This book illustrates key sustainability issues in global textile and fashion value chains, by examining individual types of fibers either at a single step in or along the entire value chain. It approaches sustainability-related issues in the textile and fashion value chain from an interdisciplinary and holistic viewpoint, with each contribution linking questions on the textile and fashion value chain to various drivers, indicators and concepts of sustainability. Each chapter represents a single step in the textile and fashion value chain, exploring and considering a wide range of interwoven and interdependent technological, environmental, social, political and economic aspects. Various fibers, textile engineering and chemical treatment steps, as well as innovative business concepts and regulatory frameworks across the entire textile and fashion value chain are identified, analyzed, discussed and critically evaluated. The book provides a systematic overview of the potential and challenges of sustainable textile and fashion value chains, making it of interest to practitioners and scientists in sustainability science, environmental economics, and business, management and innovation. Further, it offers a valuable source of information for industrial and mechanical engineering researchers, and for students in the areas of textile engineering, fashion, or the apparel and clothing industry.

Dr André Matthes is Head of Natural Textiles and Sustainability at the Department of Textile Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology. He has extensive expertise in textile material analysis, machine development and process analysis throughout the textile process chain, especially concerning fibre, yarn and fabric production technologies, yarn feeding simulation, measurement and sensor technologies. In recent years, he has increasingly focused on the integration of sustainability aspects into university teaching events and the dissemination of textile sustainability topics through events, lectures and the Sustainable Textile School. His latest research activities concern new textile-based development approaches in the field of natural fibre-based textiles. Katja Schneider is a Research Associate at the Department of Corporate Environmental Management and Sustainability, Chemnitz University of Technology. Her research activities focus on social sustainability in business model innovations, as well as sustainability marketing and communication strategies in the global textile and fashion industry. Prof Holger Cebulla is the Chair of Textile Technology at Chemnitz University of Technology. He has held several leading positions at e.g. Groz-Beckert KG, Albstadt, Germany; Rieter AG in Ingolstadt, Germany; and Winterthur, Switzerland. Since 2014 he has been a Professor at Chemnitz, the oldest Textile Department in Germany. He has also served as Chairman of the Board at the Cetex association for the development of textile machinery, and on the board of trustees of the Saxonian Textile Research Institute. In 2017 he was one of the founders of the Sustainable Textile School in Chemnitz. Prof Marlen Gabriele Arnold is the Chair of Corporate Management and Sustainability at Chemnitz University of Technology. Her main fields of research are sustainability, strategic & innovation management, open innovation processes, participation, evolutionary and systemic approaches, and biomimicry. A former research fellow at the Hanken School of Economics and the University of Vaasa, Finland, in 2017 she was one of the founders of the Sustainable Textile School in Chemnitz. Anton E. Schumann is a serial textile entrepreneur and partner at Gherzi Textil Organisation. As a textile engineer with Master's degrees in Philosophy, Business Administration and Politics, he has more than 15 years of experience in the textile industry, especially in the fields of businesses model innovation, sustainability, textile finishing, technical textiles and flat knitting.