4 - Measuring the reusability of textile products

Abstract

Reusability is one of the important factors that decides the ultimate fate of the environmental impacts created by a product in its lifetime. Reusable products score over disposable products (the majority) in terms of life cycle impacts because of their ability to be reused. For apparel products, the majority of the life cycle impacts lie in the consumer phase and the use phase is the hotspot for most of the apparel products amongst their different life cycle phases. Any product, including textile products, has to fulfill its reusability criteria, that is it has to be reused for the maximum number of times it is intended to be in service life. If a product fails to be reused for the maximum number of times it is supposed to be reused, its environmental impacts will be exceptionally higher than its normal potential environmental impacts. Reusability is one of the important criteria in deciding the life cycle impacts and hence its quantification is crucial in assessing the potential life cycle impacts of a textile product. This chapter discusses this important aspect in different dimensions in the context of life cycle assessment with various scientific examples. Additionally, this chapter defines the basic parameters to be tested to decide upon the functionality/functional life of textiles and clothing products.