Eco-Friendly Fibers

One of the questions that Candace and I researched before setting up the table is, what exactly are Eco-Friendly fibers? Eco-Friendly seems to be a term that a great many people throw around, in order to make themselves sound good. It's rather like the word sustainable, people throw it around as well and yet no one seems to truly have any idea of what these words mean. I admit, I've been guilty of doing such things as well.

What was interesting about looking for the information for this post, was that I found out things that I didn't know and that I didn't expect. Perhaps, some of these are to be expected but what I expect as opposed to what someone else expects varies based on experience. Okay, not going into that philosophy any farther or we will continue to digress.

What exactly does Eco-Friendly fibers mean?

Eco-friendly fibers are not necessarily natural fibers. Natural fibers can be eco-friendly; however, man made fibers can be considered eco-friendly as well depending on the manufacturing processes. On the same note, natural fibers can be considered not eco-friendly. So, what makes a fiber eco-friendly or not eco-friendly? There are a few specific aspects that kept coming up over and over again:

- The use of chemicals and pesticides that are being used during cultivations.
- What land management/farming practices are being employed.
- Production processes adhere to fair trade practices.

So, what exactly does that mean? The first is the renew ability of the product. Renewable resources are something that can be replenished in a fairly short amount of time (unlike those which take thousands of years to build up again.) The next issue is the ecological footprint of the item being produced; so in other words, much much land is being used to support one individual plant from sprout to full growth. What sorts of natural resources are required by this plant to sustain itself. This refers to such things as the mount of water, minerals, and plant/animal matter that is used. The third thing that comes up is to consider which is briefly mentioned above is the amount of chemicals/what types of chemicals go into the growth and the later production and processing of the fiber in order to turn it into the cloth that your clothing is made out of. (6)

So for instance, did you know that growing cotton uses 22.5 percent of all the insecticides used globally? In order to grow enough cotton for one t-shirt you have to have around 257 gallons of water. As if that wasn't enough, bleaching and then dyeing the fabric creates toxins that to some extent end up in our ecosystems.

However, another term that came up through out our reading was the term, 'regenerated fibers'. When discussing man made fibers they are usually split into two categories, synthetic fibers and regenerated fibers. "Synthetic fibers are cooked up in large vats and are made entirely from chemicals. Some of the most common synthetic fibers are the thermoplastic, petroleum-based synthetic fibers such as polyester and nylon," (10).

"Manufactured regenerated fibers are made from the chemical-induced transformation of natural polymers and basically fall into two categories: protein origin and cellulose origin. Regenerated fibers of protein origin come from plant protein (such as corn, soy, alginate, and peanut), or from animal protein (such as casein from milk). Many of the new, hot eco-friendly fabrics – like Ingeo from corn and soy from soybeans – are manufactured from proteins found in plants," (10).

Well you might say, are regenerated fibers actually eco-friendly? As I've been reading stuff, I go back and forth on this question. After all Rayon is considered a regenerated fiber and yet, Rayon is made out of processed wood pulp (and there is a lot more information on the process that is used to turn Rayon into wood pulp if you follow link 10, in terms of the ecological impact.) The simple fact is that rayon is made out of wood, as if we don't cut down enough trees for other things we have to do it for fabric as well? It seems rather redundant when there are a great many other fibers out there that can be used.

Social expectations.

Source Links:

1. http://www.fuzbaby.com/articles/diaper-article_cant-duplicate-natural-fibers.htm

2. http://www.nonwovens-industry.com/articles/2002/06/harvesting-the-benefits-of-natural-fibers

3. http://www.teonline.com/articles/2009/03/all-about-eco-friendly-fibers-a-gift-for-environment-lovers.html

4. http://www.teonline.com/articles/2009/01/new-approach-of-synthetic-fibe.html

5. http://www.natural-environment.com/blog/2008/04/10/17-eco-friendly-fabrics/

6. http://naturalhealthcare.ca/eco_and_environmentally_friendly_fashion.phtml

7. http://textileacross.blogspot.com/2009/03/facts-behind-eco-friendly-fibers.html

8. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/summer-rayne-oakes/the-5-most-innovative-eco_b_195292.html

9. http://healthy-family.org/karenblue/1244/eco-friendly-fibers-not-always-allergy-friendly
10. http://organicclothing.blogs.com/my_weblog/2008/07/regenerated-cellulose-fabrics-facts-behind-the-fibers.html

On the Topic of Fibers

So, a little while back I was unaware of just what Modal was and it was in one of my favorite pieces of clothing. Well, now I have some idea of just what that is thanks to the wonderful help of Wikipedia. Alright, I'm sure that everyone is just dying to know what Modal is (at least those who don't already know.)

Modal is a fiber that is designed to dye just like cotton; however, modal is a variety of rayon. Modal fibers are produced by spinning the reconstituted cellulose fiber from beech trees. Modal is much less likely then cottons to shrink or to fade it will also absorb more water then a cotton. Modal was created by an Austrian company (Lenzing AG), a company that specializes in textiles and fibers. The Lenzing AG company specifically looks at natural fibers made from cellulose.

Alright, this will lead us to the next question: What exactly is Rayon?

Most people have probably heard of Rayon but are not entirely aware of what Rayon is. Rayon is again like Modal a fiber that is manufactured out of reconstituted cellulose fibers. Thus making it not completely a natural fiber and not completely a synthetic fiber. The term for such materials is a semi-synthetic fiber. Rayon is popular because of it's highly shiny surface texture and softness that is akin to silk.

Rayon came into being and was first developed in 1855 though it was patented in 1894, where it was marketed as the first "artificial silk" or for a time the "mother-in-law" of silk. The first version of rayon was produced bu a company in the UK in 1905 (Courtauldas Textiles). It wasn't until 1910/1911 that Rayon was first sold and produced in the United States by Avtex Fibers. In 1924 the name 'Rayon' was adopted for the first "artificial silk".

So, what exactly is Rayon. Nathan Rosenstein invented a method by which a hard fiber (such as wood) could be turned into fabric. Rosenstein's method was found to be highly flammable and much more expensive to make. It wasn't until Paul Schutzenberger discovered the acetate method of doing the same thing that Ryon truly went into production.

In the early 1930's the production of Rayon was highly detrimental to the environment. The production, produced contaminated water waste by carbon disulfide. It wasn't until later developments in the production of Rayon in the 1940's. There are now two main types of Rayon in production, viscose rayon and polynoscis.

Links: Rayon - The Multi-Faceted Fiber, FiberSource, Rayon: How Products are Made, Rayon History Types & Manufacturing Process

Alright so a brief history on Rayon, we will come back later with more information on Rayon and current manufacturing process.