Sustainability and the social fabric: Europe's new textile industries

Abstract

At a time when the trend for social enterprise or entrepreneurial community development is gaining momentum across the world, Sustainability and the Social Fabric: Europe’s New Textile Industries, provides current knowledge of unique assets and capabilities being created in the European textile and clothing sector.

In a context of the European Union’s knowledge economy initiative developed in response to the decline of the European textile industry, the book presents a picture of how innovation through social sustainability and entrepreneurship embedded in the unique skill sets of local communities can enable a competitive future for the European textile sector. Case studies of textiles SMEs present different socially sustainable innovation eco-systems. The case studies supported by interviews with key leaders and by comparative analysis drawn from enterprises based outside Europe, demonstrate how market competitiveness can be achieved by helping to maintain the local social fabric, promoting the value of industrial artisans, and by encouraging consumer participation in the making narrative.

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