The study explores the strategic pricing and quality improvement decisions under uncertain demand in a three-layer textile and garment supply chain. According to whether the fabric manufacturer (FM) invests in quality or not and whether the garment manufacturer (GM) or garment retailer (GR) is willing to share the costs or not, five game models are constructed to investigate the impact of different members\' cost sharing on the optimal decisions and profits. By conducting a theoretical and numerical analysis, we find that: (1) The GM\'s or GR\'s cost sharing plays a positive effect on the quality improvement, as for whose cost sharing performs better in improving the quality depending on the proportion of cost sharing, and the quality improvement is highest with both members share the costs simultaneously. (2) The FM receives the highest profit when both members share the costs simultaneously, however, whose cost sharing is more profitable for the FM is also related to the proportion of cost sharing; in short, the FM always benefits from the cost sharing, no matter one member does this or two members do this. (3) The GM (GR) gains the highest profit when only the GR (GM) shares the costs, and the results indicate that if one member has shared the costs, whether the other member engaging in cost sharing could benefit the former depending on their proportions. Specifically, when the GM (GR) chooses to share the costs and the proportion is relatively low, the GR(GM) joining in cost sharing is beneficial to the former; otherwise, is harmful.

The textile industry is known for its significant environmental impact, and as such, there is a growing need to assess the industry\'s production practices. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is an effective tool for measuring the environmental impact of textile products from raw material production to end-of-life disposal. Surat city, known as textile hub of India, has multiple industrial clusters that play host to different elements of the textile value chain. This research aims to evaluate the environmental performance of a Surat-based textile company. The study involves the collection of data from textile manufacturing facilities, including gray cloth production and wet processes (gate-to-gate approach). The data collected has been analyzed using the GABI (9.2.1 version) software. The study provides potential environmental impact data on present textile technology and production situation. Significant hotspots have been determined throughout supply chain and the associated drivers identified. However, the industry\'s environmental impact can be reduced by practicing ecoefficiency, immaterialization, and recycling textile waste. This research highlights the importance of LCA in identifying the environmental impact of the textile industry and provides a basis for developing sustainable practices to minimize the industry\'s environmental impact.

This paper develops an outsourcing collaboration model from a firm\'s perspective operating in a developing economy. The model considers that producers of the final goods residing in a developed country, and operators of manufacturing plants in a developing country collaborate with each other. The final goods producer supplies headquarter services for the production of intermediate goods in the developing country. The operators of manufacturing plants also supply their services in the domestic economy. This arrangement leads to foreign outsourcing collaborations (FOC) between firms of developed country and developing country. The operators of manufacturing plant maximize revenue subject to the cost constraint. The first order conditions suggests that an increase in wages of skilled labor, price of domestic inputs, and cost of production deter FOC. On the other hand, an increase in demand for and price of foreign headquarter services increases the FOC. Empirical analysis based on data collected from 217 clothing (textile and apparel) firms in the city of Faisalabad (Pakistan) reveals that an increase in wage to labor-productivity ratio reduces FOC. An improvement in skilled of the labor and foreign headquarter services give rise to FOC, whereas an increase in economies-of-scope enhances FOC. Additionally, an inverted U-shaped relationship is found between the cost of production and FOC, which shows that at the initial stage, the firm\'s cost of production increases with an increase in the level of FOC, but soon after the tipping point, the firm\'s cost starts decreasing with a further increase in FOC.

Surging environmental issues confiscate stakeholders\' attention due to growing competition. Sustainable performance in this regard is viewed as a suitable tool because it not only gauges firm\'s financial performance but also covers social and environmental areas. However, sustainable performance cannot be achieved without creating sustainable business advantage. Green supply chain practices are known to be implemented in terms of sustainability as they are cross-looped as well as cross-organizational. The practices help in the reduction of environmental impact of business activities without compromising on quality, performance, cost, and energy usage efficiency. The reason encourages the authors to explore the role of selected green supply chain factors, customer preference, and leadership factors in shaping sustainable business advantage. The study has examined the association by adopting the quantitative research method. The researcher has gathered data from 530 employees in the purchasing department, logistics, import/export officers, and packing staff. The data was analyzed statistically by employing SPSS for preliminary analysis and AMOS for testing the structural model and the hypotheses of the study. Using confirmatory factors analysis and structural equational modeling, the researcher has analyzed the study\'s measurement model and the hypotheses of the study. The findings of the research have depicted that there is a significant positive impact of lean management and green product design with sustainable business advantage. Moreover, there exists a mediation of customer preferences and leadership factors between green product design and sustainable business advantage. The study has a few limitations as well and uses a quantitative method; therefore, the study has recommended that future researchers utilize qualitative or mixed methods. The study has several theoretical and practical implications.

The apparel and textile industry is the backbone of the Sri Lankan economy, contributing significantly to the country\'s gross domestic product (GDP). The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which also triggered the ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka, has a profound effect on the organizational performance of apparel sector firms in Sri Lanka. In this context, the study examines the impact of multi-dimensional corporate sustainability practices on organizational performance in the said sector. The study employed the partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique for analysing and testing the hypothesis of the study while using Smart PLS 4.0 software as the analysis tool. Relevant data were collected through a questionnaire from 300 apparel firms registered with the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOI). The study results indicated that \"economic vigour,\" \"ethical practices,\" and \"social equity\" have a significant impact on organizational performance, while \"corporate governance\" and \"environmental performance\" have an insignificant impact. Unique discoveries from this study would be useful to prosper organizational performance and formulate novel sustainable future strategies not limited to the garment industry even during harsh economic conditions.

Contamination of industry-derived antimony (Sb) is currently of great concern. This study was conducted to identify the source of Sb together with other potential toxic elements (PTEs) in a typical industrial area in China and emphasize the contribution of Sb to ecological risk in the local aquatic environment. By investigating the distribution of nine PTEs in surface water in Wujiang County in dry and wet seasons, this study revealed that textile wastewater was the main source of Sb. The distribution of Sb (0.48~21.4 μg/L) showed the least seasonal variation among the nine elements. Factor analysis revealed that the factor that controlled Sb distribution is unique. In general, Sb was more concentrated in the southeastern part of the study area where there was a large number of textile industries, and was affected by the specific conductivity and total dissolved solids in water (p < 0.01). Sb concentration in 35.71% of samples collected from the drainage outlet exceeded the standard limit of 10 μg/L. Results from three pollution assessment methods suggested that >5% of the sampling sites were slightly too heavily polluted and Sb contributed the most. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the administrative supervision of local textile enterprises and elevate the local standard of textile wastewater emission.

The remnants of historical industrial contamination can be detected in many aquatic ecosystems worldwide even at present time. Mrežnica is a river in Croatia that has been, for more than a hundred years, continually exposed to effluents of various industries, which have, in modern time, mostly ceased to operate. Our aim was to establish the level of current contamination and pollution of the Mrežnica river-water and sediments. The study of river contamination at three sites (reference site; site nearby former cotton industry facility in Duga Resa - DRF; industrial zone of Karlovac town - KIZ) in three sampling campaigns (May 2020, April and September 2021) encompassed analyses of physico-chemical water parameters, screening of 369 pesticides, measurement of metal (loid) concentrations in the sediments, and in the dissolved and particulate phases of the river-water. The sediment pollution was assessed through the analyses of total bacteria abundance (by targeting 16S rRNA genes), and their associated metal resistance genes (cnrA, pbrT and czcD) and class 1 integrons (intl1). At the DRF site, industrial organic contaminants that can be traced to textile production were detected (dye and nylon components), as well as increased levels of some metals bound to suspended particulate matter and sediments. At the most downstream KIZ site, occasional high level of industrial herbicide neburon was measured in the river-water, and metal contamination of suspended particulate matter and sediments was evident. Although, based on the comparison with legislation and literature data, the level of contamination was rather mild, the effects on microbial communities were unquestionable, confirmed by increased abundance of the czcD gene at DRF site and the intI1 gene at both industrially impacted sites. Obtained results indicated long-term sediment retention of some industrial contaminants at the places of historical freshwater contamination, and, thus, the necessity for their monitoring even after the termination of contamination sources.

Although environmental awareness has reached a high level, enterprises-regardless of their working domains-follow the concept of greenness for their practices. This awareness among the stakeholders and supply chain experts has a positive impact on the purchasing departments of enterprises in various sectors to consider greenness in their procurement processes. The critical decision that must be made in green supply chain management (GSCM) is supplier selection. In the textile industry, a highly competitive market in recent years, suppliers for this industry have crucial roles in business activities considering environmental issues. Therefore, green supplier selection (GSS) in the textile industry is considered a must-be process for the stakeholders. In this study, a GSS problem is tackled as a multi-criteria decision process. Best worst method (BWM) and TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of interactive and multi-criteria decision-making) methods are merged under an improved fuzzy concept of interval type-2 fuzzy sets (IT2FSs). In determining green suppliers\' evaluation criteria, BWM with interval type-2 fuzzy numbers (IT2F-BWM) is used. In selecting green suppliers, an interval type-2 fuzzy TODIM (IT2F-TODIM) is applied. Considering the characteristics of IT2FSs, BWM, and TODIM methods either individually and in integrated style, the proposed approach can handle uncertainty in the decision-making of GSS. To demonstrate the applicability of the approach, a case study in the Turkish textile industry is performed. Three green supplier alternatives (S1, S2, and S3) are assessed under forty-two sub-criteria. The study shows the most significant sub-criteria are recognized as dye and print quality, product design and pattern suitability, profit on the product, variation in price, and purchase cost. S2 green supplier has been selected as the most appropriate one. A sensitivity analysis is also fulfilled to check variation in the ranking of green suppliers.

The use of chemicals in the textile industry has been widely investigated. This study used an improved method with the USEtox model to assess the environmental impacts of chemical pollutants discharged by the textile industry. The environmental impacts attributed to the discharged chemical pollutants were ranked using a quantity analysis method and a toxicity analysis method. The rankings of the two methods were compared by calculating Spearman\'s correlation coefficients and outliers. The results showed that the human health and ecological hazards potential were mainly caused by heavy metals. The rankings of the environmental impacts calculated with the quantity analysis method were different from those calculated with the toxicity analysis method. Cadmium, hexachlorobenzene and mercury caused severe human and ecological hazards with a small volume of emissions. Zinc and hexavalent chromium were highly toxic chemical pollutants, which could cause severe human health and ecological hazards potential. These five kinds of chemical pollutants should be preferentially controlled to mitigate the environmental impacts caused by chemical pollutants discharged from the textile industry.

BACKGROUND: Since the 2013 Rana Plaza incident in Bangladesh, the government of Bangladesh has been under pressure to improve health and safety conditions for workers in the ready-made garment industry. Its efforts have focused heavily on structural safety of the buildings but have largely ignored broader occupational health system issues. This qualitative study explores contextual factors and system challenges that create barriers for ensuring a healthy and safe workplace in the ready-made garment industry in Bangladesh.
METHODS: Data were collected through key informant interviews (n = 14) with government officials from the Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE), factory employers, factory doctors and representatives from the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). A thematic analysis was conducted using Atlas-ti v 5.2.
RESULTS: A thematic analysis suggests that the capacity of the DIFE to provide adequate occupational health services remains a problem. There is a shortage of both appropriately trained staff and equipment to monitor occupational health and safety in factories and to gather useful data for evidence-based decision-making. Another barrier to effective occupational health and safety of workers is the lack of cooperation by employers in recording data on workers\' health and safety problems. Finally, government officials have limited resources and power to enforce compliance with regulations. Such deficiencies threaten the health and safety of this important, largely female, working population.
CONCLUSIONS: This case example focused on the valuable ready-made garment industry sector of Bangladesh\'s economy. It identifies the critical need for occupational health system strengthening. Specifically system capacity needs to be improved by both increasing human resources for in-factory hazards and health monitoring, regulatory inspection, enforcement, and improved training of government officials around monitoring and reporting.