The textile industry is facing increasing scrutiny for its environmental pollution, waste of water and energy, labor issues, and inefficiencies throughout the value chain (Pedersen and Gwozdz, 2014). As global agendas, such as the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Green Deal, call for urgent transformation, technology emerges as both a potential enabler of sustainability and as a means to mitigate textile industry impacts. However, existing literature remains fragmented, often analyzing technologies in specific operational condition or focusing on singular dimensions of sustainability. By conducting a systematic literature review of recent academic contributions (2020–2024), this study examines how technologies support the environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainability in the textile industry. The review identifies and categorizes 88 articles from the Scopus database, revealing a diverse yet disconnected research landscape. From the content analysis, technologies are grouped into three clusters: emerging, established, and process-oriented. To offer an integrative perspective, the paper introduces a multi-level taxonomy that links technologies to specific sustainability-related weaknesses across the textile value chain. Findings show that while some technologies, especially Blockchain and data-driven systems, demonstrate convergent sustainability benefits, most generate partial or domain-specific improvements, such Artificial Intelligence (AI) which raises concerns related to equity and digital exclusion (Park et al., 2020). The social dimension remains the least addressed, emphasizing the need for comprehensive strategies and governance frameworks to guide equitable technological adoption. This research offers a structured framework to support vertically integrated textile industries in understand how technology adoption can mitigate their own sustainability challenges and offers practical insights for firms aiming to align their own business to innovation and SDGs goals.
The Role of Technology in Advancing Sustainability: Insights from the Textile Industry / Ianniello, Sara; Cricelli, Livio; Strazzullo, Serena. - (2025), pp. 1024-1033. ( 20th International Forum on Knowledge Asset Dynamics IFKAD 2025 Naples-Italy 02-04 July 2025).
The Role of Technology in Advancing Sustainability: Insights from the Textile Industry
Sara Ianniello
;Livio Cricelli;Serena Strazzullo
2025
Abstract
The textile industry is facing increasing scrutiny for its environmental pollution, waste of water and energy, labor issues, and inefficiencies throughout the value chain (Pedersen and Gwozdz, 2014). As global agendas, such as the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the European Green Deal, call for urgent transformation, technology emerges as both a potential enabler of sustainability and as a means to mitigate textile industry impacts. However, existing literature remains fragmented, often analyzing technologies in specific operational condition or focusing on singular dimensions of sustainability. By conducting a systematic literature review of recent academic contributions (2020–2024), this study examines how technologies support the environmental, economic, and social pillars of sustainability in the textile industry. The review identifies and categorizes 88 articles from the Scopus database, revealing a diverse yet disconnected research landscape. From the content analysis, technologies are grouped into three clusters: emerging, established, and process-oriented. To offer an integrative perspective, the paper introduces a multi-level taxonomy that links technologies to specific sustainability-related weaknesses across the textile value chain. Findings show that while some technologies, especially Blockchain and data-driven systems, demonstrate convergent sustainability benefits, most generate partial or domain-specific improvements, such Artificial Intelligence (AI) which raises concerns related to equity and digital exclusion (Park et al., 2020). The social dimension remains the least addressed, emphasizing the need for comprehensive strategies and governance frameworks to guide equitable technological adoption. This research offers a structured framework to support vertically integrated textile industries in understand how technology adoption can mitigate their own sustainability challenges and offers practical insights for firms aiming to align their own business to innovation and SDGs goals.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
