Rethinking Textiles: Advancing Circular Design and Sustainable Material Innovation in Fashion

The textile and fashion sector faces mounting demands for sustainability as the environmental impact of material production, consumption, and waste has come into sharp focus. Current textile lifecycles—dominated by linear “take-make-dispose” models and heavy reliance on synthetic fibers—pose significant challenges for resource use, waste accumulation, and pollution. Recent research has illuminated the complexity of textile fiber flows and highlighted inefficiencies and losses throughout the value chain, particularly at stages such as raw material sourcing, design, manufacturing, and end-of-life processing. These findings underscore the pressing need for innovation upstream to prevent pollutant and waste generation at the source, fostering systemic change that goes beyond end-of-pipe solutions.This Research Topic aims to explore transformative strategies and technologies for achieving fiber sustainability in the textile and fashion industries, emphasizing circular economy principles. Key objectives include investigating advances in renewable and biodegradable fiber development, integration of life-cycle thinking into product and system design, and the creation of circular business models that prioritize reusability, recyclability, and minimal environmental footprint. By addressing the full value chain and fostering synergies across research fields—ranging from material science and engineering to circular design and sustainable business—the Research Topic seeks to accelerate the transition from linear to circular textile systems.Submissions are expected to focus on the upstream aspects of fiber sustainability, including the invention and application of renewable and biodegradable textile materials, design frameworks that enable circularity, and system-level interventions that promote closed-loop value chains. Research exclusively concerned with the detection, quantification, or direct health effects of microplastic fibers should be directed to other specialized topics.We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:-Development and application of bio-based and biodegradable fibers and textile materials.-Circular design principles and methodologies for fashion and textile products.-Systemic barriers, challenges and enablers for fiber-to-fiber (or material fabrics and polymers) recycling and reuse mechanisms-Integration of life-cycle assessment in the early stages of textile product development and end-of-life assessments.-Strategies for scaling up closed-loop systems within existing fashion supply chains to reduce environmental impact. Topic editors: Prabhuraj D. Venkatraman, R Rathinamoorthy Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/74961/rethinking-textiles-advancing-circular-design-and-sustainable-material-innovation-in-fashion