Textiles and Garment Lifetimes

This chapter opens up the many levels about the meaning of lifetime in the textile and fashion sector. The main emphasis is on the garment field (the material side of the fashion system). As around 60% of manufactured textiles are used in the garment sector (Niinimäki et al., 2020), this chapter also actively discusses textile materials and touches upon fashion as an economic, material and symbolic system. Product lifetime is not a well-defined concept and can be approached from many different viewpoints such as design and manufacturing, use, maintenance or disposal behaviour, repairing culture, waste recycling and business understanding.

This chapter will start the discussion with economic models, which form and lead to a certain kind of product lifetime. It will discuss the aspects of longevity and quality as textile and garment longevity are critical aspects in sustainable development. Several lifetime concepts will be examined in the context of a circular economy, after which optimal lifetime will be discussed.