and share expertise to reveal the true scale of the problem.
Dr Alana James pointed out the challenges in the current process of assessing environmental impact within the fashion industry, highlighting the reliance on self-reported data and the lack of a mandatory reporting system. The project seeks to dig deeper, looking beyond the carbon footprint to factors such as the shedding of microfibres and their impact on oceans, rivers, soil, and air quality.
The fashion and textile industry, contributing over £21 billion to the UK economy and employing over half a million people, is not fully understood in terms of its environmental impact. Globally, the sector is responsible for 8% of greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of wastewater, surpassing the energy usage of aviation and shipping combined.
The IMPACT+ project is one of three funded through UKRI’s circular fashion and textile programme: NetworkPlus, marking the beginning of a 10-year vision to transform the fashion sector with a focus on innovation and achieving net-zero targets before 2050.
Northumbria University’s involvement in the project reflects its commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration. Professor Louise Bracken, Pro Vice-Chancellor, commended the project as an example of bringing together diverse backgrounds and expertise to pave the way for real change. The initiative is poised to have a lasting impact on the future sustainability of the fashion industry.
A message from our sponsors, The Ideas Distillery:
If you would like to look at how to implement an ISO 14001 environmental management system, then simply contact us.
Or, if you want to see what's involved in more detail, then get a completely free, no obligation, totally tailored ISO Gap Analysis for your business (only available to UK businesses).
Comments