Social Sustainability in Textile Industry

Abstract

The textile and clothing related industry holds a remarkable position in the global merchandize trade across countries. Budding countries account for two-third of global exports in textiles and clothing. In the world textile market, USA and Europe import textiles and apparels from Asia which acts as a prime region. India’s one of the oldest business is textiles, and it has a remarkably sturdy occurrence in the nationwide market and contributes about 14 % to industrial production, 4 % to gross domestic product (GDP), and 27 % to the country’s foreign exchange inflows. It also provides direct employment to over 45 million people. Textile industry is retaining sustained growth by affording one of the most basic needs of people for developing quality of life, and it holds the importance. The ready-made garment (RMG) industry is one of the largest urban employers in India and is a key driver of the national economy. Over the past twenty years due to increase in the labour inputs the industry has changed from informal to formal factory based industry, which is highly dependent on labour inputs. This section of the book deals with social aspects of sustainability in various sectors of textile industry. The textile industry manufactures fabric from natural and man-made fibres. There are different stages of processing starting from sorting, roving, spinning, blending, and dyeing, and finally, the fabric is either weaved or knitted. Labour is vital to the sector’s current competitiveness and long-term capability. Workers’ skill levels, productivity, and motivation make the industry’s ability to be a focus and retain the right quantity and quality of workers, domestic labour laws, and regulations, and workers’ living conditions and costs in urban areas are all critical in the circumstances of a continuously changing economic environment. In South Asia and other emerging economies, where low-cost labour is extremely important for industry competitiveness, the clothing industry has been subject to different legal accusations of labour abuse, including long hours, forced overtime, and low wages. Because of these factors, there have been many state and non-state attempts to try to secure sound labour and other practices in the sector while maintaining its international competitiveness. There are some major sustainability issues in each sector. There are risks in terms of worker abuse, types of wages, gender equality, child labour, etc. The sustainability issues differ from one sector to another. The issues might differ between work processes in a sector. Normally, the issues are of social, economic, and environmental sustainability. There are many ways to analyse the sustainability issues within a sector. It depends on market and suppliers, product demands, geographic location, technology and labour force demographics, and their skills.