Sustainability Innovation in the Textile Industry

The textile industry is known for being labor-intensive and has a significant impact on the environment and society. The aim of this paper is to identify key themes of sustainability innovation in the textile industry and to map research in this area. The methodology used is bibliometric approach, with a total of more than 2,500 Scopus-indexed documents analyzed using the bibliometric method. More than sixty percent of the articles are peer-reviewed journal articles. Publications exhibit an increasing trend from year to year, with the main outlets including, for example, the Journal of Cleaner Production, and Journal of Silk. Conceptually, four quadrants of the thematic map are identified such as niche, emerging, declining, and motor themes. These include basic themes consisting of sustainability, innovation, circular economy, and nanotechnology; motor themes include the economy; niche themes consisting of green innovation, smart textiles, and electrospinning; as well as emerging themes, namely competitiveness and technological innovation.