Public sector purchasing accounts for a high proportion of overall sales of textiles and apparel - from functional and representative workwear to protective clothing. Indeed, Germany’s workwear industry generated a total turnover of 650 million euros in 2019(Statista 2020, in German).
The textile chain is highly globalised and some production steps are extremely labour intensive, resulting in high social and environmental costs in places. Millions of people are involved in production across many different countries. To avoid such pitfalls, it is important to leverage the public sector's enormous market clout to demand proof of compliance with environmental and social criteria at as many levels as possible.
A wide range of labels already exists for textiles and garments. These address many differentrequirements (environmental and/or social) at various levels of the production chain. Some focus on raw materials, others on production while others cover all stages. For moreinformation, click here.
Learn more about the social and environmental challenges in clothing and textile production. You can help make production processes more sustainable by making more informed purchasing decisions.
For general information on integrating sustainability into the procurement process, see here.
An online tool to assess the local human rights situation by "Helpdesk Business & Human Rights" is available here.
Municipal best practice examples of sustainable procurements of apparel and textiles, see here (German only).
More information on apparel and textiles (Germany only):
Click on the individual stages in the information graphic on the left to learn more about the ecological and social challenges when procuring apparel and textiles.
Textile production begins with the extraction of crude fibres. Synthetic fibres are the most important raw material in the global textile industry, accounting for 64 %. Cotton makes up24 %. The production of both natural and synthetic fibres raises some environmental and social challenges.
Environmental challenges in the production of natural fibres (e.g. cotton growing)
Social challenges – natural fibres (in the crop enterprises)
Environmental challenges in the production of synthetic fibres
Social challenges in the production of synthetic fibres
More information (Germany only):
In textile production, raw fibres are spun to make threads and then woven into fabrics. Examples of the environmental and social challenges that can ensue include:
Environmental challenges
Social challenges
Once the fabrics have been made, the textiles are cut, sewn and refined. This stage of processing can lead to the following environmental and social challenges:
Environmental challenges
Social challenges
Textile consumption also has its environmental and social challenges:
Environmental challenges
Social challenges
To date, only 1 % of all textiles are recycled. This is due to the lack of technologies for separating blended fabrics and stripping chemicals or dyes. Disposing of textiles in landfills or through incineration creates environmental challenges:
Environmental challenges
Social challenges
Cotton farming in the United States, fabric production in India and refining in Tunisia: Before workwear is sold in Germany, it has to travel a long distance. Related fuel consumption and emissions impact the environment and climate and are also harmful to human health – butaccount for only 2% of the textile supply chain's total energy consumption. The Euro 6emission standard (Commission Regulation EU/582/2011) applies to transport with heavy-duty vehicles such as trucks and buyers should demand compliance.
Furthermore, this stage in the supply chain involves a high volume of waste caused by packaging, labelling and clothes hangers as well as the destruction of products that do not get sold.
Textiles are sometimes treated with anti-mould and preservative agents for transportpurposes.
Anbau bzw. Herstellung der Natur- und Kunstfasern (z.B. Baumwolle und Polyester)
Die Rohfasern werden durch Spinnen, Weben und Stricken zu Garnen, Fasern und Stoffen weiterverarbeitet.
Die Textilien werden veredelt (d.h. gefärbt und mit speziellen Eigenschaften (z.B. wasserabweisend) ausgestattet) und konfektioniert)