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Addressing the global health threats posed by the textile industry is a daunting challenge, even with more than 35 years of environmental victories under your belt. Yet this challenge spurred NRDC's team of health experts to pioneer market-based approaches that will help solve global industrial pollution problems associated with apparel while improving the bottom line.

Environmental Challenges of the Textile Industry

From the design board to the tumble dryer, textile manufacturing has a huge environmental footprint. It pollutes as much as 200 tons of water per ton of fabric, uses a suite of harmful chemicals, and consumes tremendous amounts of energy for steam and hot water needed in dyeing and finishing processes. Compounding this situation is the fact that the industry has migrated to countries abroad with still-developing environmental regulatory systems, such as China, India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh, seriously degrading local drinking water resources.

NRDC Recommends 10 Practical, Easy-to-Implement Solutions for the Textile Industry

NRDC and its partners in Clean by Design, our initiative to green the global textile supply chain, recommend 10 practical, easy-to-implement best practices for textile mills that significantly reduce water, energy or chemical use and improve manufacturing efficiency. In fact, all of NRDC's best practices for responsible sourcing pay themselves back in less than a year. Multinational apparel retailers and brands can reduce the footprint of their global supply chain by encouraging mills to adopt these best practices and rewarding those that do so with more business.

Proven Results Demonstrate NRDC's 10 Best Practices Reduce Pollution and Save Money

The Jiangsu Redbud Textile Company, a Chinese-owned mill that dyes cotton woven fabric supplying Wal-Mart among others put our best practices to the test. And the results were profound. Implementing only three best practices, Redbud is saving 740 tons of water per day and 9.4 tons of coal per day. Although the total, one-time cost of the three improvements Redbud implemented was around $72,000, that amount that was recouped in cost savings in just 32 days-and savings are now accruing at nearly $840,000 annually.

Clean by Design and Its Global Partners

NRDC believes that working with multinational retailers, brands and designers, as well as with Chinese environmental specialists, will ensure sustainable changes that truly revolutionize the global textile supply chain. To that end, Clean by Design and its lead partner, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, assembled an advisory council of world-class designers and industry leaders that helps us to consider the business challenges this global industry faces and to promote better choices for fiber, dye, and consumer care; and standards for factory performance that will reduce the environmental footprint of the industry's global supply chain without sacrificing the bottom line.

Case study: China

Not only are Clean by Design's partners active in the United States, but the project is also working hand-in-hand with our Chinese partners to build local capacity.

Phase 1
In 2007, NRDC reviewed factory performance in China and identified textiles as a major polluter. Working with key provincial partners and the World Bank, NRDC collected the ranking results for more than 12,000 industrial and commercial operations. NRDC translated the data and entered it into an electronic database that could then be analyzed. Armed with this data, NRDC zeroed in on textiles, one of the two most polluting sectors in the region.

Phase 2
NRDC audited Chinese textile mills in 2009 to identify cost-saving and pollution-reducing measures. Building on more than two years of work with provincial governments and fact-finding missions to more than a dozen Chinese fabric mills and dye houses, NRDC identified opportunities for low-cost, money-saving improvements that will dramatically reduce pollution. Opportunities for greater efficiency include color matching, improved steam management and reusing hot water.

Phase 3
NRDC established an advisory council of world-class designers and industry leaders to discuss choices for fiber, dye, consumer care and factory performance. Working with the industry, NRDC initiated work targeted at textile dyeing and finishing mills and provided a best practice guide to improve efficiencies and reduce environmental impact. The guide has been provided to a critical mass of companies who have been asked to promote it in their supply chains.

Phase 4
The next phase, launched in spring 2010, aims to provide advice to U.S. multinational retailers, brands and designers about our recommended supply chain best practices for textile mills. Simultaneously, NRDC is putting this information into the hands of Chinese officials and experts to improve environmental performance in this highly polluting sector and to transfer the knowledge and skills to Chinese managers to implement lasting solutions.

last revised 4/16/2010