Raw material production fabric
Textile modelling
Modelling fibre production, spinning and weaving
Textiles often include both natural and synthetic fibres.
Raw material modelling is divided into its individual processes:
- Fibre production
- Spinning, twisting and plying
- Weaving
- Dyeing and/or surface treatment if relevant.
Each step is based on recognised EF (Environmental Footprint) or Ecoinvent datasets.
Textile modelling in Målbar:
- Uses EF and Ecoinvent datasets
- Includes production waste from the individual processes
- Uses yarn-weight dependent energy scaling
- Estimates the conversion of fabric weight to yarn-weight if yarn-weight is unknown
- Applies geographically specific electricity mixes
- Uses the harmonised PEF-allocation of animal products like animal-based fibres
Fibre prodution
We model three main fibre categories:
Plant-based fibres
Example dataset:
“Fibre production, cotton, 1kg, global”
Animal-based fibres
Example dataset:
“Fibre production, sheep wool, 1kg, global”
Man-made filament and staple fibres
Example dataset:
“Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), granulate, 1kg, global”
“Fibre melt spinning, 1kg, global”
For synthetic fibres, modelling includes:
- Polymer fibre production
- Polymerisation
- Fibre melt spinning
- Texturizing
- Staple fibre spinning if applicable
- Production waste during spinning
- Electricity consumption of spinning
This ensures fibre formation impacts are not underestimated.
Spinning, dyeing and plying
Spinning impacts depend strongly on yarn thickness (dTex).
Mathematical scaling functions are derived from EF datasets to model:
- Average spinning (Ring spinning)
- Staple fibre yarns for woven fabrics
- Staple fibre yarns for knit fabrics
Electricity consumption decreases as yarn becomes thicker (higher dTex).
Spinning datasets include:
- Electricity consumption
- Heat consumption
- Production waste
Electricity mixes and heat datasets are geographically specific.
Heat is typically generated from fossil sources.
![]()
Weaving & surface treatments
Weaving impacts depend on:
- Yarn weight (dTex)
- Cover factor
- Weave type (plain, teddy, velvet, etc)
Conversion between fabric weight (GSM – grams per square meter) and yarn characteristics for simple weave types is modelled using fabric geometry equations from:
Modeling of Woven Fabrics Geometry and Properties, IntechOpen, 2012
Weaving datasets include:
- Electricity consumption
- Heat consumption
- Process waste
Surface treatments (coating, finishing, etc.) are added when relevant.
The wool example
– why it is often misunderstood
Wool is frequently assumed to have low climate impact because it is ‘Natural’, renewable and biogenic
However, climate emissions from wool primarily originate from the sheep itself.
Emissions from one sheep
An average global sheep emits approximately:
≈ 400 kg CO₂eq per year
The main sources are:
- Methane (CH₄) from enteric fermentation (Methane is the dominant contributor.)
- Nitrous oxide (N₂O) from manure
- Feed production and stable management
Allocation challenge: wool vs meat
A sheep can produce multiple products:
- Meat
- Wool
- Milk
Climate emissions must therefore be allocated between co-products.
Different allocation methods give different results.
Economic allocation
(Ecoinvent approach)
Allocation is based on the relative market value of each co-product.
If wool represents 45% of the economic value of a sheep’s annual output, it receives 45% of total emissions.
Rationale:
Production of the individual co-products follow economic demand.
∼
Protein-based allocation
(EU Product Environmental Footprint)
Allocation is based on the protein content of its output products.
Under this method, wool may receive a larger share of emissions (e.g. 89%), as meat represents the primary protein function of the system.
Rationale:
Environmental burdens follow
physical causality within the biological production system.
Economic allocation
(Ecoinvent approach)
Emissions are distributed according to market value.
Typical economic split of sheep for wool production:
~55% allocated to meat
~45% allocated to wool
This gives wool a low share of total sheep emissions.
Protein-based allocation
(PEF approach)
Under EU Product Environmental Footprint rules (Annexes 1–2, 2021), animal products are allocated based on protein content during the live stage of the animal.
Typical PEF protein-based split of sheep for wool production:
~90% allocated to wool
~10% allocated to meat
This significantly increases the climate burden assigned to wool. Subsequently the footprint on meat (and milk) becomes less.
Why this matters
Depending on allocation method, wool can appear little intensive or very climate intensive. This explains why wool often surprises stakeholders in climate assessments. Målbar follows the PEF approach.
Modelling Dimension
Plant-based fibres
Animal-based fibres
Man-made filament & staple fibres
Primary dataset source
EU Environmental Footprint (EF)
Ecoinvent 3.11
EU Environmental Footprint (EF)
Dataset example
“fibre production, flax, retting”
wool; sheep; production mix, at farm; 1 kg wool”
“Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), petrochemical based; polymerisation of ethylene glycol and terephthalic acid; production mix, at plant”
Declared unit
1 kg fibre
1 kg fibre
1 kg polymer / fibre
Core emission drivers
Agricultural inputs, retting processes
Enteric methane (CH₄), manure (N₂O), feed production
Petrochemical feedstock production, polymerisation energy
Process coverage
Fibre production
Farm-level biological system
Polymer production + polymerisation
Additional processing included
–
–
Spinning of fibres incl. production waste and electricity use
Scaling logic
Scaled by fibre weight and fabric weight per m²
Scaled by fibre weight and allocation logic
Scaled by fibre weight, fabric weight per m² and yarn characteristics (dTex where relevant)
Structural consistency adjustment
Fabric mass aligned with fibre mass
Allocation between wool and meat according to selected method
Fabric mass converted to yarn characteristics to ensure process-level consistency
Allocation methodology
Not applicable
Biophysical allocation aligned with EU PEF Annex (2021) or economic allocation (ISO 14044 compliant)
Not applicable
Standard alignment
EU Environmental Footprint method
EU PEF Annexes (2021) + ISO 14044 hierarchy
EU Environmental Footprint method
Energy modelling
Region-specific electricity mixes
Region-specific electricity mixes
Region-specific electricity mixes + fossil-based industrial heat where relevant
Data integrity controls
Documented dataset selection
Transparent allocation method
Explicit inclusion of spinning losses and upstream petrochemical processes