The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is implementing a three-year project (from September 2020 to August 2023) funded by the European Union: Innovative Business Practices and Economic Models in the Textile Value Chain (InTex).

The project has five components. Two components have global reach and three components will focus on national implementation in three countries in Africa where textiles is a key economic sector and where companies, including SMEs, are part of multinational value chains (for example, exporting towards the European market). Technical intermediaries from three countries (Kenya, South Africa and Tunisia) are partnering with UNEP to implement the three components with a national focus.

The InTex project aims to:

• Provide SMEs and governments with more knowledge about resource efficiency, lifecycle thinking, circularity and eco-innovation in the textile value chain
• Train textiles stakeholders on eco-innovation and product environment footprint (PEF)
• Accompany textiles businesses as they transform their approach and business models in order to increase sustainability and circularity in the textile value chain
• Increase access to environmental and lifecycle data so that textiles businesses and policy-makers can make more informed decisions and implement relevant strategies
• Provide evidence of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the various sustainable economic models in the textiles value chain. This will help bridge the science-policy gap and raise awareness about the potential impacts of adopting and fostering innovative sustainable and circular policies and practices.