About

Why is it so difficult to access reliable and credible impact calculations for textile products? That is the question that founded bAwear in 2020. As a young but experienced start-up, they believe life cycle assessment (LCA) calculations should be accessible, credible, and cost-effective. With reliable environmental insights, textile companies can make better decisions and take the first steps towards sustainable action.

Challenge

The textile supply chain is under increasing scrutiny as customers become increasingly aware of its environmental impact. Companies also need to conform to a growing number of EU and national regulations. The result? The industry is in dire need of reliable information and data on the environmental footprint of textile products. However, this proves to be challenging due to complex supply chains, various factors to consider, and the many stakeholders involved. Calculating the footprint requires both expertise in the textile sector and an in-depth understanding of life cycle assessment.

The textile industry urgently needs better data and information about its environmental impact. With upcoming regulations and increasing demands for transparency, textile companies and organizations must have accessible, effective and scalable tools to establish the impact of their products.

Anton Luiken, CTO at bAwear Score

Conventional LCA studies are time-consuming and resource intensive. However, sustainability metrics are crucial to reduce the environmental impact of textiles and apparel. After all, you cannot manage what you do not measure. Decreasing the environmental impact of textiles and apparel starts with reliable insights into the impact of your product. With all this in mind, bAwear and PRé joined forces and built bAwear Score.

Solution

bAwear Score is an online service for the environmental impact assessment of textile products. The life cycle assessment model at the base of the service is built in SimaPro. The model covers all processes in the supply chain from cradle to grave: from material composition to spinning, weaving, knitting and manufacturing, transportation to the product’s final destination, use and finally end-of-life. The LCA analysis and impact calculations are done by the SimaPro calculation engine using API.

bAwear Score enables you to calculate, validate, compare, and communicate the environmental impact of textile materials and products. Currently, two services are available:

• Advanced: In-depth insights using primary data, taking the entire supply chain into account. This service also includes an Excel importer functionality for bulk impact calculations of thousands of products. This is made possible via an API connection between the end user and the SimaPro calculation engine.
• Expert: An elaborate and customized LCA study of your textile product conducted by a consultant from the bAwear team.

Calculate the environmental impact of hundreds of textile products – ranging from fashion to workwear and interior textiles – by using bAwear Score. The app takes into consideration the product type, material composition, spinning, fabric construction, finishing and dyeing techniques, color depth, production locations, distribution, use, and end-of-life. The result is direct insights into three crucial environmental indicators: carbon emissions, energy use and water use. You can also compare products and explore the differences in various impact areas: fiber materials, yarn production, fabric production, dyeing and finishing, manufacturing, transport, use and end-of-life.

bAwear Advanced and bAwear Expert offer advanced metrics that are based on primary data from your supply chain. With actionable sustainability data and insights, you can detect impact hotspots, design more sustainable products and make data-driven decisions.

Benefits

• Fact-based footprint information

bAwear Score provides sustainability insights based on in depth knowledge of textile processes and products combined with robust life cycle assessment methodology and reliable LCA software that has over 30 years of expertise in environmental metrics.

• Accessible, easy-to-use tool

With its low costs and easy use, the bAwear Score is the perfect tool to get started with assessing the environmental impact of your textile products from cradle to grave. As your need for sustainability insights grows, you can upgrade to the Expert service.

• Cost-effective, reliable solution

bAwear Score is more cost-effective and scalable than a traditional LCA study, without undermining the reliability of the results. The SimaPro API connects bAwear Score to the SimaPro calculation engine and ensures robust, trustworthy results.