Abstract: Clothing maintenance is necessary for keeping clothing and textiles functional and socially acceptable, but it has environmental consequences due to the use of energy, water and chemicals.This article discusses whether clothes made of different materials are cleaned in different ways and have different environmental impacts. It fills a knowledge gap needed in environmental assessments […]
Lasting kick-off seminar marked the start of the three-year-long research project that studies how to increase the lifespans of consumer goods in order to reduce the environmental impacts of production and consumption. Partners from three universities, NGOs and industry presented themselves and their plans for the project, showing a variety of ways of working with […]
Clothing Lifespans: What Should Be Measured and How Increasing the use of each product, most often called longer lifespans, is an effective environmental strategy. This article discusses how garment lifespans can be described in order to be measured and compared. It answers two sub-questions: (1) what to measure (units), and (2) how to measure (methods). […]
Sustainable prosperity through product durability How can the lifespans of consumer goods be increased? The question is critical because evidence suggests that longer lasting products lead to less materials extraction, lower levels of pollution and less energy use in all the phases of a product’s life, including transportation. Yet despite this product longevity has been […]