Sustainability index development for industrial fashion SMEs

Sustainability is one of the most important factors influencing industries in developed countries, which are particularly concerned about the environment and its impact on climate change. Often, evaluation of and guidance on sustainability by government institutions at local, regional, and global levels are highly fragmented and unbalanced. Under these conditions, it is difficult to program and follow sustainability direction in the long run at all levels. The most flexible and, at the same time, the most vulnerable players of the industry-small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs)-could be especially confused. In addition, consumption by humans with growing awareness of sustainability has increased the demand for sustainable products. One of these areas is the fashion industry, where it is extremely challenging to follow luxury trends with this attitude towards materials, their colors, and other features, and remain in high demand. Therefore, this paper focuses on the analysis of sustainability indexes related to the manufacturing and fashion industries and, as an output of this study, proposes a concept of sustainability index for industrial fashion SMEs.