Textile industry sustainability in the face of fast fashion

Abstract

Background: The textile industry is one of the main industries in the distribution of pollutants in the world, with the tradition of seasonal fashion with different designs every year according the high demand of every product. Methods: This study employed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) using articles retrieved from the Google Scholar and Scopus databases between 2020 and 2024. The selected studies were systematically analysed to identify key themes and factors influencing sustainability in the textile industry. Findings: Fast fashion is the main reason why the textile and cosmetics industry is under intense scrutiny in resource use, waste, and production emissions. Currently, the clothing industry operates in a straight line, where resources are extracted, clothes are produced, and consumers use them for a short period of time until they discard them. This take-make-dispose system creates a huge variety of environmental and social problems. Circular economy provides a solution to the problem of fast fashion, to achieve circular fashion requires systematic and comprehensive stakeholder engagement. Fast fashion can be addressed also by researching advances in textile material separation to more easily fulfill sustainable strategies in textile recycling. Blended textiles will pose difficulties in mechanical recycling, separation of blended fibers can be done by molecule recycling, i.e. dissolving or selectively polymerizing certain polymers in the blend. Conclusion: A circular economy in the textile industry requires a shift from the traditional take-make-dispose model toward reuse and recycling, supported by systematic stakehlder engagement and improved resource utilization. Novelty/Originality of this article: This article provides a comprehensive synthesis of recent studies on textile waste and fast fashion by integrating circular economy principles with emerging textile recycling technologies, particularly molecular recycling for blended fibers.