Chemical risk assessment in textile and fashion

Various chemicals are used for production of textile products and garments and as a result these chemicals are intentionally or unintentionally present in the finished consumer products. Though there are many benefits of using and presence of these chemicals in textiles, they may have detrimental effect on consumer health and environment upon exposure that cannot be overlooked. Such risk related to textile chemicals occurs due to exposure. There are many kinds of exposure that may occur in various stages of textile production, as well as use and recycling. In this chapter, all such kinds of risk arising from various textile chemicals and substances, their extent of detrimental effects, and assessment methods of risk are presented. Risk assessment has been carried out in different dry and wet processing areas of a garment finishing factory. Presently, control over different health and environmental hazards due to the exposure of chemicals is very difficult to achieve by textile and fashion industries due to diversity of chemicals used and their large volume of consumption during manufacturing process. Also, complex and multitiered textile supply chain is another factor making the process more tedious. Chemical information is not always transparent and does not always move smoothly along the supply chain. The increasing sense of social responsibility and public awareness about the environment has forced the textile manufacturers to produce more environmentally friendly products. Many companies are focusing on the use of sustainable production ways. This chapter gives a brief overview of understanding the chemical risk in textile and fashion industries.