Sustainability 101
What exactly is sustainable fashion, and how is that different from ethical fashion, slow fashion, etc.?
Sustainable refers to the effect that production of a garment has on the world around us. How much is taken from the Earth and how will it return to the Earth? How much waste is involved in the manufacturing process?
Ethical usually refers to the treatment of people. Are the workers paid a living wage? Are they given proper breaks? Is everyone of proper age? Does the company add positively to the communities in which it produces and help them to thrive?
Slow fashion refers to high-quality garments that are designed with a long-term lifecycle in mind. Slow fashion is the antithesis of fast fashion.
Upcycling is a way of processing an item to make it better than the original. This often involves taking something that doesn't fit or is stained/torn and refashioning a wearable product from it. Upcycling can be done using either pre-consumer or post-consumer waste or a combination of the two.
Organic (in regards to materials) refers to natural fibers being grown and produced without the use of highly toxic materials such as chemical pesticides in the growing process.
What are some common sustainable fabrics to look for when shopping for environmentally friendly clothing?
1) Organic or Recycled Cotton
Organic cotton is grown without all the harmful pesticides and produced without the dangerous chemicals that normal cotton uses.
2) Organic Hemp
Hemp is naturally insulating and cooling as well as protective from UV rays. The plant itself is extremely resilient and requires little water to grow. It also returns nearly 70% of nutrients to the soil that it lives in! When it is spun into a fabric, the process requires no chemicals whatsoever. As long as hemp is manufactured organically, without added chemicals, it is considered a very sustainable fabric choice. It gets even softer through washing.
3) Organic Linen
Linen is produced from the flax plant and is very similar to hemp in its water consumption and lack of chemicals. It is completely biodegradable when left undyed!
4) Tencel
A relatively new fabric, Tencel is made from wood pulp, and is biodegradable. The process for creating Tencel fiber was designed specifically to reduce environmental impact, using a fraction of the water that is needed to produce rayon, and over 99% of the water and non-toxic solvents used are able to be recycled.
5) Silk
Silk is considered a more sustainable fiber. It is a renewable resource, can biodegrade, and uses less water, chemicals, and energy than many other fibers.
6) Recycled Polyester (rPET)
This material is often made from plastic bottles that would have gone to the landfill. This is a fantastic solution to the plastic pollution issue, and it reduces the need for raw materials. The recycled version of polyester is a much more sustainable option since it skips the energy-intensive oil extraction process, reducing emissions.
Wool has several sustainable attributes: it is rapidly renewable, biodegradable, recyclable, and can be produced organically. There are also new wool traceability standards and animal welfare standards to track its production. In terms of performance, wool is something of a miracle fabric.