Carbon Footprint of a Sweater

This page provides an in-depth analysis of the carbon footprint of sweaters, offering valuable insights and data-driven recommendations to help sustainability leaders benchmark and improve their environmental performance.

19.05 kg CO2e The Carbon Footprint of a Sweater Sweater Carbon Footprint
What's the Carbon Footprint of A Sweater?

What's the Carbon Footprint of A Sweater?

On average, a sweater has a carbon footprint of 28.64 kg CO₂e and weighs 478.83 g. The emissions range from 7.17 to 73.77 kg CO₂e across 123,085 sweaters analyzed. Each sweater consists of 6 components.
  • Minimum footprint: 7.17 kg CO2e
  • Median footprint: 19.05 kg CO2e
  • Maximum footprint: 73.77 kg CO2e

Carbon Emissions by Process Step in Sweater Production

Each sweater's footprint includes emissions from multiple manufacturing stages. The following process steps were identified as carbon hotspots for sweater:
  • Raw Materials 2.91 kg CO₂e
  • Yarn Formation 0.85 kg CO₂e
  • Raw Materials and Yarn Formation 1.32 kg CO₂e
Carbon Emissions by Process Step in Sweater Production

Key Insights from the Environmental Data on Sweater

Raw Material Emissions Hotspot

The raw materials and yarn formation stages have the highest emissions at 2.91 kg CO₂e and 1.32 kg CO₂e respectively, indicating a need to focus on sustainable sourcing and efficient processing.

Emissions Variation Range

With a wide range of 7.17 to 73.77 kg CO₂e, there is significant opportunity to reduce the environmental impact by optimizing processes and materials used in sweater production.

Product Mass Relationship

The average sweater mass is 478.83 g, suggesting a potential relationship between product mass and emissions that could guide design for lower impact.

Component Complexity Factor

Each sweater consists of 6 components on average, which may influence emissions based on material mixes and construction complexity.

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"Shoes can consist of up to 1500 components. Before Carbonfact, we asked our developers to weigh every single piece but such a manual approach is not scalable. Carbonfact helped us  in deriving rules to overcome data gaps by creating accurate assumptions."

Philipp Engels
Product Sustainability Lead at On
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"With Carbonfact we can do full product LCAs on all of our products. Thanks to measuring things early on, we can simulate how a new product is going to have a different impact compared to the current version. For example, one of our new products is expected to decrease its footprint by a fourth just by designing it differently."

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Strategy & Sustainability at La Sportiva
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Florence Degoy Vacher
Secrétaire Générale at A.P.C.
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"What's really special about Carbonfact is the way that it can work alongside the VF brands to help identify where there are gaps in our product impact data. But also helping us bridge towards improving that data. So it's much more of a partner to solve the challenges we have."

Julian Lings
Senior Sustainability Manager, The Northface
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"The Explorer is, for sure, my favorite feature. I love the ability to look at the breakdown of the carbon footprint per product line, for processes or on a material basis. That's so dynamic that we're able to leverage it in different ways depending on the projects that we're working on or the teams that we're engaging with."

Emily Foster
Director of Planet & People Impact at Burton
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"Carbonfact's offerings, particularly its product-level focus for footwear and apparel, ensures we can both measure our carbon footprint and actively find ways to reduce it. Carbonfact has been instrumental in helping us model different scenarios and make informed decisions that align with our sustainability goals."

Aileen Lerch
Sustainability at Allbirds
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"We have moved from spend-based carbon accounting into Carbonfact to prioritize primary data and get more accurate calculations. The main reason for us to choose Carbonfact is that we now not only get our company's total carbon footprint but also break it down for each of our products."

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Global Sustainability Manager at Happy Socks
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References

Data sourced from Carbonfact’s proprietary database, powered by over 50 million LCAs run on textile, fashion, and footwear products. The methodology is aligned with the EU Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) and adapted for product category specificity.

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