Silk and cotton are great staple fabrics for a breathable summer wardrobe. These fabrics are from natural sources and have been used for over one thousand years. The question is, how ethical is it to create these lightweight fabrics? Read on to find out everything you need to know about silk, cotton, and their eco-friendly rivals.
Silk and cotton - Pros and cons
Silk is woven from the fine thread that is produced from insects such as spiders or silkworms. Focusing on the silkworm, the insect will spin itself a cocoon and before hatching, the silk farm will either steam or boil the silkworm. This is to make the process of unravelling the fine thread from the cocoon easier. This method also stops the thread from being broken by the insect hatching. If the thread were to be broken it would make the process of creating a usable thread for weaving fabric a lot more difficult and the fabric would not look as appealing. Despite the cruel efforts of producing silk, the fabric itself carries some benefits. The fabric takes well to the dying process, it is biodegradable, and is breathable, robust and is resistant to odours.
Cotton is grown in vast fields from the cotton plant. It takes many hours of labour to hand pick each plant, wash the cotton, process it into a fibre before weaving it on an industrial loom into fabric. This process also takes up masses of agricultural land, harmful pesticides which harm the workers and the consumers, and gallons of water to wash and dye the cotton fibre. One pair of 100% cotton jeans, claims to use up 1,800 gallons of water, which put into perspective, that would be enough water for one person to have drinking water for 6.5 years. The reason why cotton is one of the most used fabrics is because of the diversity. Different weights of cotton can mean that the fabric can be used in all climates. It is also easy to care for and is robust so it can last for many years. Originally, denim was used among workers due to the strength it carried.
Do you like the idea of silk or cotton clothing to be apart of your summer wardrobe without the unethical baggage? Read on to find out about fabrics which are natural and ethical alternatives.
Eco-friendly alternatives
One alternative fabric is Tencel, a branded lyocell and modal fibre fabric. The form is extracted from wood pulp, dissolved into a chemical solvent before being pushed through an extruder to create the fibres. It is known for being a great sustainable alternative because of the little production waste, the toxic chemicals that are not needed and the way the wood pulp is farmed. Tencel is very similar to cotton and silk, it is known for being soft, comfortable, kind to skin, and durable. The fibres are commonly blended with other fibres such as cotton, polyester, wool etc. to enhance the fabrics properties. If you choose to purchase garments made of Tencel, be sure to check what it is blended with and the traceability of the item.
In recent years, hemp fabric has been steadily growing in production in the fashion industry even though it has been a common natural fabric source for as long as silk, cotton, or linen. Hemp is not just used for fabric but also biodegradable plastics, medicines, and food. This makes the plant itself diverse which is great to know that there will be little waste in production. Hemp fabric is easy to work with, meaning that a lot of different garments can come from this one source. Currently, it is a challenge to create 100% hemp fabric, so a blend of organic cotton and hemp is the current solution. Just like the Tencel, be sure to check the blended properties and the traceability when purchasing a garment made from the hemp plant.
The other ethical alternative worth mentioning in this post is the bamboo fabric. The reason bamboo is a great choice is because of the environmental benefits. The source has a very fast growth rate and requires little water for harvest as well as no pesticides. The fabric also holds desirable properties as it is one of the softest fabrics currently available and it is highly moisture absorbent. Perfect for those extra hot summer days!
I will leave a list of stores, currently using Tencel, hemp or bamboo within their productions in a list here for you to go check out:
If you would like to further your knowledge, click on the links below to read on. These links are the ones used to build this blog post and the information was correct to the date of the written post and the research.
Yorumlar