Sustainability in workwear and protective equipment

This article is from our current issue of save. You can order a copy here order

Every year, more than 100,000 tons of clothing are thrown away across Switzerland. But anyone who is happy about cheap prices for T-shirts or jeans should be aware that thousands of liters of water are polluted for these items of clothing, from the extraction of raw materials to production. In addition, the demand for ever cheaper textiles leads to extreme cost pressure and thus promotes child labor and social grievances.

A rethink has begun

The collapse of the Rana Plaza textile factory in April 2013 raised public awareness of working conditions in the textile industry worldwide. Many well-known brands had their products manufactured in this factory in Bangladesh. Despite recognizable construction defects in the partly illegally built factory building, the textile workers were instructed to continue working there. This catastrophe with 1135 deaths and 2438 injuries and other incidents gave the textile industry the impetus to face up to its social and ecological responsibility more intensively.

«Rash conclusions such as »natural fabric good, man-made fiber bad' fall short - the life cycle assessment over the entire product life cycle is crucial."

Since then, many initiatives have emerged around more sustainable textile production and the desire for transparency in the value chain has grown. Workwear, workwear and protective clothing are now also increasingly being advertised as «sustainable». But what exactly does sustainability mean for textiles?

Ecological sustainability criteria ...

Textile products can pollute the environment in many ways. Pesticides and artificial fertilizers are used in the cultivation of fibres. The production of fabrics often requires large quantities of water and energy, which usually comes from fossil fuels. Some of the resulting wastewater is released into the environment untreated, meaning that the ecological costs are outsourced and affect the local population. Efforts to make textile production more environmentally friendly involve several levers:

• Raw materials & materials: environmentally friendly materials; recycled or bio-based raw materials; no harmful chemicals such as PFAS, PVC or halogenated flame retardants
• Design & service life: high repairability; durable and therefore more resource-efficient materials; replaceable components (e.g. straps, upholstery); washable and reusable instead of disposable products
• Care & use: PPE that requires little water, energy or chemicals for cleaning; clear care instructions that extend the service life
• Production & supply chain: energy-efficient production using renewable energies; short transportation routes; regional production
• Circular economy & transparency: manufacturers' take-back programs; recyclability of materials at the end of their useful life; transparent information on service life and disposal

... plus social sustainability

The second major pillar of sustainability is social aspects. The focus here is on employees in the textile industry and their working conditions:

• fair working conditions, without forced labor
• the protection of children, no child labor
• Social justice and participation
• fair prices and fair trading conditions
• Health, safety and fire protection in the workplace
• Equal opportunities and education
• democratic structures, e.g. via cooperatives of producers

These two central aspects of ecological sustainability and social sustainability are often supplemented by economic sustainability, i.e. responsible economic activity in order to lay a stable foundation for long-term growth.

Complex valuations

It is important to understand that the sustainability approach is never a snapshot or based on a single product property. Rash conclusions such as «natural material good, man-made fiber bad» are not very useful. It is always necessary to consider the life cycle assessment over the entire product life cycle, also known in specialist literature as LCA (Life Cycle Assessment).

The example of cotton shows how pigeonholing leads to false conclusions. For good reasons, a product made from renewable raw materials is considered to be more environmentally friendly than a product that requires synthetic materials of fossil (and therefore limited) origin to manufacture. However, this does not automatically mean that a natural fiber is always the better choice compared to a synthetic fiber. This becomes drastically clear in the case of cotton. As its cultivation requires huge amounts of water, the ecological damage is enormous and has, for example, almost dried up the once mighty Aral Sea. Producing a man-made fiber from crude oil requires energy and produces greenhouse gases. However, if the product made from synthetic fibers dries faster, does not require ironing and can be washed much more frequently and at lower temperatures until it wears out, these aspects must be weighed against the environmental benefits of a natural fiber.

Consider the entire life cycle

Only a systematic analysis of all potential environmental impacts and energy balances of a product throughout its entire life cycle, from raw fiber extraction to production, transport, use and disposal, provides a reliable assessment of its sustainability. However, in view of global and branched production chains, it has proven to be complicated to consistently include all life cycle phases of a product in sustainability assessments. The back and forth surrounding the EU's Supply Chain Act, which has since been weakened, and the discussions on the Supply Chain Duty of Care Act in Germany demonstrate the explosive nature of this issue.

In the ideal case, the product life cycle becomes a closed loop in which discarded products are disposed of in such a way that they become the raw material for new products (recycling, upcycling). The so-called cradle-to-cradle approach is based on a consistent circular economy - without waste and without harmful substances. Products should be designed and manufactured in such a way that they can be completely returned to biological (compost) or technical cycles (recycling) as valuable nutrients at the end of their useful life.

Seals, labels, certificates

There are around 230 sustainability labels for products sold on the European market. These include several dozen relating to fabrics, textiles and shoes. The variety of sustainability labels is almost unmanageable for consumers and purchasers. Insiders speak of a «proliferation of labels» or a «jungle of labels». Some labels tend to indicate ecological aspects such as CO2 reduction or recyclability, while other labels focus on social requirements. A universal seal that covers all criteria relevant to sustainability is not in sight.

The good news is that the online portal labelinfo.ch provides guidance on the labels, seals and product labels available on the Swiss market. The database behind it was developed with the support of the FOEN. In the textiles category (as of January 2026), 18 labels are shown and roughly evaluated in terms of credibility, environmental friendliness, social compatibility and (where applicable) animal welfare. On balance, the experts« assessments vary between »Excellent« and »Conditionally recommendable".

No second-hand PPE

If you enjoy rummaging, you can find all kinds of interesting and inexpensive items of clothing in second-hand stores, second-hand stores and at flea markets. This is always sustainable. However, such multiple use is not a good idea for protective equipment, where extreme caution is required because

• the previous loads and effects are not known, protective functions may be impaired
• Damage or contamination can be invisible
• Materials age and can wear out unnoticed
• Helmets, harnesses and breathing masks have a limited service life
• Manufacturer information may be missing

In the case of supposed bargains - such as sales of remaining stock - you should make sure that the goods are unused and in their original packaging.

Protective functions have top priority

When striving for more sustainability in workwear or protective equipment, there is also the aspect that this must never be at the expense of safety. Unfortunately, there are sometimes conflicting requirements here.

One example: According to the EU PPE Regulation, PPE should be «as light as possible», regardless of its strength and effectiveness. Composite fibers (fiber composites) are known for their extreme lightness. A mixture of different types of fibers can offer top protection at the lowest possible weight, but the product is usually no longer recyclable. This is because it is a challenge to keep composite materials in closed material cycles.

As well as opting for durable and repairable PPE and workwear, sustainability can also mean looking at alternative procurement models. Many products can be rented instead of having to buy them. Textile service providers offer individual solutions for most industries.

Innovative approaches

Despite technical and regulatory hurdles, more and more promising developments towards sustainability are emerging in the textile industry, including for clothing in the workplace. Several manufacturers already offer workwear made from recycled PET bottles. Other examples show the range of innovative approaches:

Bikinis made from recycled plastic: since 2020, a Zurich-based company has been producing sustainable swimwear and winter jackets from recycled PET plastic that was previously fished out of the Limmat. The entire production chain, from plastic waste to textile product, is located in Switzerland.

New yarn made from pine needles: In November 2025, the ConFiTex project was launched at Zwickau University of Applied Sciences. The young researchers want to produce a compostable yarn in accordance with the OekoTex® standard from previously unused fiber materials - the needles of native pine trees.

T-shirt made from bio-based polyethylene: In the «bioPEtex» project, sports textiles made from specially developed yarns were produced for the first time in 2025. The first T-shirt made from bio-based polyethylene should impress with its cooling and soft feel.

Completely compostable workwear collection: A major workwear supplier has presented a completely compostable collection in 2023. Every piece of fabric, every yarn and every button, including packaging, is certified according to the cradle-to-cradle approach.