Fibers and Fabrics

So is the United Nations going to practice the use of natural fibers, or is this another awareness proclaimation

Is that Fibbers, or fibers?

A few years ago National Geographic reported on a hemp silk tunic found in Japan from the 1st century CE. The hemp was woven so fine that it hasn't been replicated today. I have some wool clothing that I love. I think our textile industry is still bound in the petro-chemical paradigm of the 50's & 60's. There are some great, and very comfortable, natural fibers.

I think there was a story (Von Daniken?) about a piece of space-suit like material being found in the Andes, with a thread count around 2000. as you said, we are not able to do it. hmmm...

Chris

Textiles might be one thing when talking about casual clothing (how many polyesthers did you kill to make that suit?) but when it comes to cordage or protective clothing the synthetic fibers are far better.

It's reasonable for the UN to push natural textiles since this helps small farmers and is largely sustainable. Better to wear burlap than send more money to the petroterrorists!

given the choice cotton fibers are superior, and nothing insulates and breaths better than wool

I agree that for some circumstances wool and cotton are preferable; however, remember why the synthetic fibers were first invented. Their properties filled a very necessary void during WWII. Besides, I suspect that most people inf today's "wash-n-wear" society would not be happy to go back to dry cleaning and ironing their clothes, although it might revitalize an old industry.

I suspect that most people inf today's "wash-n-wear" society would not be happy to go back to dry cleaning and ironing their clothes,

once you get in the routine its not that bad........when I got out of college, I ironed...shirts only.....and only if they were in the dryer too long, you also pick up short cuts when pressed for time, throw wrinkled shirt in dryer with a damp cloth for a bit.

The girl I was dating, iron everythiing, but we all can't have that....

As for cordage, hemp make the best rope for salt-water use(it doesn't break down like everything else), and if your a firefighter, polyester melts. Synthetics have there place, but all things being equal, natural fibers are more comfortable to wear. Silk, wool, hemp, linen, bamboo, organic cotton (yes there is a difference from "conventional" cotton), etc....

The era of natural fibres based on cellulose will continue its wide spread tenure. The main set back of creasing tendency and frequent ironing needs and low durability had brought in the use of synthetic fibres like nylon, polyester as replacement as well as making blends with natural fibres. This is surely at the cost of comfort with added benefit of strength and durability.

Textiles got a complex choice on cheapness, availability and of course fashion opted by various age groups and follows tradition also.The demand for textile fibre supplies is supported by synthetic fibres very much.

The regenerated cellulosics like viscose and various rayon grades are now on revival due to the superiority class current inceptions like TENCELL, LYOCELL etc, poised for a promising growth.

The natural silk and wool fibres are of an exclusive class and will continue their trend on warm and fashion wears.

The polymer engineering marvels and nano technology wonders are likely to take the synthetic fibre class deficiencies and will forward much competitive services including comfort aspect. The need is also supported by industrial and technical applications apart from non woven webs sector.

Apart from cotton, jute, flax, bamboo and banana fibres are at a major revival phase fostered by fashion, economy and vast availability aspects. The nature and biodegradability aspects are in strong favour for these classes.

Further speaking if textile product engineering can smartly gear up its outlook comfort, cost and durability aspects the combination classes can take better rootings.

To conclude the vast user trends will support development of all class textile fibres discussed above.

While I can understand the desire to cut down on synthetic fibers from a chemical dependance/pollution standpoint, I dont think going "all-natural" will solve any more problems then it creates.

For one, if the entire world went to natural cotton, wool and silk, how would we produce it in large enough quantities? It would likely mean the re-allocation of land currently set aside to meet global demands. This would also probably mean that rainforests, wildlife perserves, etc would be bulldozed down to make way for large scale farms/plantations. The nice thing about synthetics is they probably produce a higher ratio of square feet of cloth to square feet of physical footprint. Im somewhat amazed people would overlook the loss of animal habitat and the possible extinction of said animals, but would condemn the use of animal pelts and leather for clothing.

This raises another problem as well - you cant necesarily put a cotton farm everywhere. Certain climates simply cannot sustain it. Im sure the same is true for wool and silk. This would mean that regions like saharan africa, northern russia+canada, etc, would probably have to rely on imported goods more then they do now. You can build a "chemical" textile plant anywhere (assuming you can get supplies shipped there. Process water is a moot point because you would likely need less water in a chemical plant then you would for animals and irrigation).

Finally there is what to do with the finished product. Have you really "saved the environment" buy buying a natural fiber item that you constantly have to iron (using electricity) or dry-clean (chemicals and electricity) over its entire useable life versus an item with a chemical composition and weave that is stain resistant, machine washable, and wrinkle-free? What if you compound that with all the trees you cut down in my first point?

I have a solution that embraces the "pros" of each source and eliminates many of the "cons" though.

Currently it is possible to grow skin in a lab. Every year there are reports which herald breakthroughs in the amount of viable skin which can be grown, to the point where people are starting to look at it as a serious manufacturing endevor for the purposes of human skin grafts.

This may seem morbid, but humor me - what if you could produce skin in such quantities you could make a commercially viable leather product? There would be so many advantages to this:

1) Smaller physical footprint then a farm and far fewer geographical requirements

2) Process "chemicals" are likely to be biological in nature, making them eco friendly because they can be broken down or mitigated better then petroleum based chemicals

3) Highly durable product - one can hardly argue that any natural clothing material has the potential lifespan of leather. Easy to clean and maintain.

4) doesnt endanger any wildlife. In fact, if one were to steer away (no pun intended) from human skin and develop artifical bovine/equine skin, you could make an argument that artifical leather saves more animals lives, something the animal rights activists will love.

5) Numerous industrial uses. Belts, gaskets, personal protective equipment.

6) If you decide to dispose of a leather item, it can be biodegraded. Not as quickly as cotton, wool or silk, but definately faster then polyester, nylon, rayon, etc.

7) It looks cool. Leather jackets, belts, shoes and even pants never really go out of style when they are kept simple. The same cant be said for bell-bottoms, mesh shirts, "pump" sneakers, parachute pants, butterfly collared shirts, and many suits (circa 70's powder blue tuxedo anyone?) How many "eco friendly" clothes get thrown out simply because they arent "fashionable".

Avery Montembeault

GA.. good analysis and innovative thinking.

Nice open minded thinking on the leather issue, Avery.

The killer however is that no animals I'm aware of is reared only for it's skin. (Fur animals excluded, but then you talked about leather, not fur.) Skins used for leather is a by product of the meat industry. If it is not used for making leather it must go somewhere else. With the current economic situation, that "somewhere else" is normally landfill. Apart from a huge cost increase for raw material, the environmental impact of "lab grown" skins will be at best the same, but likely worst than the current way of getting leather looking from a tannery side. The "lab grown" skin that one hear of start with stem cells and a desolvable artificial support matrix. Once the collagen, elastin and other proteins as well as the nerves, blood vessels etc have grown to a stage where it has structural strength, the "grown" skin is the same as normal skin, thus the exact same tannery processes must be used.

From an environmental point of view "growing" skin for leather is a non-starter. We in the industry however are watching this with great anticipation as it might be a way of obtaining skins free from defects for the high end fashion industry.

Interesting thoughts, but noone has mentioned the enviromental impact of producing cotton. The last data that I saw, stated that 70% of the gross tonnage of pesticides used were on the production of cotton. Cotton also uses a huge quantity of water in its production, I know that the Israeli's have invented a solution that irrigates individual plants and saves a lot of the water, but cotton still requires a huge quantity of water for growing.

The answer to this is hemp, this plant requires less water, little or no pesticides and has a higher yield of fibre from the plant. A miracle fibre then? but this has always been the case and only the US caused the decline of this fibre by adding so much red tape that production of hemp was almost impossible.

I agree with a previous post that there is nothing like wool for thermal resistance, but a lot of experts are starting to agree that wool may be a natural phase change material, and like Outlast will keep you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Proving these properties is always interesting, but there is some info out there at present.

Some of the other posts have also mentioned bio degradeable fibres, well has anyone thought that cellulose based items could be recycled into synthetic cellulose, such as viscose? It can be done but no commercial plants exist at the moment. The same cannot be said of polyester or nylon, when they are spun as fibres, they are in their end use and cannot be further recycled. It is true that there are some uses for these items, and I will use outdoor clothing as an example. A good waterproof coat will last for many years, be brightly coloured and hard wearing, but is usually changed due to fashion considerations rather than having worn out. The natural product version of this is a traditional wax jacket, this is a cotton jacket with a wax waterproof coating. This will not perform well on the hydrostatic head test that so many outdoor jackets will claim, but will physically repel water for all of its life. You can have the jacket 'maintained' by the manufacturer who will repair and reproof the jacket for you approximately every 5 years. The ridiculous thing is that I know a farmer who has a wax jacket by the Barbour company which was given to him by his father and is at least 75 years old, that is a cotton jacket that is still going strong after 75 years!

In all I would agree with the UN that this should be the year of the natural fibre, we have been making synthetic fibres for years now, but very little has changed and they have little or no functionality when it comes to the basic properties that man requires, i.e. to be comfortable and dry.

Lastoneleft,

Good insights. 100% pesticide free organic cotton is now being flooded in the textile market. But has a the touch of synthetic dyes/ finish in one way or other. Being natural sounds good but we are already addicted to the use of so many synthetic products in our daily life. Towards raw material sustainability, synthetics need inception. The missing comfort factor is possible by combining natural and synthetics by smart fabric construction engineering and technologists got to work harder to relish this.

There are many valid POV posted - but something that should also be considered is the need to reduce overconsumption and to repurpose as much as possible.

While there is high demand for organic/natural product, there is also equal or even higher demand for recycled content in consumer goods. Polyester is the most commonly recycled fiber and it's carbon footprint is not too bad dependent on if it is mechanically or chemically recycled. Recycling nylon consumes considerably more energy in the processing.

We overlook polypropelene completely which has the least processing and energy demands over both polyester and nylon since its refining is closer to the raw material's original state. There are drawbacks to polypro in dyeability (industry has reached a reasonable solution in recent years) and end use care here in the US since it's heat tolerance is lower, but most folks globally line dry. Of course none of these synthetics are a solution for fire resistance in safety gear.

From the apparel side, it is a huge challenge to recycle garments unless zippers, buttons, and trim items are removed - does anyone have knowledge of production size programs for taking back garments yet? It would sure be nice to close the loop...

As a farmer, weekend warrior and textile geek - I want the best of it all and believe that if I purchase responsibly, there is no need to have angst when choosing natural or synthetic products. Each has it's place and need based on what I am doing. I would certainly not want to be snow-shoeing in cotton outerwear or baselayers - I would be the imbombinable snowman and risk hypothermia in a very short time if conditions are not dry/powdery. As a fortunate resident of the Pacific Northwest - it would be a soggy existence without my breathable/hydrophobic (synthetic fiber base w/w-out ptfe laminate and a good DWR treatment) gear. I will gladly admit that I prefer a well-made baselayer made of merino wool over polyester from a comfort and thermal regulating performance perspective - but again it requires responsible purchasing due to increased cost...buy one baselayer item that lasts for 10 years vs. buying seasonally due to quality/durability degradation - it's an easy choice. A well-informed consumer would also consider looking for wool origin of non-mulesed sheep - google or check out PITA for more info. on that one.

In a nutshell, there is room for it all and we must consider relevancy based on the consumer segment, the activity, and what we believe is appropriate for our personal values and needs.