THE UK TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY: THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABILITY, THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY, AND THE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Vieira, Rachel ORCID: 0009-0008-2652-8328 and Jones, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-9566-9393 (2025) THE UK TEXTILE INDUSTRY AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY: THE CHALLENGES OF SUSTAINABILITY, THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY, AND THE DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES. In: Sustainability, the Circular Economy and Digitalisation in the European Textile and Clothing Industry HowDigital Technologies are Enabling the Circular Economy. SDGs and Textiles . Springer Nature Link, pp. 11-31. ISBN 9789819791156

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Abstract

The UK textile and clothing (T&C) industry has a global reach and embraces a range of elements, including raw material production, treatment and manufacturing, and all of these elements pose testing sustainability challenges. With this in mind, this chapter looks to explore how some of the major players within the UK’s T&C industry are publicly addressing sustainability. More specifically, it focuses on three research questions. Firstly, how are the leading companies within the UK’s T&C industry publicly communicating their transition to sustainability? Secondly, in what ways are the UK T&C companies harnessing the CE to support this transition? Thirdly, what role are digital technologies playing in facilitating sustainability and the CE in UK T&C companies? The findings reveal that while the majority of the selected companies have publicly addressed sustainability, albeit in varying measure, the companies have provided much less material in the public realm on the role of the CE and the digital technologies in facilitating corporate approaches to sustainability. More generally, the authors offer some critical reflections on the selected companies’ approaches to sustainability, the CE, and the digital technologies.

Item Type:	Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords:	UK textile and clothing industry; sustainability; digital technologies
Subjects:	T Technology > T Technology (General)
Divisions:	Schools and Research Institutes > School of Business, Computing and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Anne Pengelly
Date Deposited:	28 Jan 2025 10:10
Last Modified:	28 Jan 2025 10:15
URI:	https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/id/eprint/14719

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