Unveiling Sustainability, Traceability, and Transparency in the Textile and Apparel Industry: Exploring Distinctive Concepts and Varied Motivations for Adoption

The textile and apparel industry is increasingly focusing on sustainability, traceability, and transparency, but their definitions and interrelationships remain unclear. Also, there is limited understanding of the motivations driving companies to adopt them. This study investigates how companies perceive traceability and transparency in relation to sustainability and explores the motivations behind their adoption through a qualitative approach. Data were collected from 11 in-depth interviews with U.S. textile and apparel company executives. The findings revealed that traceability and transparency are distinct concepts, with transparency depending on traceability and company decisions. Sustainability emerged as a major theme, with traceability and transparency as essential components. Motivations for adopting traceability and transparency differed. Internal factors like claim authentication and risk identification were emphasised in traceability adoption, while external factors including consumer demands, industry associations, and regulations motivated transparency adoption. These findings enrich the literature, suggest avenues for future research, and support practical implementation.