Textiles
In the near future it will be common knowledge that most of the garments we are wearing are by-products of the petrochemical industry. Lycra, nylon, fleece, and polyester, to name a few materials, are composed of petroleum waste products that are always marketed as the next high tech fashion breakthrough. These cheap fibers regularly break down and off-gas chemicals directly into the skin. In the industry it is well known that these fibers may be substituted into garments to reduce cost.
The Textile Fiber Products Identification Act passed in 1960 requires that each textile product be labeled with the generic names of the fibers from which it was made. The generic names are established by the Federal Trade Commission and include twenty-one manmade fiber groups plus the natural fibers. This law applies to all yarns, fabrics, household textile articles, and wearing apparel so it’s easy to identify the fabric content of textile products we use every day. Imported goods must also adhere to this law and the label must also reveal the country of origin.
Label information applies only to the fibers used in the body of the garment. Sometimes labels will read “100 percent natural fiber, exclusive of decoration,” without revealing the fabric of the decoration. Sweaters labeled “100 percent cotton” often have nylon threads running through the bottom edge and sleeve cuffs to help retain their shape. Cotton chamois shirts sometimes have nylon interfacings behind the buttons. Polyester thread may be used in natural fiber garments, as well as synthetic zippers, elastic, trims, linings, interfacings, and plastic buttons and hooks.
All synthetic fibers, whether alone or in combination with natural fibers, will to some degree give of volatile organic compounds. Recent technological advancements in the textile industry have made toxic fabric blends more popular. Most indigenous cultures around the world do not have access to the technology needed to fabricate synthetic clothing and have been living for centuries using naturally derived fibers. Naturally derived garments have stood the test of time, because they are comfortable, durable, and affordable.
All the natural fibers are made from renewable resources and have the potential to be sustainable and nontoxic. The fibers are usually fine, but improvement is often needed in the growing and processing practices, which are highly chemical-intensive and polluting to the environment and the earth.
Cotton is the fabric of our lives. It makes our clothes, our towels, our bedding, our diapers, as well as our currency and paper. It’s even in some of the foods we eat.
Cotton, comprised of fiber and seed, is roughly 40 percent fiber and 60 percent seed. Once cotton is separated in the gin the fibers go to textile mills. The seed and various by-products often find their way untreated into the feed of dairy and beef cattle. Cotton seed, rich in oil and high in protein, is also a common ingredient in cookies, potato chips, and prepared foods.
Globally, over 89 million acres of cotton are grown in more than 70 countries making cotton the world’s most important fiber crop and one of the most important cash crops. It is disturbing to note that cotton is also one of the most intensively sprayed field crops in the world. In fact, cotton alone accounts for more than 10 percent of pesticide use and almost 25% of insecticide use worldwide. The truth behind the “cotton is natural” myth, is that when cotton is conventionally grown, a long chain of chemically intensive, unnatural processes are involved.
To bring this delicate plant to harvest it is, in extreme cases, sprayed between eight and ten times a season with pesticides so poisonous they gradually render fields barren. And that’s just the beginning. To create finished goods, fabrics are often colored with toxic dyes and finished with formaldehyde.
To grow nine ounces of cotton – enough for one T-shirt – it’s estimated that 17 teaspoons of synthetic fertilizer as well as three-quarters of a teaspoon in pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants are used. If you extrapolate further, that means that for every acre of cotton grown, 300 pounds of synthetic fertilizers and 13 pounds of pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, and defoliants are used. In sum, conventional cotton growing takes an enormous toll on the air, water, and soil, not to mention the health of people living in cotton growing areas.
Positive alternatives for the cotton industry and its related businesses are emerging. Over the past decade, a small number of farmers and manufacturers have pioneered the market for organically grown cotton, producing fibers and clothing while significantly reducing toxic chemicals.
“It’s been exciting to see the number and breadth of companies interested in organic cotton,” says Sandra Marquardt, coordinator of the Organic Trade Association’s Fiber Council. The OTA is the business association representing organic agriculture industry in North America. “Whether a company chooses to go 100 percent organic, or blends a percentage of organic fibers with its conventional cotton, it is making important strides in encouraging a healthy environment by supporting organic agriculture,” says Marquardt.
Outdoor apparel maker Patagonia is one such company. In 1996, Patagonia converted its entire cotton sportswear division exclusively to 100 percent organically grown cotton. Other companies have chosen to blend organic cotton into their products. Nike, for example, blended 3 percent organic cotton into more than 20 million T-shirts, with plans to include organic cotton in all of its cotton products by 2003. Levi Strauss purchased over 330,000 pounds of organic cotton to blend in with their 501 cotton jeans.
Linen fibers come from the inner bark of the flax plant and they are possibly the first fibers used by man. Linen is often used in its natural beige shade, but is also bleached or dyed. Linen is sometimes combined with cotton or silk; in colonial times it was generally mixed with wool to make “linsey-woolsey”.
Ramie is a sting less nettle indigenous to mainland China. Most ramie is grown in Asia and is sold in America primarily blended with cotton in sweaters.
Rayon is a quasi-natural fiber. Although rayon is man-made, it is composed of cellulose, a substance found in all plants, instead of pure petrochemicals. Cellulose used in making rayon is taken from cotton linters, old cotton rags, paper, and wood pulp. The cellulose is broken down with petrochemicals and then re-formed into threads resembling cotton or silk. However the process is very toxic. A similar fabric is the new Tencel(TM), which is also made from cellulose using a more environmentally benign process.
Silk is a protein fiber taken from the cocoon of the silkworm caterpillar. Each cocoon is spun from one continuous silk filament extruded from the caterpillar’s body. This fiber is certainly less toxic to humans, but more deadly for the worm.
Wool is a generic term that refers to protein fibers spun from the fleece of over two hundred different breeds of sheep, as well as from the hair of the angora rabbit, the cashmere goat, the camel, the alpaca, the llama, and the wild vicuña.
Kapok is a fiber taken from the seed pod of the tropical kapok, or silk-cotton tree. It is used as a natural stuffing material.
Recycled natural fibers: These are made from pre and post-consumer wastes, which are collected, unraveled, and then respun into yarn for weaving or knitting. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, nationwide over four million tons of post-consumer textiles enter the waste stream every year. Most go to landfills, but charity groups collect around a million tons. About half of the textile products collected are sold as second-hand items, and the rest goes eventually to rag graders. There they are sorted for different markets and either sent to other countries for sale as used clothing, or chopped up and used to make items such as blankets.
Recycled synthetic fibers: Some polyester fabrics and stuffing materials are now being made from recycled PET plastic and soda bottles. Although this is a renewable process it is still questionable whether wearing underwear made from petroleum waste is advisable.
Fabric finishes: Because cotton wrinkles easily, many cotton fabrics are treated with a formaldehyde-based resin for easy care. Labels on fabrics so treated usually say “permanent pressed,” “no-iron,” or “crease resistant” because it is a selling point to the consumer, not because it is required by law. These finishes combine formaldehyde resin directly with the fiber. Symptoms from inhalation of vapors from freshly laundered “wrinkle resistant” clothing include coughing, swelling and irritation of the throat, watery eyes, respiratory problems, headaches, rashes, tiredness, excessive thirst, nausea, disorientation, asthma attacks, and insomnia.
Dyes: Dyes can also be a problem. Usually dyes are colorfast, but some dyes do bleed; we’ve all ended up with colored armpits or with some white clothes turned pink because we accidentally washed them with red clothes. If the dye comes out in water, the skin can absorb it. Virtually all commercial dyes are made from nonrenewable polluting petrochemicals and many use heavy metals which are dumped as toxic waste.
The most innovative colored fabric by far is naturally colored cotton developed by Sally Fox. In 1982, while trying to breed insect resistance into cotton plants, she noticed that occasionally a cotton plant produced green or brown cotton, just as occasionally a flock of white sheep has a few black lambs. So far, she has commercialized green and brown cottons, and says that light pinks and blues will probably be possible after more breeding work. The colors deepen with age rather than fading, unlike dyed fabrics. While Sally’s breeding nursery is certified organic, unfortunately not all the colored cotton grown on contract is grown using organic methods; pesticides are used, but no defoliants.
In the end, it is best to avoid synthetic fibers such as polyester, acrylic, and nylon because there is little scientific evidence to prove that these fibers are not harmful to health. In addition, environmentally these fibers do more harm than good – they are made of nonrenewable crude oil, they produce toxic waste in their manufacture, they don’t biodegrade, and they can’t be recycled.
Of course, there are fashion concerns that are too often difficult to resist. Many of the synthetic fibers have, beyond a shadow of a doubt, made clothing an almost irresistible art form. Recycled clothing is the next best alternative to reduce the load of toxic exposure. Vintage clothing is fashionable, has character, and is lower in chemical content because it has simply been around much longer and washed more often. In addition, choosing to go recycled reduces the chemical toll on the environment.
Hemp fiber: Humans have cultivated hemp longer than any other textile. Archaeologists have unearthed hemp fabric in China that is over 10,000 years old. Its history is rich and varied throughout the world. In ancient Japan it symbolized purity and was worn by Shinto priests. Many of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance were painted on hempen canvas. Britannia ruled the sea for centuries under the power of hempen sails. The original drafts of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were written on hemp paper derived from the scraps of colonial hemp cloth. Interestingly, some time ago even American currency was made using hemp fiber.
Unique among textile plants, hemp does not require herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, or chemical fertilizers. It is a truly sustainable crop. Hemp is nature’s performance fiber. It is the strongest natural fiber. It is naturally resistant to UV light, mold and mildew, and salt water. It has been used for centuries to make sails and rope on ocean-going ships. Russian cosmonauts wore hemp garments as a layer underneath their space suits.
Hemp is often confused with the marijuana plant. Both come from the plant family Cannabis sativa, but from very different varieties. The fiber-bearing plant has been bred for thousands of years for its long, fine fibers. Concisely, the hemp fiber plant has no drug value.
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