The fashion business has been accused of inflicting significant environmental harm, and unless we start making sustainable decisions right away, the situation will only get worse. With the introduction of fast fashion, more than 85% of the clothing produced each year ends up in dump folders, and the textile sector is to blame for 10% of the world’s carbon emissions. The industry severely contaminates the soil, water, and air.
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However, by making a few sustainable decisions, we have the ability to significantly lessen these damages right now. We can significantly benefit the environment if we consciously convert to sustainable fabrics. This article introduces 10 really environmentally friendly materials that we ought to keep using in the future.
How do you define a sustainable fabric?
Three criteria can be used to identify sustainable cloth. The first thing we need to do is ask, “Where does this stuff come from? Finding out whether the raw materials need to be processed before being used to make fabrics is the second thing we need to do. The third issue to think about is a fabric’s end-of-life prospects, including where it will go and whether it will have a negative influence on people or the environment. This is significant since textiles account for 7.7% of municipal solid waste in landfills and many unsustainable fabrics wind up in the garbage.
Therefore, it’s important to think about whether a fabric will last for a long time or whether it can eventually be recycled or composted if it cannot.
What makes fabrics eco-friendly?
Fabric is the first step in an ethical and sustainable fashion.
What do we consider when selecting eco-friendly fabrics? One of the first steps we can take to make our wardrobes more environmentally friendly is to choose sustainable textiles, whether we’re making the garments or just love fashion but don’t like how it affects the environment.
The question of which materials are actually sustainable, however, is hotly contested. So let’s talk about it in the sections below.
10 sustainable and eco-friendly fabrics
1. Organic hemp
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Hemp is a flexible plant that may be used to make a wide range of goods, including food, construction materials, cosmetics, and textiles. Due to its all-season applicability and capacity to become softer the more washes it receives, it is one of the oldest textiles still in use today.
Hemp is also a relatively low-maintenance plant. It is inherently eco-friendly and requires little water and no pesticides. Even nutrients are returned to the soil!
2. Recycled Cotton
Utilizing either post-industrial or post-consumer waste, recycled cotton is created. Many slow fashion businesses use this, and for good reason. This implies that your favourite eco-friendly cotton t-shirt or eco-friendly denim bottoms might be created using leftover fabric from the fashion industry or other recycled cotton clothing.
Cotton that has been previously used helps keep used clothing out of landfills. However, because it’s difficult to determine where recycled cotton comes from, certifications and regulations are challenging.
3. Organic Cotton
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Given that organic cotton is far more environmentally friendly than conventional cotton, it is past time for us to make a distinction between the two. Cotton is widely grown since it is unquestionably the material that is utilised the most in the apparel business.
The main issue with conventional cotton is that it is continually produced on the same ground, depleting it of its nutritious value. Large amounts of water must be used, wasting resources, in order to increase soil fertility.
4. Organic linen
Organic linen offers many of the same benefits as hemp in that it is naturally biodegradable, has been grown for hundreds of years, and requires no maintenance. It is also delicate, light, strong, and naturally moth-resistant.
There is extremely little plant waste because linen fabric can be made from every component of the plant. Although the production process involves a fair amount of mechanical labour and generates some emissions, the fabric is still one of the greenest materials available.
5. Cork
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By merely cutting the bark off a cork oak, cork may be collected responsibly. Quercus suber should truly be harvested to extend its life. While its bark is regrowing, the tree absorbs more carbon dioxide than the majority of other tree species. Cork-producing plantations can act as a carbon sink in this way.
The cork can be gathered, dried in the sun, and then transformed into something suitable for clothing with just a little water. Cork is an important component of a special environment.
6. Bamboo Linen
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The most essential reason bamboo linen is favoured over other fabrics is that, provided there is sufficient rainfall in the region where they are grown, it may be used without the use of any external water.
Water wastage is one of the main criticisms of the garment business that are valid, and it is eliminated when we use bamboo linen. Since bamboo trees may be harvested for their fibre without dying, a steady supply of the fibre can be maintained by the trees’ quick recovery.
7. Lyocell
Lightweight wood pulp fabric called Lyocell has excellent qualities such as being very absorbent, anti-bacterial, odourless, and moisture-resistant. Lyocell is biodegradable since the wood pulp is a plant-based material, which contributes to its sustainability as a fabric.
Although cellulose fibres must be produced through the chemical digestion of wood pulp, the water and chemicals used in the process are typically recyclable.
8. Modal
Modal is a different semi-synthetic fabric that has a strong reputation for being incredibly comfortable and breathable. Like lyocell, which is formed from eucalyptus pulp, modal is made from beech trees.
It uses the same closed-loop production method of recycling water and solvents that is also utilised for lyocell, but it produces significantly less waste and chemicals than unsustainable viscose rayon fabric.
9. Organic Jute
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Jute is one of the most environmentally friendly fabrics available, given that it is also highly durable, recyclable, and biodegradable. This cloth, which has a gritty feel, is made from bast tree stalks. They can be the most environmentally friendly cloth one can currently envision when they are grown using organic practices.
10. Recycled Nylon
Recycled nylon, a strong substitute for virgin nylon, is created from nylon that has already been consumed, such as fishing nets or pre-owned garment fabrics. By being used commercially, abandoned fishing nets are kept out of the ocean where they would otherwise end up as trash, making the marine environment somewhat safer for marine life.
