Comparative LCA of Natural and Synthetic Fibre Systems
topic
Comparative fibre LCA applies consistent system boundaries, functional units, and allocation procedures to cotton, polyester, wool, nylon, lyocell, and bio-based synthetic fibres across equivalent functional performance scenarios, using weighted normalisation to translate multi-impact profiles into summary indicators that enable cross-fibre comparison beyond single-metric carbon-only assessments.
Role
Provides the evidence base for fibre selection decisions in sustainable textile product development by quantifying the genuine multi-dimensional environmental trade-offs between fibres across climate, water, land use, toxicity, and resource depletion dimensions that simplistic single-metric comparisons systematically misrepresent.