ESTONIAN ACADEMY
PUBLISHERS
eesti teaduste
akadeemia kirjastus
PUBLISHED
SINCE 1952
 
Proceeding cover
proceedings
of the estonian academy of sciences
ISSN 1736-7530 (Electronic)
ISSN 1736-6046 (Print)
Impact Factor (2022): 0.9
Research article
Sustainability index development for industrial fashion SMEs; pp. 205–211
PDF | https://doi.org/10.3176/proc.2025.2.22

Authors
Rūta Banelienė, Rolandas Strazdas, Jūratė Černevičiūtė
Abstract

Sustainability is one of the most important factors influencing industries in developed countries, which are particularly concerned about the environment and its impact on climate change. Often, evaluation of and guidance on sustainability by government institutions at local, regional, and global levels are highly fragmented and unbalanced. Under these conditions, it is difficult to program and follow sustainability direction in the long run at all levels. The most flexible and, at the same time, the most vulnerable players of the industry – small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) – could be especially confused. In addition, consumption by humans with growing awareness of sustainability has increased the demand for sustainable products. One of these areas is the fashion industry, where it is extremely challenging to follow luxury trends with this attitude towards materials, their colors, and other features, and remain in high demand. Therefore, this paper focuses on the analysis of sustainability indexes related to the manufacturing and fashion industries and, as an output of this study, proposes a concept of sustainability index for industrial fashion SMEs.

References

Abdelmeguid, A., Afy-Shararah, M. and Salonitis, K. 2024. Towards circular fashion: management strategies promoting circular behaviour along the value chain. Sustain. Prod. Consum.48, 143–156. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2024.05.010

Adegeest, D.-A. 2022. 61 percent of fashion shoppers prioritise cost over sustainability. 
https://fashionunited.com/news/fashion/61-percent-of-fashion-shoppers-prioritise-cost-over-sustainability/ 2022100550013 (accessed 2025-01-11).

Arduini, S., Beck, T. and Menzatyuk, A. 2024. Sustainability and firm value: a multivariate regression analysis in the clothing industry. J. Infrastruct. Policy Dev.8(7), 4646. 
https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i7.4646

Biana, H. T. 2020. The Philippine Ukay-Ukay culture as sustainable fashion. DLSU Bus. Econ. Rev.30(1), 154–164.

Business of Fashion. The BoF sustainability index: metrics and guidelines
https://pages.businessoffashion.com/Sustainability-Index-Metrics-and-Guidelines/ (accessed 2025-01-11).

Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company. 2022. The state of fashion 2022. 
https://www.mckinsey.com/%7E/media/mckinsey/industries/retail/our%20insights/state%20of%20fashion/2022/the-state-of-fashion-2022.pdf (accessed 2025-01-11).

Business of Fashion and McKinsey & Company. 2025. The state of fashion 2025. 
https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/state-of-fashion (accessed 2025-01-11).

Cambridge dictionary. Fashion. 
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fashion

Choudhury, A. K. R. 2014. Environmental impacts of the textile industry and its assessment through life cycle assessment. In Roadmap to Sustainable Textiles and Clothing. Textile Science and Clothing Technology (Muthu, S. S., ed.). Springer, Singapore, 1–39. 
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-110-7_1

CTI Tool. https://ctitool.com/ (accessed 2025-01-11).

De Chiara, A. and Iannone, F. 2023. Sustainable innovation in fashion products: an opportunity for Italian SMEs. In Research Anthology on Business Law, Policy, and Social Responsibility (Information Resources Management Association, ed.). IGI Global, 1480–1507. 
https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-2045-7.ch075

Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 November 2008 on waste and repealing certain Directives. http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/98/oj  

Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 2017. A new textiles economy: redesigning fashion’s future
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/a-new-textiles-economy (accessed 2025-01-11).

Eunomia. 2022. Understanding the PEFCR for apparel and footwear. The role of PEF in policy
https://eeb.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Understanding-the-PEFCR-for-Apparel-and-Footwear-Eunomia-Oct-2022.pdf (accessed 2025-01-11).

European Commission. ReSet the Trend. 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/circular-economy/reset-trend_en (accessed 2025-01-05).

European Commission. 2019. The European Green Deal. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council, the European economic and social committee and the Committee of the regions. 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52019DC0640&qid=1744914584480   

European Commission. 2020. A new circular economy action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economic and social committee and the Committee of the regions. 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52020DC0098&qid=1744810794390  

European Commission. 2022. EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles. Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European economic and social committee and the Committee of the regions. 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022DC0141&qid=1744808934433  

Fashion Revolution. Fashion transparency index
https://www.fashionrevolution.org/Fashion-Transparency-Index/ (accessed 2025-01-11).

Flanders DC. Close the Loop: a guide towards a circular fashion industry
https://www.close-the-loop.be/en (accessed 2025-01-11).

Fletcher, K. and Tham, M. (eds). 2014. Routledge Handbook of Sustainability and Fashion. Routledge, London. 
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203519943  

Gatto, A. and Parziale, A. 2024. Towards a green and just industry? Insights from traditional leather districts in Southern Italy. Sci. Total Environ.942, 171552. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.20 24.171552  

Kent, S. 2024. Where is the money to make fashion more sustainable? 
https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/fashion-climate-finance-funds-suppy-chain-invesment-sustainability/ (accessed 2025-01-11).

Konina, N. Yu. 2023. Smart digital innovations in the global fashion industry and a climate change action plan. In Smart Green Innovations in Industry 4.0 for Climate Change Risk Management. Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes (Popkova, E. G., ed.). Springer, Cham, 255–263. 
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28457-1_27  

Ma, J., Huang, L., Guo, Q. and Zhu, Y. 2024. Sustainability in design: sustainable fashion design practices and environmental impact using mixed‐method analysis. Bus. Strategy Environ.33(7), 6889–6910. 
https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.3843

McKinsey & Company. 2020. Fashion on climate: how the fashion industry can urgently act to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/retail/our-insights/fashion-on-climate (accessed 2025-01-11).

OECD. 2024. Extended producer responsibility: basic facts and key principles. OECD Environment Policy Paper No. 41. 
https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/publications/reports/2024/04/extended-producer-responsibility_4274765d/67587b0b-en.pdf  (accessed 2025-01-11).

Pereira, L., Carvalho, R., Dias, Á., Costa, R. and António, N. 2021. How does sustainability affect consumer choices in the fashion industry? Resources10(4), 38. 
https://doi.org/10.3390/resources10040038  

Pucker, K. 2023. Don’t believe what consumers say when it comes to sustainability. 
https://www.businessoffashion.com/opinions/sustainability/sustainability-surveys-fashion-consumers-black-friday/ (accessed 2025-01-11).

Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 2021 establishing the framework for achieving climate neutrality and amending Regulations (EC) No 401/2009 and (EU) 2018/1999 (“European Climate Law”).

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products, amending Directive (EU) 2020/1828 and Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 and repealing Directive 2009/125/EC.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 June 2024 on nature restoration and amending Regulation (EU) 2022/869.

SCIRT. https://scirt-h2020.eu (accessed 2025-01-11).

UCA (University for the Creative Arts). Maturity questionnaire. 
https://cfsd.eu.pythonanywhere.com (accessed 2025-01-11).

UCA. Product circularity, fashion, clothing and textiles (PC4Fashion). 
http://www.pc4fashiontest.org (accessed 2025-01-11).

United Nations. 2021. Fashion industry charter for climate action
https://unfccc.int/sites/default/files/resource/Fashion%20Industry%20Carter%20for%20Climate%20Action_2021.pdf (accessed 2025-01-11).

Wang, H., Liu, H., Kim, S. J. and Kim, K. H. 2019. Sustainable fashion index model and its implication. J. Bus. Res.99, 430–437. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2017.12.027  

Worldly. The Higg index
https://worldly.io/Tools/Higg-Index/ (accessed 2025-01-11).

WRI and WBCSD (World Resources Institute and World Business Council for Sustainable Development). 2004. The greenhouse gas protocol: a corporate accounting and reporting standard
https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/ghg-protocol-revised.pdf (accessed 2025-01-11).

Zhu, Q.-L., Liang, J.-F., Chen, X.-W. and Ling, J. 2024. Carbon footprint accounting and evaluation of consumer clothing customization. In Textile Bioengineering and Informatics Symposium Proceedings (TBIS)Daeju, South Korea, 20–23 August 2024. TBIS, 197–205. 
https://doi.org/10.52202/076989-0025  

Back to Issue