Water is the most serious long term environmental challenge facing the global textile industry, according to a recent study by Ecotextile News.

Ecotextile interviewed 50 senior executives from the global textile industry for its February/ March 2017 edition and asked them about the environmental and sustainability challenges facing their own organisations as well as the wider textile industry.

Eric Hopmann, CEO of Dystar argued that, “the huge amount of water that is required in textile production and the quality of effluents will require continuous improvements”.

John Cheh, vice chairman and CEO of the Esquel Group, a leading global textile manufacturing business said: “It has been estimated that in China, close to 20 per cent of the wastewater is generated by the textile industry. We must therefore focus on water conservation, wastewater treatment and recycling.”