A Digital Capabilities Framework for Textile Life-Cycle Assessment

Challenge

Fashion carries a large share of global emissions, yet life-cycle assessment (LCA) is still manual and disconnected from the digital tools the industry actually uses. There was no structured way to judge how digitally capable an organisation is at each stage of an LCA.

Approach

I built the Digital Capabilities Evaluation Framework (DCEF) using Design Science Research across three iterations: a version grounded in the literature, one refined through thematic analysis of seven expert interviews, and a final version stress-tested against two real corporate LCA reports (Allbirds and Fristads). Each iteration moved the framework from a theoretical model toward a validated, practical diagnostic.

The framework scores eighteen challenges across the four ISO 14040/14044 phases on a five-level maturity scale — L1 Manual, L2 Basic Digital, L3 Standardised, L4 Connected and L5 Optimising. A phase-level profile shows where an organisation sits today and what moving up a level would require.

Outcome

The final framework produces a phase-by-phase maturity profile, a technology-to-data map and an improvement roadmap. Stress-testing surfaced seven structural weaknesses and drove the V3 changes, confirming the framework works as a practical diagnostic rather than a checklist.

Highlights

• Framework built across 3 iterative design cycles
• Refined with 7 expert interviews using thematic analysis
• Stress-tested on 2 corporate LCA reports; surfaced 7 structural weaknesses