Fabric production
This survey gathers detailed information about the fabric used in your garment. You'll be asked to provide a name for the fabric, its weight percentage in the total garment, and the type and density of the fabric. We also need to know where the fabric was produced and the main mode of transport from the production site to the garment manufacturing location.
In addition, please enter the cost of the fabric, along with details about any dyeing processes and certifications the fabric may have. If available, you’ll also be asked to share information about the yarn production and the types of fibres used.
What you need to know
Environmental impact
The environmental footprint of fabric production is based on the electricity required for weaving, knitting, or producing non-woven fabrics. The amount of electricity consumed depends on the fabric weight (GSM) you provide, which is converted into a yarn count (Nm). This allows us to apply default electricity consumption values from IDEMAT (2012) based on the yarn count. Where possible, the electricity grid mix of the fabric’s production country is factored in, using data from Ecoinvent.
Social impact
The social external cost is calculated based on the country of fabric production and the provided fabric cost, which is converted to a per-garment cost, taking into account any process losses. We selected ‘manufacture of textiles’ as the reference sector in our database.
If the country you enter isn't in our database, we use a global average based on key textile-producing countries. Please note that the transport of fabric is not yet included in the social impact calculation.
Exclusions
Currently, due to limited data, the environmental and social impacts of dyeing and finishing processes are not factored into the True Cost calculation.