The textile and leather industries face major challenges in achieving environmental and social sustainability throughout their production chains. The companies Nudie Jeans and Sandqvist are now collaborating with researchers at University West to explore new approaches and better methods for increasing traceability and transparency.
The companies participating in the project view sustainability as a natural part of their operations. Nudie Jeans and Sandqvist already work actively to create transparent and responsible production chains and have built strong relationships with their textile suppliers. However, the leather industry presents a completely different challenge – its supply chains are more complex and harder to trace. Therefore, the companies want to further develop their methods and deepen their understanding.
Both companies are taking part in a newly launched four-year research project led by Livia Norström, researcher in informatics and Work-integrated learning at University West. Together, they will take a closer look at the challenges that exist within the textile and leather production chains.
Complex processes
“There are several factors that make it challenging to create transparency in the value chains of both the textile and leather industries,” says Livia Norström. “Production processes are often complex and involve many actors in different parts of the world, which makes traceability and insight more difficult.”
“In some parts of the chain, especially outside Europe, it can be difficult to obtain reliable information about working conditions and environmental impact. For example, tanneries are often small-scale operations in countries such as India, which makes it harder to monitor workplace safety and sustainability efforts.”
“At the same time, there are both environmental and social risks — such as chrome tanning and poor working conditions — that require new methods to identify and manage effectively,” Livia points out.
Today’s audits are insufficient
Today, companies use social audits to measure and report working conditions. However, these methods have proven inadequate and result in only marginal improvements. One goal of the project is therefore to complement current auditing programs with new, more effective methods.
“We want to develop new methods and forms of collaboration that strengthen traceability and transparency in the production chain. The companies strive to build long-term, trust-based relationships with their suppliers — not just to meet legal requirements, but to truly understand the working conditions. That insight is essential for creating real change and for communicating sustainability efforts openly and credibly.”
The project focuses on three areas
- Dialogue and joint learning between the companies, their suppliers, and academia. The goal is to create open discussions about social sustainability and jointly identify ways to improve processes that strengthen working conditions and rights in the supply chains.
- Design of a digital self-assessment tool that enables workers in the leather industry to report their own working conditions and allows suppliers to monitor them continuously.
- Development of digital product passports that include not only environmental data but also social aspects.
“We’re not creating an entirely new product passport but further developing the existing ones. The companies we collaborate with have come a long way in their work on social sustainability, but current legislation on digital product passports focuses almost exclusively on environmental aspects,” Livia explains.
“That’s why we want to work together with the companies to develop methods that make it possible to add social dimensions to digital product passports — thereby providing a more comprehensive picture of sustainability in production.”
“Complicated to measure working conditions”
Livia sees several challenges in this work.
“Sustainability has many dimensions, and measuring working conditions is complicated. We are dealing with people and phenomena shaped by cultures very different from our own. This requires humility and sensitivity. Together with the companies and their suppliers, we are trying to understand local norms and everyday life while developing methods that work in a global context. It’s a balancing act between contributing to improvement and avoiding solutions that lack local grounding.”
The work has just begun, together with a new PhD student, Janice Aguilar Gustavsson, who previously studied sustainability issues in the textile industry during her master’s program in Work-Integrated Sustainable Development at University West.
Could become a model for other industries
The results from this research project could benefit more industries than just textiles and leather.
“New EU directives now impose much stricter requirements on manufacturing companies to collect and disclose information about how their products affect the environment, as well as social and ethical conditions throughout the product’s entire life cycle.”
“Therefore, we hope to contribute knowledge and methods that make it possible to integrate both social and environmental aspects into digital product passports and other traceability solutions. It’s about developing approaches that not only meet legal requirements but also create transparency and trust in complex global value chains. In this way, the project could become a model for how different industries can work together to meet future sustainability challenges.”
Contact: Livia Norström, Researcher in Informatics and Work-integrated learning, University West
Read more about the KK-funded research project