Fashion & Lifestyle: International Projects Financing Sustainability In The Textile Sector

International projects, especially in the European Union, have been financing sustainable policies in the fashion industry for years. That’s why we will take a very standout example of a small city in Tuscany, Italy which has committed to the circular economy in the textile sector for decades.

The Municipality of Prato has a historical value within the fashion industry; its textile sector is highly developed in technology and business; its clothes are sold worldwide in the international market.

Especially in the latest years, the Municipality has been involved in international projects regarding sustainability. Here, the above are explained.

The “Cardato Made in Prato” project
In collaboration with the Consortium for the Enhancement of Carded Textile Products, the Prato Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Union of Prato, Cna and Confartigianato have been carrying on for several years. The Cardato Recycled and Cardato brands aim to offer an ecologically sustainable, beautiful to wear and environmentally friendly. The two brands guarantee the production of versatile wool fabrics and yarns proposed in many combinations, born from the recycling of textile materials or virgin textile fibres, greatly increasing the finished products’ life cycle.

The Cardato Recycled brand in particular developed in 2014, certifying products made with at least 65% recycled material and subjected to life cycle analysis to assess their environmental impact in terms of water consumption, energy and production of CO2.

9 companies have decided to join this project, thanks to which 22 thousand tons of “rags” are recycled every year in Prato, processed with the carding technique.

An approximate calculation, based on these 22 thousand tons compared with the equivalent of virgin fibre, leads to an estimate of savings of:

The “Detox” project
Confindustria Toscana Nord has started a planning process on Detox, a Greenpeace project that aims to eliminate dangerous substances for humans and the environment upstream of the production chain.
Following this path, including companies in the textile-clothing supply chain, has led Confindustria Toscana Nord to be the first in the world to lead the process of adhering to the Detox commitments of a group of companies in the textile district supply chain.

20 manufacturing companies in the Prato district adhered to the Detox commitments, recognizing the importance of eliminating hazardous substances from the textile production cycle.

These companies, with the support and guidance of the association, have thus undertaken their path of improvement towards the elimination of these substances following the principles of transparency, prevention and precaution of the Detox campaign, and have participated in the Greenpeace media campaign,

2 rapidly changing the big fashion brands’ attention and content (confindustriatoscananord.it, 2016).