IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/endesu/v26y2024i2d10.1007_s10668-022-02887-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Abbate

    (University of Naples Federico II)

  • Piera Centobelli

    (University of Naples Federico II)

  • Roberto Cerchione

    (University of Naples Parthenope)

  • Simon Peter Nadeem

    (University of Derby)

  • Emanuela Riccio

    (University of Naples Parthenope)

Abstract

Textile, apparel, and fashion (TAF) industries contribute significantly to global environmental pollution at every point of the supply chain. Clothing manufacturing and transportation produce a large volume of waste and high greenhouse gas emissions, often taking advantage of cheap labor in developing countries. As a result, stakeholders are becoming more aware of the effect of the textile, apparel, and fashion industries on the climate and human rights, thus pushing businesses to mitigate their environmental damage. This paper offers a systematic literature review of sustainability trends in the TAF industries in the last 20 years. Bibliometric tools are also used to support the content analysis of the papers. The findings reveal three primary research areas in the TAF context: consumers’ behaviour towards sustainable clothing, circular economy initiatives, and sustainability challenges across the whole supply chain. As a result, this study highlights literature gaps and provides future research suggestions for each identified research cluster. In addition, drivers and barriers to implementing corporate social responsibility and circular economy practices are identified. Consequently, this study will help researchers and academicians work in this area to identify unexplored sub-fields, which reflect some potential investigation areas for expanding scientific literature on the topic. Finally, this study supports practitioners and managers in exploring the main research themes addressed in the scientific field, providing knowledge to improve and align business models with current sustainability trends.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Abbate & Piera Centobelli & Roberto Cerchione & Simon Peter Nadeem & Emanuela Riccio, 2024. "Sustainability trends and gaps in the textile, apparel and fashion industries," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 2837-2864, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10668-022-02887-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10668-022-02887-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-022-02887-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10668-022-02887-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lisa Heinze, 2020. "Fashion with heart: Sustainable fashion entrepreneurs, emotional labour and implications for a sustainable fashion system," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1554-1563, November.
    2. Kern, Florian & Rogge, Karoline S. & Howlett, Michael, 2019. "Policy mixes for sustainability transitions: New approaches and insights through bridging innovation and policy studies," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(10).
    3. Daniel Friedrich, 2021. "Benefits from sustainable development using bioplastics: A comparison between the food and fashion industries," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(5), pages 915-929, September.
    4. Juana Camacho‐Otero & Ida Nilstad Pettersen & Casper Boks, 2020. "Consumer engagement in the circular economy: Exploring clothes swapping in emerging economies from a social practice perspective," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 279-293, January.
    5. Mingchun Cao & Ilan Alon, 2020. "Intellectual Structure of the Belt and Road Initiative Research: A Scientometric Analysis and Suggestions for a Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-40, August.
    6. Nynne Marie Bech & Morten Birkved & Fiona Charnley & Louise Laumann Kjaer & Daniela C. A. Pigosso & Michael Z. Hauschild & Tim C. McAloone & Mariale Moreno, 2019. "Evaluating the Environmental Performance of a Product/Service-System Business Model for Merino Wool Next-to-Skin Garments: The Case of Armadillo Merino ®," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-21, October.
    7. Stacy H. Lee & Ran Huang, 2020. "Exploring the Motives for Online Fashion Renting: Insights from Social Retailing to Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-16, September.
    8. Sauermann, Henry & Vohland, Katrin & Antoniou, Vyron & Balázs, Bálint & Göbel, Claudia & Karatzas, Kostas & Mooney, Peter & Perelló, Josep & Ponti, Marisa & Samson, Roeland & Winter, Silvia, 2020. "Citizen science and sustainability transitions," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(5).
    9. Haris Doukas & Alexandros Nikas & Mikel González-Eguino & Iñaki Arto & Annela Anger-Kraavi, 2018. "From Integrated to Integrative: Delivering on the Paris Agreement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-10, July.
    10. Macchion, Laura & Moretto, Antonella & Caniato, Federico & Caridi, Maria & Danese, Pamela & Vinelli, Andrea, 2015. "Production and supply network strategies within the fashion industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 173-188.
    11. Manveer Mann & Sang-Eun Byun & Hyejeong Kim & Kelli Hoggle, 2014. "Assessment of Leading Apparel Specialty Retailers’ CSR Practices as Communicated on Corporate Websites: Problems and Opportunities," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 122(4), pages 599-622, July.
    12. Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio & Oropallo, Eugenio, 2021. "Surfing blockchain wave, or drowning? Shaping the future of distributed ledgers and decentralized technologies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).
    13. Dzikowski, Piotr, 2018. "A bibliometric analysis of born global firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 281-294.
    14. Kamyar Shirvanimoghaddam & Bożena Czech & Ram Yadav & Cemile Gokce & Laura Fusco & Lucia Gemma Delogu & Açelya Yilmazer & Graham Brodie & Amani Al-Othman & Adil K. Al-Tamimi & Jarret Grout & Minoo Nae, 2022. "Facemask Global Challenges: The Case of Effective Synthesis, Utilization, and Environmental Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(2), pages 1-29, January.
    15. Deniz Köksal & Jochen Strähle & Martin Müller & Matthias Freise, 2017. "Social Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Textile and Apparel Industry—A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-32, January.
    16. Gaviria-Marin, Magaly & Merigó, José M. & Baier-Fuentes, Hugo, 2019. "Knowledge management: A global examination based on bibliometric analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 194-220.
    17. Cruz-Cárdenas, Jorge & Guadalupe-Lanas, Jorge & Velín-Fárez, Margarita, 2019. "Consumer value creation through clothing reuse: A mixed methods approach to determining influential factors," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 846-853.
    18. Melissa Monika Wagner & Tincuta Heinzel, 2020. "Human Perceptions of Recycled Textiles and Circular Fashion: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-28, December.
    19. van der Have, Robert P. & Rubalcaba, Luis, 2016. "Social innovation research: An emerging area of innovation studies?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9), pages 1923-1935.
    20. Weisenfeld, Ursula & Hauerwaas, Antoniya, 2018. "Adopters build bridges: Changing the institutional logic for more sustainable cities. From action to workset to practice," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(5), pages 911-923.
    21. Yoon Yong Hwang & Gin Young Jo & Min Jung Oh, 2020. "The Persuasive Effect of Competence and Warmth on Clothing Sustainable Consumption: The Moderating Role of Consumer Knowledge and Social Embeddedness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-15, March.
    22. Mousa Sadeghi-Kiakhani & Ali Reza Tehrani-Bagha & Siyamak Safapour & Solmaz Eshaghloo-Galugahi & Seyed Masoud Etezad, 2021. "Ultrasound-assisted extraction of natural dyes from Hawthorn fruits for dyeing polyamide fabric and study its fastness, antimicrobial, and antioxidant properties," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(6), pages 9163-9180, June.
    23. Wang, Huanzhang & Liu, Honglei & Kim, Sang Jin & Kim, Kyung Hoon, 2019. "Sustainable fashion index model and its implication," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 430-437.
    24. Loan Thi-Hong Van & Phuong Anh Nguyen, 2019. "Corporate Social Responsibility and SMEs in Vietnam: A Study in the Textile and Garment Industry," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-14, November.
    25. Emma Johnson & Andrius Plepys, 2021. "Product-Service Systems and Sustainability: Analysing the Environmental Impacts of Rental Clothing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-29, February.
    26. Chan, Hau-Ling & Wei, Xiaoyong & Guo, Shu & Leung, Wing-Hong, 2020. "Corporate social responsibility (CSR) in fashion supply chains: A multi-methodological study," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    27. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    28. Anupriya Desore & Sapna A. Narula, 2018. "An overview on corporate response towards sustainability issues in textile industry," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 1439-1459, August.
    29. Ilan Alon & John Anderson & Ziaul Haque Munim & Alice Ho, 2018. "A review of the internationalization of Chinese enterprises," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 35(3), pages 573-605, September.
    30. Shaheen Sardar & Young Hae Lee & Muhammad Saad Memon, 2016. "A Sustainable Outsourcing Strategy Regarding Cost, Capacity Flexibility, and Risk in a Textile Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-19, March.
    31. Cerchione, Roberto & Esposito, Emilio, 2016. "A systematic review of supply chain knowledge management research: State of the art and research opportunities," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 276-292.
    32. Park, Hyun Jung & Lin, Li Min, 2020. "Exploring attitude–behavior gap in sustainable consumption: comparison of recycled and upcycled fashion products," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 623-628.
    33. Jayani Ishara Sudusinghe & Stefan Seuring, 2020. "Social Sustainability Empowering the Economic Sustainability in the Global Apparel Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-18, March.
    34. S M Fijul Kabir & Samit Chakraborty & S M Azizul Hoque & Kavita Mathur, 2019. "Sustainability Assessment of Cotton-Based Textile Wet Processing," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 1(1), pages 1-15, September.
    35. Bahoo, Salman & Alon, Ilan & Paltrinieri, Andrea, 2020. "Corruption in international business: A review and research agenda," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(4).
    36. Zhu, Qinghua & Liu, Junjun & Lai, Kee-hung, 2016. "Corporate social responsibility practices and performance improvement among Chinese national state-owned enterprises," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(P3), pages 417-426.
    37. Qaisar Ali & Asma Salman & Shazia Parveen & Zaki Zaini, 2020. "Green Behavior and Financial Performance: Impact on the Malaysian Fashion Industry," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anastasia COSMA & Luminita STANCU (BROASCA) & Marta STOIAN, 2025. "Romanian knowledge and attitude on sustainability and sustainable clothing: exploring the reliability and validity of a measurement scale," Theoretical and Applied Economics, Asociatia Generala a Economistilor din Romania / Editura Economica, vol. 0(1(642), S), pages 335-348, Spring.
    2. Amna Farrukh & Aymen Sajjad, 2024. "Drivers for and barriers to circular economy transition in the textile industry: A developing economy perspective," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(6), pages 7309-7329, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Abbate, Stefano & Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto, 2023. "From Fast to Slow: An Exploratory Analysis of Circular Business Models in the Italian Apparel Industry," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 260(C).
    2. Abbate, Stefano & Centobelli, Piera & Cerchione, Roberto, 2023. "The digital and sustainable transition of the agri-food sector," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    3. Osmud Rahman & Dingtao Hu & Benjamin C. M. Fung, 2023. "A Systematic Literature Review of Fashion, Sustainability, and Consumption Using a Mixed Methods Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-37, August.
    4. Valerio Schiaroli & Rosa Maria Dangelico & Luca Fraccascia, 2025. "Mapping sustainable options in the fashion industry: A systematic literature review and a future research agenda," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(1), pages 431-464, February.
    5. Thorey S Thorisdottir & Lara Johannsdottir, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility Influencing Sustainability within the Fashion Industry. A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-64, November.
    6. Tulin Dzhengiz & Andra Riandita & Anders Broström, 2023. "Configurations of sustainability‐oriented textile partnerships," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4392-4412, November.
    7. Fung, Yi-Ning & Chan, Hau-Ling & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Liu, Rong, 2021. "Sustainable product development processes in fashion: Supply chains structures and classifications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    8. Vittoria Pilone & Naomi di Santo & Roberta Sisto, 2023. "Factors affecting food waste: A bibliometric review on the household behaviors," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(7), pages 1-21, July.
    9. Chih-Chun Lai & Ching-Erh Chang, 2020. "Clothing Disposal Behavior of Taiwanese Consumers with Respect to Environmental Protection and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-14, November.
    10. Venkatesh, V.G. & Zhang, Abraham & Deakins, Eric & Mani, Venkatesh, 2021. "Antecedents of social sustainability noncompliance in the Indian apparel sector," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    11. Juliane Peters & Ana Simaens, 2020. "Integrating Sustainability into Corporate Strategy: A Case Study of the Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-35, July.
    12. V.G. Venkatesh & Abraham Zhang & Eric Deakins & Venkatesh Mani, 2021. "Antecedents of social sustainability noncompliance in the Indian apparel sector," Post-Print hal-04455594, HAL.
    13. Hailan Guo & Ming Dong & Christos Tsinopoulos & Mengyuan Xu, 2024. "The influential capacity of carbon neutrality environmental orientation in modulating stakeholder engagement toward green manufacturing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(1), pages 292-310, January.
    14. Xue Ding & Zhong Yang, 2022. "Knowledge mapping of platform research: a visual analysis using VOSviewer and CiteSpace," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 787-809, September.
    15. Sujata Khandai & Sonia Kataria & Harpuneet Singh Kohli & Renu Yadav & Jones Mathew, 2025. "Green choices and brand happiness: A recipe for brand evangelism," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(2), pages 2486-2501, April.
    16. Cieplinski, A. & D’Alessandro, S. & Distefano, T. & Guarnieri, P., 2021. "Coupling environmental transition and social prosperity: a scenario-analysis of the Italian case," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 265-278.
    17. Piera Centobelli & Roberto Cerchione & Emilio Esposito, 2018. "Environmental Sustainability and Energy-Efficient Supply Chain Management: A Review of Research Trends and Proposed Guidelines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-36, January.
    18. Leopoldo Gutierrez & Ivan Montiel & Jordi A. Surroca & Josep A. Tribo, 2022. "Rainbow Wash or Rainbow Revolution? Dynamic Stakeholder Engagement for SDG-Driven Responsible Innovation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(4), pages 1113-1136, November.
    19. Shuto Miyashita & Shogo Katoh & Tomohiro Anzai & Shintaro Sengoku, 2020. "Intellectual Property Management in Publicly Funded R&D Program and Projects: Optimizing Principal–Agent Relationship through Transdisciplinary Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, November.
    20. Rachel Pateman & Heidi Tuhkanen & Steve Cinderby, 2021. "Citizen Science and the Sustainable Development Goals in Low and Middle Income Country Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-24, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:endesu:v:26:y:2024:i:2:d:10.1007_s10668-022-02887-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.