ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY: FROM TRASH TO FASHION ADORNMENT - GREEN INNOVATION POSSIBILITIES

---

• Pages

---

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the crafting of fashionable accessories from waste fabric. This aims to equip small scale garment manufacturers with the potential of transforming their waste into valuable fashion adornment. It is based on findings reveled in relation to waste generated by Ghanaian small scale fashion industries and manufacturers and their waste disposal practices. The green innovation and green practice possibilities were adopted to create environmentally sustainable fashion product giving new life to fabric waste. In achieving this objective, the practice-based-research was employed for the study, this afforded the researchers a practical approach to help create value added green artistic products. The concept of material collaborations was also adopted. The main material that was used for the projects was scraps from African prints. These scraps are pieces of African prints off cuts that are found at garment manufacturers shops. The findings from the studio practice revealed that the fabric off cuts depending on their colour and sizes can be fabricated into green innovated fashion adornments. It was also brought to bear that the supposed trash from the small-scale garment industries could be given new life by transforming them into brooches, flower bouquet, flower accents and other possibilities. The success of the study provides numerous opportunities for small scale garment manufacturers to explore fabric waste materials found on their workshop floor, intend to reduce the amount of waste in the environment.

---

Keywords

• Fabric waste
• Fashion adornment
• Green innovation
• Environmental sustainability

---

Editorial History

• Received: 19 Jun 2024
• Revised: 01 May 2025
• Accepted: 21 May 2025
• Available online: 23 Jun 2025

---

References

Acquaye, R., Sawyerr, N. O., & Kusi, C. (2022). West Africa prints: Fusion of global textile design traditions in textiles and clothing along the silk roads. In Textiles and clothing along the silk roads (pp. 243–255)

Adeloye, A. A. (2022). Examination of the basic components of African print fabric designs produced in South West Nigeria. Turkish Journal of Fashion Design and Management (TJFMD), 4(2), 89–102

Adeloye, A. A., Akinbogun, T. L., & Ogunduyile, S. R. (2023). The production of African print fabric designs: A user-centric design approach. Prithvi Academic Journal, 6, 32–48.
DOI 10.3126/paj.v6i1.54604

Afonso, C., Gavilan, D., García-Madariaga, J., & Gonçalves, H. M. (2018). Green consumer segmentation: Managerial and environmental implications from the perspective of business strategies and practices. In A. Leal-Millan, M. Peris-Ortiz, & A. Leal-Rodriguez (Eds.), Sustainability in innovation and entrepreneurship (pp. 137–151). Springer.
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-57318-2_9

Ajila, K. O. (2016). An appraisal of traditional woven fabric production in south western Nigeria. European Journal of Sustainable Development, 5(1), 63–76

Akinwumi, T. (2008). The ‘African print’ hoax: Machine produced textiles jeopardize African print authenticity. The Journal of Pan African Studies, 2(5), 179–192

Amankwah, A. M., & Howard, E. K. (2013). Technical limitations of African prints and their implications on garment construction in Ghana. Journal of Science and Technology, 33(1), 75–83.
DOI 10.4314/just.v33i1.8

Ankersmit, W. (2010). The wax print: Its origin and its introduction on the Gold Coast [Master’s thesis, University of Leiden, the Netherlands]

Bailey, K., Basu, A., & Sharma, S. (2022). The environmental impacts of fast fashion on water quality: A systematic review. Water, 14(7), 1073.
DOI 10.3390/w14071073

Bolis, I., Morioka, S. N., & Sznelwar, L. I. (2017). Are we making decisions in a sustainable way? A comprehensive literature review about rationalities for sustainable development. Journal of Cleaner Production, 145, 310–322.
DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.01.025

Brozović, D., D’Auria, A., & Tregua, M. (2020). Value Creation and Sustainability: Lessons from Leading Sustainability Firms. Sustainability, 12(11), 4450.
DOI 10.3390/su12114450

Candy, L., & Edmonds, E. (2018). Practice-based research in the creative arts: Foundations and futures from the front line. Leonardo, 51(1), 63–69

Carr, D., Cruthers, N., Smith, C., & Myers, T. (2008). Identification of selected vegetable textile fibres. Studies in Conservation, 53(Suppl. 2), 75–87.
DOI 10.1179/sic.2008.53.Supplement-2.75

Chakraborty, J. N. (2012). Strength properties of fabrics: Understanding, testing, and enhancing fabric strength. In P. A. Annis (Ed.), Understanding and improving the durability of textiles (pp. 31–58). Woodhead Publishing.
DOI 10.1533/9780857097644.1.31

Chen, Y.-S., Chang, T.-W., Lin, C.-Y., Lai, P.-Y., & Wang, K.-H. (2016). The Influence of Proactive Green Innovation and Reactive Green Innovation on Green Product Development Performance: The Mediation Role of Green Creativity. Sustainability, 8(10), 966.
DOI 10.3390/su8100966

Chichi, C., Howard, E. K., & Baines, E. (2016). Assessment of consumer preference in the use of African wax prints in Ghana. International Journal for Innovation Education and Research, 4(10), 67–76

Colvin, R. M., Witt, G. B., & Lacey, J. (2020). Power, perspective, and privilege: The challenge of translating stakeholder theory from business management to environmental and natural resource management. Journal of Environmental Management, 271, 110974.
DOI 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110974

DeBoer, J., Panwar, R., & Rivera, J. (2017). Toward a place-based understanding of business sustainability: The role of green competitors and green locales in firms’ voluntary environmental engagement. Business Strategy and the Environment, 26(7), 940–955.
DOI 10.1002/bse.1957

Dereje, D., Liu, J., & Zhou, J. (2013). African textile design and fabric arts as a source for contemporary fashion trends. In 2nd International Conference on Science and Social Research (ICSSR 2013) (pp. 229–233). Atlantis Press

Dyck, B., & Silvestre, B. S. (2018). Enhancing socio-ecological value creation through sustainable innovation 2.0: Moving away from maximizing financial value capture. Journal of Cleaner Production, 171, 1593–1604.
DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.09.209

Eiadat, Y., Kelly, A., Roche, F., & Eyadat, H. (2008). Green and competitive? An empirical test of the mediating role of environmental innovation strategy. Journal of World Business, 43(2), 131–145.
DOI 10.1016/j.jwb.2007.11.012

Elimam, H. (2017). How green economy contributes in decreasing the environment pollution and misuse of the limited resources? Environment and Pollution, 6(1), 10.
DOI 10.5539/ep.v6n1p10

Fletcher, K. (2014). Sustainable fashion and textiles: Design journeys. Routledge

Halls, J., & Martino, A. (2018). Cloth, copyright, and cultural exchange: Textile designs for export to Africa at the National Archives of the UK. Journal of Design History, 31(3), 236–254

Howard, E. K. (2016). The external bottlenecks of the Ghana textile industry. Ghana Journal of Science, Technology and Development, 4(2). http://gjstd.org

Ismail, S., & Azha, S. F. (2018). Cotton cloth: Diversified applications beyond fashion and wearable cloth. Current Trends in Fashion Technology & Textile Engineering, 2(3), 55587.
DOI 10.19080/ctftte.2018.02.55587

Jones-Quartey, C. (2023). Fabric waste disposal: The case of small garment manufacturers within Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana [Master’s dissertation, Takoradi Technical University]

Jurkowitsch, S., & Sarlay, A. (2010). An analysis of the current denotation and role of wax fabrics in the world of African textiles. International Journal of Management Cases, 12(3), 28–48

Kansanba, R. F., Okpattah, V., Osei, M. A., Ayesu, S. M., & Asmah, A. E. (2021). Redesign of functional Kaba (blouse) apparel for Ghanaian breastfeeding mothers. Journal of Textile Science and Technology, 7(1), 41–54.
DOI 10.4236/jtst.2021.71004

Kemp, R., & Pearson, P. (2007). Final report of the MEI project measuring eco innovation. Brussels, DG Research of the European Commission, Eurostat, the European Environment Agency (EEA), and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission

Khan, M. R., Dip, T. M., Rashid, M. E., Haque, R. U., Neloy, F. K., Salehin, S. M. M., Sayem, A. S. M. (2023). Comparative analysis of production processes and quality parameters of two different semi-combed yarns. Journal of Natural Fibers, 20(1).
DOI 10.1080/15440478.2022.2163333

Khanzada, H., Khan, M. Q., & Kayani, S. (2020). Cotton based clothing. In H. Wang & H. Memon (Eds.), Cotton science and processing technology (pp. 1–15). Springer.
DOI 10.1007/978-981-15-9169-3_15

Kneipp, J. M., Gomes, C. M., Bichueti, R. S., & Frizzo, K. (2019). Sustainable innovation practices and their relationship with the performance of industrial companies. Revista de Gestão, 26(2), 94–111.
DOI 10.1108/REGE-01-2018-0005

Kumar, S. A., (2020). Bio-Dyes, Bio-Mordants and Bio-Finishes: Scientific Analysis for Their Application on Textiles. IntechOpen.
DOI 10.5772/intechopen.92601

Le, N. (2020). The impact of fast fashion on the environment. Princeton University. https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/7/20/the-impact-of-fast-fashion-on-the-environment

Li, G., Wang, X., & Wu, J. (2019). How scientific researchers form green innovation behaviour: An empirical analysis of China’s enterprises. Technology in Society, 56, 134–146.
DOI 10.1016/j.techsoc.2018.09.012

Lund, S., Manyika, J., Woetzel, J., Barriball, E., Krishnan, M., Alicke, K., Birshan, M., George, K., Smit, S., Swan, D., & Hutzler, K. (2020). Risk, resilience, and rebalancing in global value chains. McKinsey Global Institute. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/risk-resilience-and-rebalancing-in-global-value-chains

Manju, V. V., Divakara, S., & Somashekar, R. (2020). Studies on structure and elasto-mechanical properties of Suvin cotton fibre. Journal of Scientific Research, 12(4), 607–620.
DOI 10.3329/jsr.v12i4.47269

Marshall, C. (2010). A research design for studio-based research in art. Teaching Artist Journal, 8(2), 77–87.
DOI 10.1080/15411791003618597

Mills, M. C. (2009). Materiality as the basis for the aesthetic experience in contemporary art [Doctoral dissertation, University of Montana]

Mohammed, D., Shiyani, R. L., & Ardeshna, N. J. (2018). Growth dimensions of long staple cotton area, production and yield in Gujarat, India. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 7(5), 2993–3005

Mubarak, M. F., Tiwari, S., Petraite, M., Mubarik, M., & Raja Mohd Rasi, R. Z. (2021). How Industry 4.0 technologies and open innovation can improve green innovation performance? Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, 32(5), 1007–1022.
DOI 10.1108/MEQ-11-2020-0266

Nielsen, R. (1979). The history and development of wax-printed textiles intended for West Africa and Zaire. In The fabrics of culture: The anthropology of clothing and adornment (pp. 467–498)

Omatseye, B. O., & Emeriewen, K. O. (2012). An appraisal of the aesthetic dimension to the African philosophy of cloth. Journal of Language, Technology & Entrepreneurship in Africa, 3(2), 57–67

Opoku, J., Amankwah, M. A., & Assibey, G. B. (2022). Advancing unconventional bridal gowns detailing designs through cosmopolitan localism to promote environmental sustainability. Journal of Science and Technology, 40(3), 113–127

Post, S., (2024). Fest of Movement. https://www.simonepost.nl/index.php/portfolio/hermes-2-5-2-4-2/ (Accessed April 19, 2025)

Safo-Ankama, K., Sawyerr, N. O., & Wiredu, C. (2023). The saga of fabric waste disposal: The case of small-scale garment manufacturers in Sekondi-Takoradi in perspective. Conference Proceedings, Faculty of Applied Arts Conference, Takoradi Technical University, Takoradi

Shonibare, Y., (2025). Biography. https://yinkashonibare.com/biography (Accessed April 19th, 2024)

Sonaike, E. (2024). African inspired cushions. https://evasonaike.com/collections/cushions (Accessed April 19, 2025)

Stanescu, M. D. (2021). State of the art of post-consumer textile waste upcycling to reach the zero-waste milestone. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28, 14253–14270.
DOI 10.1007/s11356-021-12345-6

Stoltz, B. (2023). A Nature Thing: What Does Contemporary Ecological Art Produce? Arts, 12(2), 67.
DOI 10.3390/arts12020067

Takalo, S. K., & Tooranloo, H. S. (2021). Green innovation: A systematic literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 279, 122474

Yang, X. C. (2013). Green materials - New favourite of fashion innovation. In Advanced Materials Research (Vols. 694–697, pp. 3209–3212). Trans Tech Publications, Ltd.
DOI 10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.694-697.3209

Related Contents

---