Natural vs. Synthetic? (2)

I've previously completed a unit about Textiles at uni but we never really looked at their impact on the environment. I felt it would be substantial to look at the whole lifecycle of producing a textile fabric from: growing or manufacturing the starting materials, the fibres, the processes right to the point at which the end product is actually put in the hands of the consumer,in order really realise the entire carbon footprint the textile industry produces. And unravelling a garments green credentials isn’t easy!

I started off researching natural fibres individually and their impact on the environment. Slater (2003) mainly provided me with a hefty amount of information about the environmental impact of textiles, focusing on the actual beginning fibres, along with others: Lee (2009); Bailey (2006); and Santisi (2010). The first fibre that I ever remembered from my first encounter with fabric as a kid was cotton. Cotton has been the most popular natural fibre for years. Cotton is a bush grown fibre and can only be grown in a moderately fine belt of the earth’s surface. To reach the top quality cotton fertilisers, herbicides and insecticides that are poisonous and damaging to the environment are used to improve the growth conditions to produce the finest cotton. Irrigation water is pumped by the gallons to water these plants.This flow of water itself causes erosion and chemical leaching problems. During harvesting, the machinery and tests that need to be taken are even more environmentally destructive. I remember when I was about ten years old we went on a school excursion to a cotton farm out in the country back home in Zimbabwe. Everything to do with the whole process seemed so vast and I remember thinking to myself that the huge fields must need so much water to keep the plants fed. Well the statistics definitely prove that naive comment at the time.

Other stem, or bast, fibres tend to be less ecologically harmful than seed-hair ones. Linen, flax and hemp are more examples of natural fibres. The selection of premium quality fibres are handpicked in many countries which is more environmentally beneficial, but more costly. For the fibre to be of better “quality” mechanical or chemical process were introduced which in turn again damages the planet.
Silk is produced from silkworms mainly and therefore needs controlled atmospheres and employs rigid growth conditions which create environmental costs. Nadigar (2001) fights that wild silk on the other hand is exceptionally eco-friendly, since it uses no hazardous chemicals and encourages the socially beneficial activity of preserving forests.But again the production processes are environmentally costly.
Wool is a natural animal fibre of a different kind, made from the inner fibre hair of the sheep/ goat. Normally categorised as the most desirable fibre—it goes through a huge number of chemical treatments aswell. So altogether the theory that natural fibres are much better for the environment is not all that true.

On to looking at synthetic fibres, there are "three types: true synthetic polymers, regenerated materials, and modified natural ones." They have three main production techniques: dry spinning, wet spinning and melt spinning.
Oil is the raw material to prepare a synthetic polymer. Oil is very damaging to the earth through the burning of oil, oil spills and all its complex processes. The entire operation of creating a polymer uses large amounts of energy and it produces waste in the form of liquids, gases, and solid by-products. Polyester is one that is man-made by melting and combining two types of oil-derived plastic pellet to create the polymer polyethylene teraphlalate. Manufacturing most polyester is done through using antimony as a catalyst with which carcinogen is created and is also toxic to the heart, lungs, liver and skin (Lee, 2009).

In the long term, all these processes taken to create such fibres are harmful to the environment.
With the shirts that I found at the Salvation Army two of them have polyester present in them. After researching such information and not getting much positive feedback about either natural or synthetic fabrics and their impact on the environment, I feel bad at using textiles at all! But what are we to do with all the garments and textiles that have already been through the lifecycle of being produced? Are we supposed to stop producing textiles at all, which is unrealistic in itself. Are we to just leave them to create generations of landfill or do we take them and recycle them? I without a doubt believe that somehow we need to get serious about changing our centuries old industrial processes of producing textiles and making them as eco-friendly as we can. But with those textiles already having impacted our environment, I feel reproducing garments from them is the only thing to do. If I can as a designer use the second hand textiles and recycle them with zero waste into my own unique designs, I am one step closer to a more environmentally conscious designer.

I want to leave this idea with a quote I found from Annunziato (2001):

"We feel it is critical for the performance of a textile to become inherent to the content and construction of a fabric leaving no heed for the chemicals and coatings used on so many products of the past" says Mary Holt, Vice President of design for Carneige, "Being finish-free means a sounder environmental choice."

(References: Lee, M.(2009). MORAL FIBRES WHAT'S THE MOST SUSTAINABLE FABRIC? The Ecologist, 39(1), 52-53. Retrieved August 16, 2010, from Academic Research Library. (Document ID: 1677864621); Slater, K. (2003) Environmental Impact of Textiles: Production, processes and production. Cambridge: Woodhead Publishing. (E-Book Library: Access through QUT library catalogue; Ronald Bailey. (2006, October). Natural or Synthetic? Reason, 38(5), 72. Retrieved August 17, 2010, from Academic Research Library. (Document ID: 1126210251); Santisi, J.. (2010, January). Label Savvy. E : the Environmental Magazine, 21(1), 42. Retrieved August 17, 2010, from Academic Research Library. (Document ID: 1947171251); Annunziato, L. (2001). Eco-synthetic? Contract, 43(4), 30-31. Retrieved August 17, 2010, from Career and Technical Education. (Document ID: 71687749).))