WAKEFIELD – For well over a decade, Ecotextile News has called for greater harmonisation and consolidation of work on environmental issues in the textiles sector. It regularly argues for greater collaboration on chemical management, the pooling of data on raw materials, the harmonisation of environmental standards, right through to knowledge sharing between brands to counterbalance the plethora of ‘initiatives’ that have emerged since Ecotextile News was launched back in 2006.

And although, it’s good news there’s been a proliferation of important environmental work kicked off by any number of NGO’s, brands and government agencies in the fashion supply chain over the past decade – what sort of impact do all these projects really have? Where is the impact data?

It’s a question that we have asked regularly in Ecotextile News over the last 15 years, with the main point being to find out what are the most effective and quickest ways to reduce the industry’s environmental footprint? And how should this be coordinated?

At the recent Planet Textiles in Barcelona two weeks ago, we ran an indicative poll that asked over 400 delegates which were the most important problems for the textile sector based on six key environmental issues.

The answers are revealed in the graphic published here, which gives a brief indication of some of the key areas and projects that delegates think our industry should prioritise. It could also be an indicator for potential funders who want to know which projects require the most urgent financial support.

Now we'd like to widen this discussion to the tens of thousands of readers who did not get the opportunity to join us at Planet Textiles in Barcelona. We will publish more details of the findings in our next printed edition due out on 29th July.

If you’d like to have your say, please follow this link.

The results of the survey will be discussed in the next printed edition of Ecotextile News – out on 29th July. To reserve your regular copy click HERE.