The textile industry is responsible for a significant amount of global CO2 emissions, exceeding those from several other sectors such as international aviation and shipping. This article outlines the reasons for the textile industry’s contribution to climate change along with an overview of current trends. Finally, it outlines several measures to reduce its carbon footprint.

Purpose: This paper reviews the literature on environmentally sustainable practices in textile, apparel and fashion (TAF) industries to allow the mapping of practices across various manufacturing processes and the development of a conceptual framework to guide investigation of the extent of sustainable practices in TAF industries from an environmental perspective.Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review was undertaken, consisting of bibliometric and content analysis of 91 articles published in peer-reviewed journals over a 10-year period.Findings: The inclusion of sustainable practices from all manufacturing stages in this review illustrates the diversity and complexities of environmental practices in TAF contexts. However, there is less research in developing country contexts, where most TAF production takes place and a paucity of research in upstream stages of garment washing and dyeing, and the manufacture of trims, accessories and packaging.Research limitations/implications: The focus is on environmental sustainability and upstream manufacturing processes. The review includes literature in the form of academic journal articles from selected databases during the period January 2010–June 2020.Practical implications: This review provides academics with a unified depiction of environmentally sustainable practices to stimulate further scholarly research and provides guidance for managers to develop firm sustainability competency by summarising best practices at different manufacturing stagesOriginality/value: This review comprehensively maps the academic literature on environmentally sustainable practices in TAF industries from an upstream manufacturing operations context. It highlights the contribution of scholarly study to the knowledge base on environmentally sustainable practices in TAF industries.

Purpose: This paper seeks to identify the inhibitors and drivers of CSR implementation in fashion garment manufacturing from a supply chain management perspective.Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative case study approach was adopted, using purposive sampling to select seven export garment manufacturers of varying size and business model in Sri Lanka. Primary data was collected through on‐site face‐to‐face interviews with managerial level and operational level informants within each company and through non‐participant observation within factory environments. Data analysis was conducted manually.Findings: Adopting SCM principles supports CSR implementation in supplier facilities in global fashion garment supply chains by overcoming the negative effects of retail buying practices. It also progresses supplier CSR performance beyond that which is achievable via a coercive, compliance‐based model by encouraging suppliers to be innovative and take ownership of the CSR agenda. Hence, aspects of supply chain relationship management may be more critical in progressing CSR implementation than traditional bureaucratic monitoring and auditing mechanisms.Practical implications: In an industry sector facing unique pressure on cost as well as lead time, fashion retailers must understand how to align CSR implementation with the unique competitive challenges of the sector. Analysing the success of CSR implementation in the Sri Lankan export garment manufacturing industry enables managers to identify barriers and supporting factors to CSR implementation in global fashion supply chains.Originality/value: This paper presents industry‐specific data from a key global garment manufacturing country on a commercially sensitive subject. Its contribution to extant literature is the development of a CSR framework that identifies inhibitors and drivers to CSR implementation from a fashion supply chain management perspective.