Review of Methodological Choices in LCA-Based Textile and Apparel Rating Tools: Key Issues and Recommendations Relating to Assessment of Fabrics Made From Natural Fibre Types

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a key tool for determining environmental impacts for textiles and apparel and is the basis for the publicly available Higg Material Sustainability Index (MSI) developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC). This paper reviews and evaluates the Higg MSI with respect to rating of fabrics made from natural fibre types, with the aim of providing a constructive analysis of methodological issues identified by comparison with the International Standards and LCA guidelines. The major issues identified by the review were: (1) lack of sufficient guidance for comparative analysis and public disclosure; (2) incomplete system boundaries and the choice of functional unit; (3) the choice of attributional LCA methods and variable methods applied for handling multi-functionality; (4) use of generalised data and small datasets, without reported sensitivity or uncertainty; (5) exclusion of important impact categories, choice of LCIA methods and lack of coverage of non-LCA assessed issues; and (6) the choice of the weighting and normalisation approach. This review found that the provision of, and adherence to the appropriate standards and best practice in LCA would rectify most of these issues. To achieve the laudable aims of the Higg MSI, further development and refinement is needed to ensure robust information is provided to improve the sustainability of textiles.Sustainability 2019, 11, 3846 2 of 16 impacts. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a robust and well-established method that has been commonly applied to determine full supply chain impacts and report these relative to the final product [12]. The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) has developed a suite of LCA-based Product Tools including: the Higg Material Sustainability Index--MSI, the Higg Design and Development Module-DDM and the Higg Product Module-PM) to enable the textile and apparel industry to measure the environmental impact of apparel production. The Higg DDM and PM both utilise the Higg MSI to determine supply chain impacts, making the Higg MSI the fundamental tool in the suite, and consequently the focus of this review. The Higg MSI is also publicly available and aims to enable users to "assess materials to understand impacts", and to "compare materials to make better choices" [13].The Higg MSI produces a cradle to fabric score that assesses impacts from the extraction or production of raw material source, yarn formation method, textile formation, preparation and colouration for each type of fabric. Currently it assesses four LCA impact categories (global warming, eutrophication, water scarcity and abiotic resource depletion/fossil fuels) and one semi-quantitative impact category (chemistry). The score gives an overall rating of impacts of fabrics that are grouped by fibre type, and differences between fibre types are principally related to raw material source [13].The Higg MSI has been used to promote dramatic changes in the type of fabric used in the apparel sector [14] and participation in the Higg MSI has been used as evid...

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