Carbonfact, the Environmental Intelligence platform for apparel and footwear, today released 300+ fully disaggregated LCA datasets for spinning, dyeing, weaving, and knitting, free to use for brands, suppliers, and researchers, available at carbonfact.com/database.
The release addresses a long-standing problem with LCA data for textiles. Most emission factor databases bundle different process technologies into a single, aggregated value. A dyeing process, for example, gets one emission factor regardless of whether it runs continuous or batch, which fiber it processes, or which chemicals it uses, with no visibility into the energy, water, or process inputs behind it.
Brands relying on these factors for product footprints and carbon accounting have had to take that number on faith, with no way to verify it, adapt it to their supply chain, or defend it in an audit.
Carbonfact's database solves this by disaggregating at the unit-process level, differentiating by fiber type, dye, and process technology, rather than bundling everything into a single category average. Every parameter is visible, auditable, and replaceable with a brand's own supplier data. For example, across dyeing, the difference ranges from –52% to +86% compared with the most widely used public dataset.
This first release contains 300+ LCI datasets across spinning (159), dyeing (38), weaving (19), finishing (18), printing (16), textile assembly (15), the textile use phase (15), knitting (13), shoe assembly (5), natural rubber (4), and synthetic PU leather (2).
Each dataset includes full methodological documentation and emission factors across all 16 PEFCR environmental indicators. Subsequent releases will add non-woven fabric formation, viscose, apparel assembly, bovine leather, and dyeing and printing chemicals.
The database was built entirely in-house by Carbonfact's science team, drawing on peer-reviewed literature, direct engagement with textile manufacturers, and primary factory data from Carbonfact for Suppliers, a free data exchange platform used by thousands of facilities. It uses ecoinvent as its background database, covering upstream impacts including energy, chemicals, transport, and waste treatment.
Every dataset has been validated against real production processes and is released under CC BY-SA 4.0, free to use, adapt, and build on, provided derivatives credit Carbonfact and share under the same terms.
The database has drawn strong responses from practitioners at major apparel brands and the European Commission. Carbonfact is participating in the PEFCR technical secretariat sub-group working on the next generation of EU methodology standards.