Seminar as a way to educate engineering students on environmental challenges in the textile industry

The Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Industries Textiles (ENSAIT) is one of the few schools specialising in materials for the textile industry. Each year it graduates around 110 engineers whose role is to meet the challenges of the sector while respecting the values of the companies and environmental standards. The ENSAIT engineer's course takes place over three years. From the first year of the engineering cycle, a seminar on sustainable development is offered. It is held in the second semester and lasts two full days. The first objective is to make them aware of corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues in companies. The second is to build on the knowledge acquired during the last 6 months to develop the life cycle of a garment and understand the associated impacts. Finally, it is to highlight the different possible strategies based on eco-design, fair trade, taking into account the regulatory constraints. This seminar is based on active pedagogy, where students work in teams and compare their results with each other. It also aims to provide the minimum tools to understand ecodesign strategies and to be an informed fashion consumer, and to become a textile engineer capable of participating in and technically supporting companies' CSR initiatives

The importance of lifespan for the ecodesign of textiles : a methodology proposal

Afin de répondre aux enjeux environnementaux actuels, l’économie circulaire ambitionne de découpler la croissance économique de la consommation de ressources. Pour y arriver, elle se base sur la volonté d’accroitre l’efficience de ces ressources en s’appuyant, entre autre, sur l’allongement de la durée de vie des produits. Seule réserve, la notion de durée de vie est à la fois liée au produit et au consommateur et pour cette raison, elle est particulièrement complexe à appréhender, à définir et à évaluer.Par ces travaux nous souhaitons donc contribuer aux réflexions qui portent sur la durée de vie et en particulier sur celle des produits textiles. Pour cela, nous avons construit des indicateurs comme aide à la décision, ils permettent de répondre aux problématiques suivantes : l’estimation de la durée de vie, l’identification des paramètres d’écoconception et l’évaluation du bénéfice de l’allongement de la durée de vie.Le modèle d’estimation de la durée de vie proposé, dénommé « Qualité Orientée Consommateur » (QOC), s’inspire de la définition de durée normative proposée par l’ADEME. Il s’appuie en effet sur des données objectives et retranscrit la capacité des produits à résister au vieillissement. Aussi, afin de faire concorder ce score avec la durée de vie, nous avons pris le consommateur en compte en s’intéressant notamment à sa perception vis-à-vis de l’usure.S’intégrant dans la démarche d’écoconception et d’économie circulaire, nous souhaitions nous servir de la connaissance du consommateur pour adapter la fabrication des produits. Nous avons donc associé le score QOC aux caractéristiques des produits dans une analyse de données afin d’identifier les paramètres influents, ainsi connus nous pouvons dégager des recommandations de fabrication.Enfin, nous avons mis ce modèle en œuvre au cas des T-shirts et avons vérifié l’adéquation du score QOC par rapport à une durée de vie « réelle », durée que nous avons intégrée dans des scénarios d’analyse du cycle de vie (ACV) afin de quantifier l’intérêt des produits de plus longues durées de vie. L’ACV offrant un angle statique, nous avons proposé de nouveaux points de vue plus dynamiques : en observant l’évolution des impacts dans le temps, nous sommes effectivement en mesure de quantifier l’influence de la durée de vie d’une part et d’évaluer la cohérence d’une chaine de fabrication par rapport à la qualité produite d’autre part.To meet current environmental challenges, the circular economy aims to separate economic growth from resource consumption. To do so, it relies on levers to increase resources efficiency, such as lifespan extension. However, since lifespan is related to both the product and the consumer, it is highly complex to define and evaluate.Through this thesis, we wish to contribute to the reflections on lifespan and on that of textile products in particular. We thus provided indicators such as a multi-criteria decision-making model that helps to address the following issues: to better estimate lifespan, to identify eco-design parameters and to evaluate the lifespan extension benefits.The proposed lifespan estimation model, called “Consumer-Oriented Quality” (COQ), is inspired by the definition of normative duration given by the French environmental agency ADEME and primarly relies on objective data which reflects the ability of products to resist ageing. But to obtain a more precise model of lifespan, we have also taken the consumer into account, focusing on their wear and tear perception.As part of the eco-design and circular economy approach, we wanted to benefit from our knowledge of the consumer to adjust product manufacturing. We therefore combined the COQ score with the product characteristics in a data analysis and identified the relevant parameters, so we could draw up manufacturing recommendations.Finally, we implemented our model for T-shirts to check its consistency with respect to a “real” lifespan. This lifespan was integrated into life cycle assessment (LCA) to quantify the benefits of having products with longer lifespans. Since LCA provides a static angle, we have proposed new and more dynamic points of view by observing the impacts’ evolution over time. This enable us to quantify the influence of lifespan and to evaluate the consistency of a production line with the quality produced

A New Longevity Design Methodology Based on Consumer-Oriented Quality for Fashion Products

Design for longevity is known as an eco-design opportunity and could help to reduce the environmental footprint of energy-free items. However, extending the lifespan of products is not always desirable and the focus should be on achieving an optimal lifespan. Operationally, recommendations for design for longevity usually refer to durability, repairability, upgradability or emotional attachment. The use of high-quality and robust material is frequently stated, although it is not obvious what high-quality material is. Based on a quality by design approach, this study aims to propose a methodology to design for optimal longevity with a consumer-oriented approach. To do so, it includes data collection of product quality and manufacturing processes and then embeds consumers’ knowledge. These are combined into data analysis to help to highlight relationships and the most appropriate quality contributors. This methodology relies on three-steps: first, a single quality score which includes consumers’ knowledge; secondly, a multi-scale reverse-engineering process; and finally a data analysis using principal component analysis. The originality of such a proposal is that it enables the consumers’ knowledge to be considered in the identification of appropriated quality contributors. The proposed methodology is implemented in the fashion sector as it is said to be the second most polluting one. Moreover, given the huge variety of materials and production processes available in textiles, the selection of the most suitable recommendations to support a longer lifespan is very complex. The presented case study involves 29 T-shirts and reveals the mechanical-related strengths to be the main quality contributors