Swiss Technical Textile Industry

Barriers for Transitioning to a More Sustainable Economy

Bachelor Thesis

Ekaterina Schulze

Class 6i

Contento Why did I choose this topic?o Introduction to the thesiso Main conclusionso What did I learn?o Highlightso Challenges

Technical textiles - materials and products developed and manufactured for technical performance and functional properties, rather than aesthetics

Why did I choose textiles?

Source: https://swisstextiles.ch/en/branche-1/facts-and-figures

Swiss Textile Federation (2020): half of the export can be attributed to technical textiles, which grew by more than 30% in the last decade

Principles of the circular system

• Design out waste and pollution

• Keep products and materials in use

• Regenerate natural systems

Source: The Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Model of a circular business ecosystem for textiles

Source: Fontell & Heikkilä 2017, p. 20

Re-usable textiles

Non-re-usable textiles

Retail

Fiber manufacturing

Industrial processing

Sorting

Chemical recycling

Recycling

Other industries

FabricmanufacturingTextile

manufacturing

Textiles design& producing

Yarn spinning

Separatecollection,Pick-up

Circular metrics phases

Beginner Intermediate Advanced

Circular Strategy Ambition

Circularity not formally recognized

Circularity integrated in sustainability

strategy

Circularity integrated in corporate strategy

Circular MetricsOperational

EfficiencySustainability Performance

Circular Value Creation

Source: World Business Council for Sustainable Development 2018, p. 13

Eco-certification Sustainability reporting

Partnerships with Unis

New practices (take-back, renting)

Sector overview (based on interviews)

100% 0%>50% 50%

Identified barriers to a more sustainable economy

a. Compatibility with technical standards

b. Mixed materials use

c. Concerns about recycled materials

d. Quality concerns

Higher prices

a. Lack of a dialogue

b. Lack of market demand for

circular products & services

Possible lack of governmental incentives for going green

85% 85%

40% 40%

What did I learn?

• “Away” from the end user means “away” from the pressure on adjusting to sustainability trends

• The large distance from the consumer means more difficulty in charging a premium for sustainability efforts

• For the companies, an acute challenge is the technical one

Highlights

Challenges

• Many companies of the sector cooperate with research institutes and try to develop more sustainable products

• Conducted interviews made companies think once again about the environmental impact of their operations and their efforts to improve the situation

• Unification of various companies of the sector

• The concept of circularity is not well understood

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carta_Marina.jpeg

Thank you for your

attention!