Synthetic fabrics, made from chemically manipulated petrochemicals, are some of the most toxic fabrications on Earth.

Last week we discussed the pros and cons of biobased synthetic textiles like Tencel, Modal and other cellulose-based fabrics. The production process of these materials is similar to the production oil-based or petrochemical textiles such as nylon, polyester, acrylic and spandex, which are made from natural gas or oil. Developed during the second half of the last century, these synthetic materials have revolutionized several industries, and been widely adopted in the fashion industry as a low-cost material that allows brands to churn out a variety of colorful apparel at low prices. Petrochemical textiles are a heavily invested area of research, allowing companies to produce highly engineered fabrics that perform better than their natural counterparts. But at what cost?

Petrochemical textile materials are immensely toxic and pollutive to the environment, as they require significant energy, water and chemicals to produce. If the numerous oil spills, waterway contaminations and fracking dangers aren’t making the risks and damage of using these raw materials obvious, I’m not sure what will. Not only does the production of these materials leach waste and toxic substances into our waterways, soil beds, groundwater and landfills, they also (surprised?) can possibly leach into our skin when we wear them. So why do we use them?

Our demand for synthetic textiles has grown by 30 percent in the last 13 years; retailers that feed the fast fashion phenomenon use these low-cost fabrics. As it stands, it is also far less costly to make a shirt from polyester than it is out of cotton, not to mention organic cotton. These fabrics are also easy to manipulate on a microscopic level, resulting in engineered textiles that we have become so accustomed to as consumers. The development of microfibers has allowed textile producers to spin very fine fibers into soft fabrics with engineered moisture-wicking properties. But how can an antibacterial workout top be a good thing if over 100 toxic chemicals were used during the production of that top?

We’ve outlined some of the applications for and problems with the oil-based textiles that we still (because of that bizarre concept of profit over planet) continue to use.

Nylon

Nylon is water repellent, and so ideal for swimsuits, hosiery and lightweight, weatherproof jackets. Nylon is extremely resilient and multi-purpose, as it can be found in anything from underwear to rock climbing rope. However, the production of nylon creates nitrous oxide, which is a greenhouse gas 310 times more polluting than carbon dioxide.

Polyester

Polyester has a bad reputation, although it has long term success in the fabric industry (think 70s leisure suits). The ethylene based material is very strong, resists stretching and shrinking, and dries within a matter of minutes. It’s also wrinkle and abrasion resistant, retains pleats and creases, and repels water. But polyester manufacturing uses plenty of water and energy, and a highly toxic substance called antimony (which most countries other than the US and China have outlawed) as a catalyst.

Acrylic

Acrylic has a similar texture as wool, and so boomed onto the market in the 1960s as it takes dyes beautifully, is colorfast, and unlike wool, resists shrinking. However, this ‘fake wool’ doesn’t provide the same warmth as the real thing, and is essentially a polycrylonitrile, which may be carcinogenic.

Spandex

Spandex was invented in 1959 to give fabric a stretch quality unlike anything that had been seen before in textiles. The production of spandex is rather costly as it is a time consuming and energy intensive process that involves “cracking” petroleum molecules into propylene and ethylene gases before actually creating the fiber. Spandex is often blended with other fibers such as wool and cotton, but tends to break down over time.

The substances used to manipulate and characterize these textiles are highly toxic, which is also an issue with biobased synthetics. Anti-cling, wrinkle-free, waterproof and fire-retardant materials have all been treated with highly toxic chemicals, most often formaldehyde. Even several natural fibers like cotton and wool are treated with these substances, meaning that the textile industry is saturated with them. A major drawback to petrochemical textiles is their non-biodegradibility, meaning that their negative effects continue to affect the Earth even after they have been discarded.

Although finding clean clothing, home textiles and accessories might seem impossible, the labels on products can tell us a lot. Unfortunately the textile supply chain is currently so disjointed that it is often hard to know exactly how a fabric was produced. Look for labels on clothing and home textiles and check for different certification labels to find out how clean the fabric is. Better yet, look for locally produced fabrics when you can. The Fibershed Project in Marin County, CA is a wonderful example and resource for learning how a textile is made from plant or animal to wearable product.

Photo Credit: www.rowenawaack.com

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Fiber Watch: Nylon Gets and New (Recycled) Lease on Life

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 The first synthetic material gets a major makeover.

First introduced to the world by DuPont in the late 1930s, nylon rushed into the textile market as the perfect material for ladies stockings with its form-fitting, stretch and easy-to-wash and wear qualities. Women in the U.S. went crazy over the new leg wear that rendered their skin, knees and calves near perfect to the point that nylon sales reached 64 million pairs by the end of 1940.

After the onset of WWII, nylon production moved into military supplies such as rope, tents and tires, causing the price of nylon stockings to skyrocket from $1.25 to $10 a pair. Nylon production re-focused on women’s hosiery after the war ended, and millions of women lined up at department stores to buy stockings made from the “miracle material.” Thus began the “nylon riots,” triggering calamitous behavior such as witnessed in Pittsburgh in June of 1946 when a reported 40,000 people stood in a mile long line to compete for 13,000 pairs of nylons. Soon the entire synthetics fiber market shifted towards civilian products as industries like carpeting, home furnishings and car upholstery caught on.

By the 1950s, nylon made up more than 20% of the fiber produced for textile mills in the U.S., marking the beginning of our lasting affair with petrochemical textiles. With the onslaught of chemical manipulation and large investment into crude oil harvesting and management, acrylic, polyester, aramid, and spandex, alongside several others soon followed. These materials were soon incorporated into nearly every type of garment from underwear to socks, coats, mock-wool clothing and even men’s drip-dry suits, not to mention all of the other industries they entered.

The nylon production process uses a combination of coal, water, petroleum and natural gas as the main resources for performing a series of chemical reactions that produce a substance called caprolactum. The caprolactum is polymerized through a steaming process to produce a molten solution that is flaked and then processed through a spinneret that looks like a shower head, solidifying and spinning it into filaments of fiber.

Now nearly 8 million pounds of nylon is produced annually, meaning that the fiber accounts for approximately 12% of the synthetic fiber market. Although this is a small percentage considering the domination of synthetic fibers in several modern industries, we nonetheless have a bevy of nylon material already in existence with several million pounds added each year. So what to do with it?

What we’ve learned best to do with the toxic excess that we have created is to recycle it. Hyosung, a Korean company, has developed a method for recycling discarded nylon items into a textile grade fiber called Regen. As textile grade yarn is the finest achievable form of the fiber, the recycled material is not inferior to virgin nylon in any way, and can be used for a number of applications.

A whole range of pre- and post consumer’s nylon waste is utilized to create the recycled material, such as fishing nets, carpet, clothing, tires, rope and even instrument strings. Although the re-processing method is not entirely environmentally efficient or sustainable, recycling nylon keeps a rather large percentage of petro-chemical waste from going into the landfill or being incinerated, releasing toxic emissions into our atmosphere. It also uses 27% less natural resources than the production of virgin nylon, reduces greenhouse emissions by 28%, and can be processed over and over again.

Several companies worldwide recycle waste nylon into virgin grade material, such as Nilit in Israel, Unifi in the U.S., Toray in Japan and Nuriel in Spain. This retrieving routine has attracted a plethora of clothing and accessory designers so that a range of consumers can access and experience products made from recycled nylon. Patagonia is a devotee as one of the first apparel companies to incorporate the material into its athletic gear and backpacks, alongside the likes of running gear manufacturer Nautilus in its Thoni Mara line.

Christopher Raeburn A/W 2012

Even apparel giant H&M has taken on the use of recycled nylon in its Conscious Collection, while the material has also been cited in the collections of Christopher Raeburn, Organic by John Patrick and DKNY Pure. As no apparent danger of another nylon riot is in the near future with our abundance of material to work with, hopefully more manufacturers will see the beauty in rejuvenating the experienced versus the virgin version.

The post Fiber Watch: Nylon Gets a New (Recycled) Life appeared first on EcoSalon.

“Can you do a diatribe on dry-clean-only labels?” asked my editor friend, Tam, citing the numerous times she threw caution to the wind and hand washed a garment despite the dry-clean-only instructions.

Yes, Tam, we can do that. We at EcoSalon are here to please the frugal green crowd looking for ways to avoid high cleaning costs, as well as the toxic detergents regularly used by conventional cleaning companies.

For some answers, I turned to Karl Huie of Eco Dry Cleaners in the San Francisco Bay Area which goes by the motto: “We are not business people capitalizing on the green movement, we are an established dry cleaner changing an industry.” Huie won the 2009 Francine Levien Activist award, which recognized him for taking a leadership role in promoting the health of the community.

Huie’s parents first opened a cleaners in 1969 which he and other family members converted into an eco company in 2007 with stores in the Pacific Heights neighborhood of the city and across the Bay in Sausalito, Calif. (Marin’s first and only certified green cleaners). The Pacific Heights Cleaners is seen as a demonstration site for a statewide program.

They are what’s considered a wet cleaners, which means they use a water-based solution made of natural soaps and conditioners; and Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Cleaning, which uses compressed liquid CO2 with detergents.

In other words, they really know how to handle wet clothes, which according to Huie, is the criteria for cleaning your own garments without professional help.

Luanne: Which fabrics are safest for DIY cleaning at home?

Karl: I think polyester and nylon are probably the safest, including recycled polyester from PET bottles, because the plastic in it will hold everything together. Bamboo is an organic product that cleans very nicely and is easily accessible if handled correctly, but you have to be careful not to put too much agitation to the rayon because that will cause it to break or get fuzzy.

Luanne: What about cotton fabrics? You would think you could clean those yourself.

Karl: The risk is shrinkage. That can happen with leather, too, when people try to clean it themselves. The other day a customer brought in a leather jacket they shrunk wanting to know if I could stretch it back out. I also get customers bringing in cotton clothes with stains they tried to remove. They bring them in still wet in plastic bags. You have to have some experience with material and know how to handle it when it is wet.

Luanne: I’m always surprised when I hear friends wash their own sweaters. I’m always afraid the texture will get ruined.

Karl: Generally, silks and cashmeres are not easy to handle. It doesn’t so much have to do with getting them wet but the pH balance of the water and the detergent you use. The wrong balance can alter and shrink the wool and strip off oils  that can cause the texture to change.

Luanne: I never go near any garments with hand beading or special stones but people question why they can’t be hand washed with care. What’s the best thing to do if you aren’t sure?

Karl: Any time not sure how to handle something it is best go get advice from a pro. If you are a regular customer of mine I’m happy to tell you how to take care of it. All the time people bring in items for me to fix after the damage is done.

For some great tips on hand washing or dealing with stains, such as salad dressing spills or chocolate messes, you can go to Karl’s blog, Your Green Dry Cleaner. On the site is a section about cleaning items yourself.

Karl advises:

“Just because something is washable doesn’t mean that’s the best way to handle it. If you’ve got good quality jeans, sweaters, linens, bedding, etc. you want to protect them. Dry cleaning your fine things extends their longevity, keeps color from fading and prevents shrinkage. Plus you get a professional’s skills in stain removal. Talk to your dry cleaner to determine the best way to protect and preserve all your fine things.”

Image: sfllaw

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