Making Good

Making Textiles Sustainable - Article

Great article from The Guardian's Sustainable Business Blog: "Making Textiles Sustainable Isn't as Easy as It Seems." Pamela Ravasio is the writer.

Fabric Made in America from NearSea Naturals

A wonderful new initiative from NearSea Naturals: American Grown*Spun*Milled. This truly is the new (old) frontier: U.S. domestic textile production, in healthy, safe, sustainable fashion.

 

Refashion NYC: New Textile Recycling Program

Very interesting: New York initiates a textile recycling program.

Natural Dyes at ISEND

I've posted a little bit on my other blog about the International Symposium and Exhibition for Natural Dyes (ISEND) - http://lainie.typepad.com.

Meaningful Standards for Sustainable Apparel

I learned of two significant developments today in sustainable apparel; both will help to add credibility to sustainability claims. Thanks to Harmony for alerting me to both links.

First, a new group called the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which includes major retailers, manufacturers, and environmental groups, plans to create a scoring system for garments to give buyers a complete view of the environmental impact of their purchase. Read the New York Times article here.

Second, an update to the Global Organic Textile Standard has been released. You'll find information here. GOTS is a voluntary standard for textiles made from fibers grown to organic crop and livestock standards.

The limited use of credible standards and meaningful certification and the plethora of weak marketing claims such as "eco-friendly" for apparel, have hindered the growth of this market, and given consumers good reason to be skeptical. Both of today's developments offer hope for improvement.

In other news, I'll be attending the ISEND conference on natural dyes in La Rochelle, France, in late April. I look forward to learning a lot; the program is wide-ranging and very full and interesting. Look for blog updates!

 

Formaldehyde in Clothing

Many people don't know that fabric is often processed with formaldehyde; in "When Wrinkle-Free Clothing Means Formaldehyde Fumes," the New York Times lays it out. Do you ever wonder about that weird chemical smell that you sometimes notice when you walk into a cheap discount clothing store? That's formaldehyde. And one more reason that a truly sustainable approach to apparel and textiles means not just the growing or production method, but processing, dyeing, and finishing methods too, as well as labor and social issues, and transportion and distribution. Design and craftsmanship matter too. To make even incremental changes in this complex global industry, we must consider all of these aspects.

New Report on Organic Cotton

Organic Exchange has released its latest market research report on the organic cotton market. You can download the executive summary or purchase the full report here.

Zero-Waste Design

This is a good article and a really interesting concept for today, though zero-waste is not new -- the kimono is an ingenuous example that's been around for a few zillion years.

Living Wages

The New York Times has a good article about an apparel manufacturer paying living wages, because it's the right thing to do.

Bamboo Fabrics: Buyer Beware

I was glad to see this from the Federal Trade Commission:

Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?

Looking to be a more environmentally conscious shopper? You’ve probably heard about bamboo. Bamboo stands out for its ability to grow quickly with little or no need for pesticides, and it is used in a variety of products, from flooring to furniture. But when it comes to soft bamboo textiles, like shirts or sheets, there’s a catch: they’re actually rayon.

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, wants you to know that the soft “bamboo” fabrics on the market today are rayon. They are made using toxic chemicals in a process that releases pollutants into the air. Extracting bamboo fibers is expensive and time-consuming, and textiles made just from bamboo fiber don’t feel silky smooth.

There’s also no evidence that rayon made from bamboo retains the antimicrobial properties of the bamboo plant, as some sellers and manufacturers claim. Even when bamboo is the “plant source” used to create rayon, no traits of the original plant are left in the finished product.

Companies that claim a product is “bamboo” should have reliable evidence, like scientific tests and analyses, to show that it’s made of actual bamboo fiber.

There is so much work to be done toward a sustainable textile and fashion industry. We can't afford greenwashed claims that discredit the industry. Bamboo is indeed a highly renewable resource, but that doesn't justify hyperbolic claims about fabric made from bamboo. Bamboo may be part of the solution in many fiber applications, but the industry should be sure they're making transparent and legitimate claims.