Sustainable processing of luxury textiles

Luxury textile industries are in a big dilemma. On one hand, they need to uplift their brand value, and on the other hand they need to support sustainability as the consumers of luxury textiles are rich and literate. They are particularly more concerned about the sustainability issues. Like those of other textile industries, the luxury textile industries are under intense consumer as well as stakeholder scrutiny. The demands of consumers are not only limited to the marketed products being safe, but also that they are processed sustainably under safe and humane conditions. The sustainability issues are based on four main pillars: environmental, social, ethical and economic. The recent recession showed that weakening of social and economic pillars affect the environmental and ethical pillars. When recession starts to have an effect, the environmental and ethical pillars become neglected. In this chapter, what type of fibers are used in luxury textiles, what is meant by 'sustainability' and why it is important in luxury textile industry, how it is measured and the future trends to make luxury textile processing sustainable are discussed.