Purpose

Garment production and use generate substantial environmental impacts, and the care and use are key determinants of cradle-to-grave impacts. The present study investigated the potential to reduce environmental impacts by applying best practices for garment care combined with increased garment use. A wool sweater is used as an example because wool garments have particular attributes that favour reduced environmental impacts in the use phase.

Methods

A cradle-to-grave life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to compare six plausible best and worst-case practice scenarios for use and care of a wool sweater, relative to current practices. These focussed on options available to consumers to reduce impacts, including reduced washing frequency, use of more efficient washing machines, reduced use of machine clothing dryers, garment reuse by multiple users, and increasing number of garment wears before disposal. A sixth scenario combined all options. Worst practices took the worst plausible alternative for each option investigated. Impacts were reported per wear in Western Europe for climate change, fossil energy demand, water stress and freshwater consumption.

Results and discussion

Washing less frequently reduced impacts by between 4 and 20%, while using more efficient washing machines at capacity reduced impacts by 1 to 6%, depending on the impact category. Reduced use of machine dryer reduced impacts by < 5% across all indicators. Reusing garments by multiple users increased life span and reduced impacts by 25–28% across all indicators. Increasing wears from 109 to 400 per garment lifespan had the largest effect, decreasing impacts by 60% to 68% depending on the impact category. Best practice care, where garment use was maximised and care practices focussed on the minimum practical requirements, resulted in a ~ 75% reduction in impacts across all indicators. Unsurprisingly, worst-case scenarios increased impacts dramatically: using the garment once before disposal increased GHG impacts over 100 times.

Conclusions

Wool sweaters have potential for long life and low environmental impact in use, but there are substantial differences between the best, current and worst-case scenarios. Detailed information about garment care and lifespans is needed to understand and reduce environmental impacts. Opportunities exist for consumers to rapidly and dramatically reduce these impacts. The fashion industry can facilitate this through garment design and marketing that promotes and enables long wear life and minimal care.

中文翻译：

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以美利奴羊毛毛衣为例，通过最佳的服装使用和护理方法减少服装对环境的影响

目的

服装的生产和使用会产生重大的环境影响，护理和使用是从摇篮到坟墓的关键决定因素。本研究调查了通过将最佳的服装护理实践与增加的服装使用相结合来减少环境影响的潜力。以羊毛毛衣为例，因为羊毛服装具有特殊的属性，有利于减少使用阶段对环境的影响。

方法

使用从摇篮到坟墓的生命周期评估（LCA），可以比较六种可能的最佳和最坏情况下的羊毛衫使用和保养情况（相对于当前做法）。这些关注于消费者可减少影响的选择，包括减少洗涤频率，使用更高效的洗衣机，减少使用机器干衣机，多个用户重复使用服装以及增加处理前的服装穿着次数。第六种情况组合了所有选项。对于所研究的每个选项，最差的做法都采用了最不可行的替代方案。据报告，西欧每次磨损对气候变化，化石能源需求，缺水压力和淡水消耗产生影响。

结果和讨论

减少洗涤次数可减少4％至20％的影响，而使用效率更高的洗衣机则可减少1％至6％的影响，具体取决于影响类别。减少使用机器烘干机，所有指标的影响降低了5％以下。在所有指标上，多个用户重复使用服装可以延长使用寿命，并减少25-28％的影响。将每件服装的使用寿命从109次增加到400次产生的影响最大，根据影响类别的不同，影响减少60％至68％。最佳实践护理（最大程度地使用服装）并且护理实践侧重于最低实际要求，从而使所有指标的影响降低了约75％。毫不奇怪，最坏的情况会大大增加影响：处置前使用服装一次，温室气体影响增加了100倍以上。

结论

羊毛衫在使用中具有长寿命和低环境影响的潜力，但最佳，当前和最坏情况之间存在实质性差异。需要了解有关服装保养和使用寿命的详细信息，以了解和减少对环境的影响。消费者有机会迅速而显着地减少这些影响。时装行业可以通过服装设计和营销来促进这一点，服装设计和营销可以促进并延长服装的使用寿命并减少维护工作。