Supply chain guidelines : vision and ecodesignaction list

This guideline aims to inspire fashion companies that wants to transform their supplychain to become sustainable. It intends to inform about the current available knowledgethat research can offer and hopefully provide some answers to the issues that refraincompanies from starting the transition. The first chapter gives an overview of environmental impacts associated with textileproduction in relation to the carrying capacity of the earth. The recommendations for thetextile industry to keep within the planetary boundaries are: • by 2030 reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from textile use by 50%, and by 2050be carbon-neutral; • by 2030 textile companies have knowledge of main suppliers’ water sources andrecipients, and the mean monthly river flows. By 2050, the control variable is suggestedto blue water withdrawal as % of mean monthly river flow and cooperation with otherlocal users. • by 2030 phase out all persistent organic pollutants (POP) from textile production andminimize use of chemicals as well as responsible handling of chemicals. The second chapter discuss the methodology used for developing the guidelines. Thetechnique of back casting was used to create a vision for how a sustainable supply chainliving up to the recommendations above could look like. The next step was to collect aseries of technical solutions that can reduce the environmental impacts, both via industrydialogue and literature sources. Finally, the Results chapter presents the actions that have been identified as feasible withtoday’s available technology and with high efficiency in reducing environmental impact.The results chapter also quantifies the effects that the proposed actions would have. Allproposed actions are linked to technologies which are available in bulk scale today.The guidance document ends with the Ecodesign Action List where the intent is for acompany to in a systematic way see what actions are possible, starting with the actionsof highest impact reduction potential first and saving the less efficient (but still efficient)actions for last.