What Are Sustainable Fabrics?
10 Feb 2024
Every year, 80 billion garments are consumed worldwide. Production grows, collections are released, and brands simply destroy unsold leftovers. H&M alone burns 12 tons of unsold clothes every year. Perhaps you are aware of the consequences of this consumption on our planet and the environment. Can we do something about this worthless junk? Yes, we can: think before we buy.
In the world of fashion and textiles, the last decades have been a time of strong development of eco-fabrics. Some countries are taking a broader look at the issue of eco fabrics and, in addition to natural materials, include synthetic fibers in the list of eco fabrics.
Sustainable fabrics, or eco-friendly fabric is a fabric made without or with minimal use of chemicals and pesticides, using advanced manufacturing and processing methods. When we talk about eco-friendly fabrics, we are not talking about the composition or not only about it. So, for example, pure 100% cotton doesn't mean eco-friendly. These innovative materials have become an integral part of fashion collections and consumer culture in general. Ecological fabrics offer not only stylish and modern designs but also contribute to the conservation of natural resources and environmental protection.
In this article, we will look at the global trend for sustainable fabrics by exploring what eco fabrics are. What are the differences between some fabrics and others? What is the concept of sustainability and how does it affect the fashion and textile industry?
In the world of fashion and textiles, the last decades have been a time of strong development of eco-fabrics. Some countries are taking a broader look at the issue of eco fabrics and, in addition to natural materials, include synthetic fibers in the list of eco fabrics.
Sustainable fabrics, or eco-friendly fabric is a fabric made without or with minimal use of chemicals and pesticides, using advanced manufacturing and processing methods. When we talk about eco-friendly fabrics, we are not talking about the composition or not only about it. So, for example, pure 100% cotton doesn't mean eco-friendly. These innovative materials have become an integral part of fashion collections and consumer culture in general. Ecological fabrics offer not only stylish and modern designs but also contribute to the conservation of natural resources and environmental protection.
In this article, we will look at the global trend for sustainable fabrics by exploring what eco fabrics are. What are the differences between some fabrics and others? What is the concept of sustainability and how does it affect the fashion and textile industry?
What Makes a Fabric Sustainable?
Sustainable fabrics, which are made with sustainability in mind, are textile products that are created with a focus on environmental safety and efficient use of resources. Eco-fabrics are created with minimal use of resources, reducing the negative impact on the environment. Manufacturers strive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce water use and waste, and use energy efficiently.
Limiting the use of chemicals: Many sustainable fabrics are produced without the use of harmful chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides, making them safe for health and the environment. In the production of organic materials, it is even possible to skip the dyeing step. For example, it is possible to leave unbleached linen in its natural state. Most often, of course, coloring pigments are used, but these are always natural dyes: berry juices, flower pollen, and natural mineral powders. And no chemical bleaches.
Respect for biodiversity: The production of organic fabrics contributes to the preservation of natural ecosystems as it does not harm plants, animals, and soil.
High quality: Organic fabrics are often characterized by high quality and durability, which makes them attractive to consumers. Sustainable fabrics should also be durable so that clothes made from them will last a long time. Buying such clothing will be in line with the principle of sustainable consumption, as durable, high-quality garments will last longer - so you can buy new ones less often and reduce waste.
Limiting the use of chemicals: Many sustainable fabrics are produced without the use of harmful chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides, making them safe for health and the environment. In the production of organic materials, it is even possible to skip the dyeing step. For example, it is possible to leave unbleached linen in its natural state. Most often, of course, coloring pigments are used, but these are always natural dyes: berry juices, flower pollen, and natural mineral powders. And no chemical bleaches.
Respect for biodiversity: The production of organic fabrics contributes to the preservation of natural ecosystems as it does not harm plants, animals, and soil.
High quality: Organic fabrics are often characterized by high quality and durability, which makes them attractive to consumers. Sustainable fabrics should also be durable so that clothes made from them will last a long time. Buying such clothing will be in line with the principle of sustainable consumption, as durable, high-quality garments will last longer - so you can buy new ones less often and reduce waste.
The Significance of Sustainable Fabrics in the Fashion Industry
Today, more and more people are paying attention to environmental issues and striving for a sustainable lifestyle. Eco-fashion is not only changing attitudes towards clothing but is also having a significant impact on the entire fashion industry. Brands that introduce sustainable design and the use of ethical materials are gaining popularity among consumers who value environmental and social aspects. This is prompting other brands to rethink their approaches and strive to be more sustainable and ethical.
Sustainable fashion is not just a fashion trend, but an integral part of the development of the fashion industry. Sustainable fabric and design and the use of ethical materials are becoming increasingly important to consumers who want to look stylish while not harming the planet. With the rise of eco-friendly fashion comes new opportunities for designers, manufacturers, and consumers, creating a fairer and more sustainable fashion industry.
Sustainable fashion is not just a fashion trend, but an integral part of the development of the fashion industry. Sustainable fabric and design and the use of ethical materials are becoming increasingly important to consumers who want to look stylish while not harming the planet. With the rise of eco-friendly fashion comes new opportunities for designers, manufacturers, and consumers, creating a fairer and more sustainable fashion industry.
What Are Some Sustainable Fabric Options Available?
The fashion industry is often criticized for its negative impact on the environment, but now there is a growing movement towards sustainable textiles that offer more eco-friendly options. The green trend did not appear out of nowhere. The origins of eco-fashion should be sought in the 70s in the philosophy of freedom-loving hippies, who declared naturalness and everything natural as a symbol of real fashion. From organic cotton to recycled polyester, these innovative sustainable fabrics are changing the way we think about fashion and the environment.
Organic cotton
We always hear that cotton is a natural material that can 'breathe' and so on. However, not all cotton is like that. It all depends on where and under what conditions the plants were grown: more than 25% of the world's pesticides are used to treat cotton fields. At the same time, according to WHO, in some countries, hundreds of people suffer from the consequences of spraying harmful chemicals.
Organic cotton is cultivated without the use of chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds. Producers ensure that employees are paid at a decent level and labor standards are met. They receive GOTS certification, which confirms that the textiles meet international standards.
Look at the composition of the fabric, which should not be mixed. GOTS only guarantees the quality of organic fibers as the sustainable fabric. That is, if the composition, in addition to organic cotton, indicates synthetics - there can be anything.
Regardless of whether you buy organic or conventional cotton, it takes a huge amount of water to make it. It takes thousands of liters to sew one pair of jeans or a basic t-shirt, and that's no joke. Now look in your closet and check how many jeans and cotton t-shirts are lying on your shelves.
Still, cotton is one of the world's most popular sustainable fabrics. It is especially valued in the manufacture of children's clothes, when safety and hypoallergenicity are put in the first place, and harm to the environment takes a back seat.
Bamboo
Like a unicorn: everyone has heard something about bamboo fabric, but few have seen it. It has mythical properties - it's biodegradable, it breathes, and it has antibacterial properties. The only nuance: to turn a hard bamboo stem into a flexible cloth thread, it is necessary to affect it with a special chemical solution, which is then discharged into the wastewater. This fabric is called bamboo viscose.
To minimize the harm to nature, give preference to certified manufacturers. The same GOTS selects factories that utilize a closed-loop water purification and reuse process. In the manufacture of bamboo, cloth can do without chemicals, but this method involves painstaking manual labor, which is reflected in the price of the finished product. Still, if you can afford to "overpay" - do it. The planet will thank you.
Soybean fabric is the "green fiber of the new century"
Yes, soy can be more than just a sauce. This sustainable fabric is soft and pliable and is made from food waste (as gross as that sounds). It can be washed in the washing machine countless times, and it also decomposes naturally pretty quickly. Isn't that perfect?
But there's a spoonful of tar in this honey barrel, too. Soybeans grow perfectly well without chemical fertilizers, but only until industrial quantities are required. And rainforests are being cut down for soy plantations. That's not very nice, is it?
Flax
A material that is not inferior in popularity to cotton. Linen shirt keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer. On the downside, it wrinkles like hell, but there's nothing you can do about it. Besides, there's even a certain careless charm to this particular feature. Another disadvantage: the lion's share of linen clothes produced in our country, looks like a grandmother's potato sack - inarticulate, shapeless, and also crumpled. Therefore, to choose something trendy or at least not too "rustic", you will have to work hard.
In terms of environmental impact, linen production requires fewer resources. In addition, linen clothes are 100% naturally degradable. To take care of the planet, buy linen in terms of sustainable fabric in natural, discreet colors - gray, beige, ivory, etc. Perfectly white tones or bright colors are achieved through chemical action.
Hemp
Let's leave the hemp jokes behind, let's get serious. Hemp has long been used throughout our country. Up until the second half of the 20th century, when the cultivation of this versatile plant was outlawed. That's why most of the stuff on the market is a foreign product.
The plus point of hemp as the sustainable fabric is that they are as strong as cotton, but require fewer resources to produce. In addition, hemp does not deplete the soil, it can be planted over and over again, every year in the same place. By the way, if you hear the name "hemp" - don't get lost, it's the same thing.
Organic wool
Sheep are the main supplier of this natural raw sustainable fabric. It produces wool of different qualities, both good wool with a high content of wool threads, and reconstituted and low-quality wool. In both cases, the label of the product may bear a sign - "100% wool" or "100% wool".
The safest and most natural wool is considered to be organic wool, labeled 100% organic wool Demeter. In this case, it is assumed that the wool is removed without the use of chemicals and sheared only from live sheep, that the animals were kept in humane conditions without the use of antibiotics and growth stimulants, and fed on natural feed.
Tencel
You haven't heard it and for nothing. This sustainable fabric is also called modal and lyocell and is made from dissolved wood pulp. It does an excellent job of wicking away moisture and has antibacterial properties.
Tencel is also a biodegradable fabric, making it eco-friendly. The cost of tencel clothing is small, while things are very wear-resistant. In short, pay attention.
Recycled raw materials
There is an opinion that the future belongs to such sustainable fabric. Sneakers made from plastic caught in the ocean are becoming increasingly popular. You've probably heard about bags made from recycled advertising banners or sweatshirts made from bags. Does that sound absurd? Not at all. This is the way of progress: to buy once-used raw materials to spend less energy and resources to recycle them and not to harm the environment.
Such use is actively promoted by the most progressive fashion houses, including domestic manufacturers. Innovators constantly appear on the market, who manage to make amazing, trendy things out of recycled raw materials!
Organic cotton
We always hear that cotton is a natural material that can 'breathe' and so on. However, not all cotton is like that. It all depends on where and under what conditions the plants were grown: more than 25% of the world's pesticides are used to treat cotton fields. At the same time, according to WHO, in some countries, hundreds of people suffer from the consequences of spraying harmful chemicals.
Organic cotton is cultivated without the use of chemical fertilizers and GMO seeds. Producers ensure that employees are paid at a decent level and labor standards are met. They receive GOTS certification, which confirms that the textiles meet international standards.
Look at the composition of the fabric, which should not be mixed. GOTS only guarantees the quality of organic fibers as the sustainable fabric. That is, if the composition, in addition to organic cotton, indicates synthetics - there can be anything.
Regardless of whether you buy organic or conventional cotton, it takes a huge amount of water to make it. It takes thousands of liters to sew one pair of jeans or a basic t-shirt, and that's no joke. Now look in your closet and check how many jeans and cotton t-shirts are lying on your shelves.
Still, cotton is one of the world's most popular sustainable fabrics. It is especially valued in the manufacture of children's clothes, when safety and hypoallergenicity are put in the first place, and harm to the environment takes a back seat.
Bamboo
Like a unicorn: everyone has heard something about bamboo fabric, but few have seen it. It has mythical properties - it's biodegradable, it breathes, and it has antibacterial properties. The only nuance: to turn a hard bamboo stem into a flexible cloth thread, it is necessary to affect it with a special chemical solution, which is then discharged into the wastewater. This fabric is called bamboo viscose.
To minimize the harm to nature, give preference to certified manufacturers. The same GOTS selects factories that utilize a closed-loop water purification and reuse process. In the manufacture of bamboo, cloth can do without chemicals, but this method involves painstaking manual labor, which is reflected in the price of the finished product. Still, if you can afford to "overpay" - do it. The planet will thank you.
Soybean fabric is the "green fiber of the new century"
Yes, soy can be more than just a sauce. This sustainable fabric is soft and pliable and is made from food waste (as gross as that sounds). It can be washed in the washing machine countless times, and it also decomposes naturally pretty quickly. Isn't that perfect?
But there's a spoonful of tar in this honey barrel, too. Soybeans grow perfectly well without chemical fertilizers, but only until industrial quantities are required. And rainforests are being cut down for soy plantations. That's not very nice, is it?
Flax
A material that is not inferior in popularity to cotton. Linen shirt keeps you warm in winter and cool in summer. On the downside, it wrinkles like hell, but there's nothing you can do about it. Besides, there's even a certain careless charm to this particular feature. Another disadvantage: the lion's share of linen clothes produced in our country, looks like a grandmother's potato sack - inarticulate, shapeless, and also crumpled. Therefore, to choose something trendy or at least not too "rustic", you will have to work hard.
In terms of environmental impact, linen production requires fewer resources. In addition, linen clothes are 100% naturally degradable. To take care of the planet, buy linen in terms of sustainable fabric in natural, discreet colors - gray, beige, ivory, etc. Perfectly white tones or bright colors are achieved through chemical action.
Hemp
Let's leave the hemp jokes behind, let's get serious. Hemp has long been used throughout our country. Up until the second half of the 20th century, when the cultivation of this versatile plant was outlawed. That's why most of the stuff on the market is a foreign product.
The plus point of hemp as the sustainable fabric is that they are as strong as cotton, but require fewer resources to produce. In addition, hemp does not deplete the soil, it can be planted over and over again, every year in the same place. By the way, if you hear the name "hemp" - don't get lost, it's the same thing.
Organic wool
Sheep are the main supplier of this natural raw sustainable fabric. It produces wool of different qualities, both good wool with a high content of wool threads, and reconstituted and low-quality wool. In both cases, the label of the product may bear a sign - "100% wool" or "100% wool".
The safest and most natural wool is considered to be organic wool, labeled 100% organic wool Demeter. In this case, it is assumed that the wool is removed without the use of chemicals and sheared only from live sheep, that the animals were kept in humane conditions without the use of antibiotics and growth stimulants, and fed on natural feed.
Tencel
You haven't heard it and for nothing. This sustainable fabric is also called modal and lyocell and is made from dissolved wood pulp. It does an excellent job of wicking away moisture and has antibacterial properties.
Tencel is also a biodegradable fabric, making it eco-friendly. The cost of tencel clothing is small, while things are very wear-resistant. In short, pay attention.
Recycled raw materials
There is an opinion that the future belongs to such sustainable fabric. Sneakers made from plastic caught in the ocean are becoming increasingly popular. You've probably heard about bags made from recycled advertising banners or sweatshirts made from bags. Does that sound absurd? Not at all. This is the way of progress: to buy once-used raw materials to spend less energy and resources to recycle them and not to harm the environment.
Such use is actively promoted by the most progressive fashion houses, including domestic manufacturers. Innovators constantly appear on the market, who manage to make amazing, trendy things out of recycled raw materials!
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