How Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Can Help Brands Navigate Sustainability

Green Story
HOW LIFE CYCLE

ASSESSMENT (LCA) CAN
HELP BRANDS NAVIGATE
SUSTAINABILITY
Exclusive insights from renowned textile and LCA specialist,
Dr. Kannan Muthu (Chief Sustainability Officer, Green Story)
CONTENTS
01 09
THE IMPACT OF FASHION GREEN STORY IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH TEXTILE INDUSTRIES
IS DEVELOPING A DATABASE
02 FOR KEY PROCESSES AND
ABOUT LIFE CYCLE
MATERIALS.
ASSESSMENT (LCA)
11
04 HIGG MATERIAL
QUESTIONS RAISED
SUSTAINABILITY INDEX
AROUND LCA
15
05 HOW DOES GREEN STORY HELP
HOW DOES GREEN STORY
FASHION BRANDS?
SUPPORT CONSCIOUS
CONSUMERISM?
16
LETTING CONSUMERS DRIVE
06 THE CHANGE
GREEN STORY’S ROBUST
APPROACH TO AVOID
GREENWASHING
greenstory.ca | connect@greenstory.ca
THE IMPACT OF FASHION
Fashion industries have come to the spotlight by contributing to

global environmental and social issues for the last two to three
decades. The decrease in the price of apparel and faster trend
cycles coupled with low quality and planned obsolescence has
increased the volume of clothes consumed globally. There are
significant issues with apparel waste as most clothing and textile
waste ends up in landfills instead of being recycled or reused.
Some recent studies reveal that the fashion industry is responsible
for 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions and if the fashion sector
continues on its current trajectory, the share of the carbon budget
could jump to 26% by 2050.
Apparel is one of the most common products

which a consumer buys frequently. The
environmental impacts created by those must be
known to the customers to alleviate them and to
make right buying choices.
Right from the raw material (fibre) to the finished product

(apparel), manufacturing processes to produce apparels consume
energy, water, chemicals and other resources and are responsible
for various emissions. For instance, the dyeing process used for
coloring apparels requires washing, which consumes enormous
amounts of water, along with many chemicals and energy, which
are creating a burden to our environment. In addition, these
processes are performed in different factories in different parts
of the world, which involve transportation at each stage and have
significant environmental footprints owing to the amount of fuel
used for traction of shipping containers. Therefore, as a consumer
it is important to know the processes that apparel has gone
through to shop responsibly and their corresponding footprints.
01 greenstory.ca | connect@greenstory.ca
ABOUT LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged

as a leading tool to investigate the potential
environmental impacts of all stages of a
product’s life and drive sustainability decisions.
Based on the systematic life cycle (cradle to gate/grave)

approaches, it aids stakeholders to compare products and
processes, and identify hotspots in a product’s life cycle. The
analysis simultaneously draws designers’, engineers’, and
management’s attention towards improvement opportunities
of energy and emission savings obtained while sourcing raw
materials and manufacturing products. According to International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14044/40 standards,
LCA should be carried out in four key phases: Goal and Scope
definition, Life Cycle Inventory Analysis, Life Cycle Impact
Assessment, and Life Cycle Interpretation.
ABOUT LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA)
LCA provides clear insights on how making fundamental changes

in the supply chain (replaced with sustainable fibre or renewable
energy source) can potentially lead to impact in another stage
of the product’s life cycle. Calculation and communication of key
environmental sustainability metrics improve an organization’s
transparency, thus convincing consumers to make improved
choices.
However, LCA may form flawed sustainability claims by using

fabricated data or information. LCA’s are often used to compare
two unparalleled alternative materials and products that can be
misleading to make any claims. Such LCAs that obscure critical
data and information can lead to Greenwashing. This must be
avoided completely. Any life cycle assessment study must follow
ISO 14040/44 standards and avoid greenwashing to the complete
extent.
In light of this, Green Story follows the correct procedures and

adopts robust methods to undertake LCA studies and avoid such
flawed claims. See how we help our customers calculate and
communicate the environmental impacts of their products.
QUESTIONS RAISED AROUND LCA
One recent article by Kat Banfi has alleged the estimations to be

cooked as half-baked LCA. As Green Story has a vision to inform
consumers and presents LCA results in a lucid manner with a
user-friendly interface, one may question the methodology for
estimations without knowing the meticulous procedures followed.
However, all the assessments undertaken at Green Story are well
documented with a detailed Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) report
compliant with ISO 14040/44 standards. Green Story’s approach
to conducting LCA and the methodology adopted are explained in
detail below.
04
HOW DOES GREEN STORY SUPPORT
CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM?
The awareness of environmental footprints is omnipresent in

business strategies but uncommon among consumer behaviors.
With the vision of informed decision-making,
Green Story is working to empower 1 billion

people to know their impact and make choices
that are better for the planet and the generations
to come.
Green Story follows a rigorous methodology (discussed below in
detail) to estimate the environmental footprints, which are later
converted to equivalences that are easy to understand by the
layman. To estimate the marginal savings or higher impacts, the
brand’s supply chain is baselined with the material that has been
conventionally used to produce that product. This baselined supply
chain is geographically consistent with the brand’s supply chains
and considers all identical processes, with the raw material being
the only differentiator. It is to be noted that the impacts are not
compared but baselined to the conventional supply chain in order
to observe marginal improvements.
In addition, Green Story has a mechanism for brands to offset the

impacts generated by the product and indicates if a garment is
carbon neutral or not.
GREEN STORY’S ROBUST APPROACH TO
AVOID GREENWASHING
1 | Rigorous data collection
The fashion and textile sector has vertically integrated supply

chains mainly characterized across the following stages.
• Fibre production which leaves impact due to use

of pesticides, fertilizers, use of agricultural land, and water
consumption;
• Spinning and fabric production which are energy-

intensive processes;
• Dyeing and finishing which uses toxic chemicals,

discharge effluents, and intensive water & energy;
• Clothing or garment manufacturing phase which uses

energy and usually has comparatively lesser impacts.
GREEN STORY’S ROBUST APPROACH TO AVOID GREENWASHING
Transportation of raw materials and finished goods has a

significant share as the apparel industry is a global enterprise and
depends on fossil fuel-based traction.
Fibre production has considerable impacts and is the most critical

one whereas the other processes/stages are also dependent on
the type of material based on its origin i.e. plant, animal or crude
oil based. The data collection procedure is divided based on three
types of LCA studies undertaken by Green Story:
• Screening LCAs: These studies are based on the secondary

datasets and LCA data are collected for the location of all the
suppliers to use the geography-specific secondary datasets,
energy (electricity and thermal) sources with valid proofs at
each facility, and water treatment technology with certificates
for each facility. In addition, information on the technology
front, such as type of knitting, printing, etc. is also gathered to
use the apt datasets.
• Comprehensive LCAs: In addition to the information asked

for screening LCAs, the detailed data questionnaires are
developed for all energy, and non-energy resources (raw
materials, chemicals, water), followed by the emissions data.
Questionnaires cover each phase of the life cycle in detail. All
the data are further benchmarked with industry standards, and
mass balance is ensured. Green Story also performs field visits
for on-site validations.
• Hybrid/ Customized LCAs: These studies are hybrid in a way

where primary data are only used for a few life cycle stages
like fibre production, and further complemented by secondary
datasets for the stages the primary data are not feasible from
the client’s side.
However, Green Story recommends conducting a comprehensive

primary data-based LCA study to all brands.
GREEN STORY’S ROBUST APPROACH TO AVOID GREENWASHING
2 | Usage of validated datasets
The best way to estimate the environmental impacts using LCA

is to use primary data for all the life cycle stages involved in
the specific supply chain, as the secondary datasets represent
the average operations of multiple farmers or manufacturers.
However, this involves a higher cost, more time, and increased
effort, which refrains most of the brands to go for such studies.
Lack of awareness also remains the key factor. Whereas legislation
supporting more studies backed by third-party reviews can
encourage brands to conduct such studies with incentives for
better performance and penalties for worse.
With such constraints, Green Story ensures to use most

representative secondary datasets based on consistent geography
as of the supply chains analyzed. The representative technology-
specific dataset is used and robustness can be assumed based on
the example of the different datasets used for the dyeing process,
i.e. the different datasets for disperse dyeing processes are used
for light, medium, and dark disperse dyeing.
However, there are constraints in the availability of secondary

datasets as well, for which the available datasets from similar
geography (such as using developed/developing country datasets)
are adapted to supply chains which are analysed. This is to make
sure that all the energy sources of the analyzed geography are
used which is the key contributing factor to impacts. Apart from
using the external, scientific databases and the data from peer-
reviewed literature, Green Story has its own credible, scientific
database, which is also used to model supply chains. All the
sources of datasets are mentioned transparently in the final LCA
report.
GREEN STORY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IS DEVELOPING A
DATABASE FOR KEY PROCESSES AND
MATERIALS.
Baselining methodology
Green Story avoids comparative assertions for LCA study without

any third-party review, following requirements of ISO 14044
standard (Section 4.3). Product Category Rules and PEF (PEFCRs)
also provide a strong and clear structure to guide the comparative
LCA study. Similarly, the ILCD has prescriptive requirements for
comparative studies to ensure equivalence between product
systems being compared.
Green Story has developed a methodology to look at marginal

savings or impacts from the specific supply chain. The brand’s
supply chain is baselined with an identical supply chain that is
geographically consistent. For example, if the difference in the
supply chain lies in the fibre production stage and the subsequent
downstream processes are identical, then the baselined fibre is
selected based on the functionality of the product and the origin of
the material, i.e. cotton will not be baselined by polyester or nylon.
Valid proofs for renewable energy/ water recycling/

biodegradable material
Energy consumption and production is directly related to

environmental impacts, including climate change, air pollution,
water pollution, etc,. based on the source of fuel used. This can
also lead to energy greenwashing when a supplier claims to be
using green, or, 100% renewable, but in reality, it is consuming
“dirty” energy. Essentially, making fossil fuel electricity seems
clean.
GREEN STORY IN PARTNERSHIP WITH TEXTILE INDUSTRIES IS DEVELOPING A
DATABASE FOR KEY PROCESSES AND MATERIALS.
At Green Story, renewable energy is only modeled on acceptance

of valid renewable energy proof, failing to which regional grid mix
is used to model electricity supply. Similarly, the water treatment
methods, recycling of water, credits for recycling, biodegradability
of materials, or any other sustainability practices are only
considered on acceptance of valid proofs.
Review mechanism
Green Story assures quality of the LCA’s undertaken by review at

each stage with the strong review team for LCA modeling and for
the LCA reports conforming to ISO 14040/44. The review comments
and the way they are addressed are documented for each project.
The peer-review team at Green Story makes sure that these
reviews are not second to critical reviews as per the requirements
of ISO 14044.
The studies which are meant for public disclosures undergo a

third-party critical review, however, for the studies which are
meant for internal purposes, Green Story conducts an internal peer
review to assure the credibility of such studies as well.
HIGG MATERIAL SUSTAINABILITY INDEX
There are many possible methods and guidelines

for measuring environmental performance,
whether of products or organizations such as
ISO 14040/44 standards, Product Environmental
Footprint Category Rule (PEFCR) guidance,
International Reference Life Cycle Data System
(ILCD) Handbook.
Sustainable Apparel Coalition developed the Higg Material

Sustainability Index (MSI) methodology to guide the environmental
impact assessment of different materials. However, Higg MSI
methodology has been under question for its methodological
flaws. The methodological choices are based on the practical
issues categorized below.
1. Guidance for comparative analysis and public disclosure
The Higg Index website and tool clearly encourage users to

compare products, and therefore promote comparisons using a
public platform. However, there are specific requirements to make
comparative assertions for public disclosures.
On the contrary, Green Story instead baseline the analyzed

supply chain to estimate the marginal impacts or savings and also
follows the requirement by ISO 14044 (section 5.3) to make any
comparative assertions.
2. Choice of system boundaries and functional unit
The Higg MSI applies a cradle-to-gate system boundary

encompassing two out of four major lifecycle stages, without
use phase and end-of-life. There has been no documented
consideration and justification of this exclusion in the Higg MSI

system, which is required as per ISO 14044, section 4.2.3.3.1.
Green Story uses a flexible approach for system boundaries based

on scope including cradle-to-gate, cradle-to-grave, and cradle-
to-cradle systems. For screening LCAs, a simple explanation is
provided in the LCA report regarding the exclusion of the use
phase and end-of-life.
3. Choice of LCA methods and handling multi-functionality
LCA study may be conducted using either attributional (aLCA) or

consequential (cLCA) methods. The choice of appropriate methods
has been covered in the ILCD, and should avoid inconsistencies
regarding the LCA method and allocation method. The Higg MSI
method have not given prescriptive guidance regarding use of
aLCA or cLCA methods and do not give prescriptive guidance with
respect to methods for handling multi-functionality, which leaves a
degree of ambiguity in the Higg MSI and potential inconsistencies
in the underlying datasets and results.
Whereas Green Story uses consistent methods for LCA studies with
a clear description of the LCA method and any allocation applied
in the report.
4. Data quality, transparency and handling of uncertainty
The Higg MSI database was found to rely heavily on three

source documents: van der Velden et al. for yarn formation and
preparation, Cotton Incorporated for colourisation and the Koç
and Kaplan study for textile formation. These data points seem to
be have been applied for multiple fibre types, resulting in a high
proportion of the resulting Higg MSI score relying on generalized
data in the textile manufacturing processes. The heavy reliance
on generalized data from a limited number of studies may not be
representative of global textile manufacturing trends and has the
effect of reducing the representativeness of the results for different

fabrics, and inherently reducing variability between fabric types
because of the standardization of underlying datasets.
Additionally, Higg MSI contains no uncertainty analysis. It is

therefore unclear whether apparent differences between fabric
types are statistically valid.
Green Story uses the most representative data for the material and
process and encourages the use of primary data. Secondary data
is collected from Gabi 10.6.1 database, Ecoinvent 3.8 database,
and the relevant literature. Primary data that is collected from
suppliers is benchmarked and validated by textile experts before
modeling. All the sources of datasets are mentioned transparently
in the final LCA report. The uncertainty analysis is included in the
comprehensive LCAs conducted at Green Story meant for public
disclosures.
5. Exclusion of important impact categories, LCIA methods and

coverage of non-LCA assessed issues
As per ISO 14040, comparative product assessment using LCA

should employ a sufficiently comprehensive set of category
indicators to be used for the decision-making process.  The T-shirt
PEFCR identifies acidification, climate change, resource use,
respiratory inorganics, water scarcity, freshwater eutrophication
and marine eutrophication as the most relevant impact categories
for T-shirts. The Higg MSI currently reports impacts from a subset
of LCA impact categories, namely global warming, eutrophication,
water scarcity and abiotic resource depletion (fossil fuels). In
addition to this, a qualitative assessment of impacts from chemicals
is included. The outcome of comparing fabrics on a small subset of
indicators is arguably insufficient to meet the comprehensiveness
requirement of the standard.
Green Story reports and interprets a comprehensive list of

indicators as included in EF 3.0, ReCiPe, TRACI, CML methodologies
for comprehensive LCAs.
6. Weighting and normalisation
The Higg MSI method involves a normalization and weighting

process to aggregate impacts into a single score. Weighting has a
significant impact on the Higg MSI score and the use of weighting
values could result in unintended environmental outcomes and
burden shifting when different fabrics are compared, Whereas
Green Story only assesses and reports the characterised results
based on widely used methodologies such as ReCiPe, EF 3.0,
TRACi, CML.
HOW DOES GREEN STORY HELP FASHION
BRANDS?
Green Story’s work is aligned towards helping brands to trace

their supply chains, identify their potential footprints, and devise
strategies to reduce the environmental footprint of their products
and organization as well.
Green Story via comprehensive LCAs helps

brands to connect with their suppliers and
provide visibility deeper into the supply chain
In addition to analyzing the best possible representative LCA’s,
Green Story provides numerous ad-hoc services to brands for their
sustainability journey. These include but are not limited to:
• Achieving carbon neutrality through offsets

• Dissemination through webinars
• Training & knowledge transfer via Green Story Academy
• Carbon footprint assessment
• Assessment of material circularity
• Impact reduction plans
LETTING CONSUMERS DRIVE THE CHANGE
With the world developing economically, more and more industries

are flourishing, providing individuals with a wide range of choices
and facilities. People are benefiting from industrial developments,
but another side of the coin is that these industries are causing
concern for the environment. With consumers knowing the
environmental impacts and having the choice, more and more
players will make a shift towards environmental-friendly practices,
use materials that are grown organically or recycled, and invest
in technologies that are less energy intensive and have less
emissions.
Green Story is committed to sustainability

through scientific means and correct procedures.
The LCA and other sustainability initiatives at
Green Story are led by renowned textile and LCA
specialist, Dr. Kannan Muthu (Chief Sustainability
Officer, Green Story). Please reach out to him at
kannan.muthu@greenstory.ca.
For further queries, please contact a member of the Green Story team
connect@greenstory.ca
LinkedIn | YouTube | Website
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Green Story

HOW LIFE CYCLE

Fashion industries have come to the spotlight by contributing to

Apparel is one of the most common products

Right from the raw material (fibre) to the finished product

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged

Based on the systematic life cycle (cradle to gate/grave)

LCA provides clear insights on how making fundamental changes

However, LCA may form flawed sustainability claims by using

In light of this, Green Story follows the correct procedures and

One recent article by Kat Banfi has alleged the estimations to be

The awareness of environmental footprints is omnipresent in

Green Story is working to empower 1 billion

In addition, Green Story has a mechanism for brands to offset the

1 | Rigorous data collection

The fashion and textile sector has vertically integrated supply

• Fibre production which leaves impact due to use

• Spinning and fabric production which are energy-

• Dyeing and finishing which uses toxic chemicals,

• Clothing or garment manufacturing phase which uses

Transportation of raw materials and finished goods has a

Fibre production has considerable impacts and is the most critical

• Screening LCAs: These studies are based on the secondary

• Comprehensive LCAs: In addition to the information asked

• Hybrid/ Customized LCAs: These studies are hybrid in a way

However, Green Story recommends conducting a comprehensive

2 | Usage of validated datasets

The best way to estimate the environmental impacts using LCA

With such constraints, Green Story ensures to use most

However, there are constraints in the availability of secondary

Green Story avoids comparative assertions for LCA study without

Green Story has developed a methodology to look at marginal

Valid proofs for renewable energy/ water recycling/

Energy consumption and production is directly related to

At Green Story, renewable energy is only modeled on acceptance

Green Story assures quality of the LCA’s undertaken by review at

The studies which are meant for public disclosures undergo a

There are many possible methods and guidelines

Sustainable Apparel Coalition developed the Higg Material

1. Guidance for comparative analysis and public disclosure

The Higg Index website and tool clearly encourage users to

On the contrary, Green Story instead baseline the analyzed

2. Choice of system boundaries and functional unit

The Higg MSI applies a cradle-to-gate system boundary

consideration and justification of this exclusion in the Higg MSI

Green Story uses a flexible approach for system boundaries based

3. Choice of LCA methods and handling multi-functionality

LCA study may be conducted using either attributional (aLCA) or

4. Data quality, transparency and handling of uncertainty

The Higg MSI database was found to rely heavily on three

effect of reducing the representativeness of the results for different

Additionally, Higg MSI contains no uncertainty analysis. It is

5. Exclusion of important impact categories, LCIA methods and

As per ISO 14040, comparative product assessment using LCA

Green Story reports and interprets a comprehensive list of

6. Weighting and normalisation

The Higg MSI method involves a normalization and weighting

Green Story’s work is aligned towards helping brands to trace

Green Story via comprehensive LCAs helps

• Achieving carbon neutrality through offsets

With the world developing economically, more and more industries

Green Story is committed to sustainability

LinkedIn | YouTube | Website

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