Eco Fabric: What It Is
The earth is our abundant home, in which there is enough heat and resources for everyone. But if you don't take care of the house, if you don't treat it carefully, harmony can turn into chaos.
We can take certain actions every day that have a huge impact on the preservation of the planet. The easiest thing is to switch to cashless payment, abandon plastic bags, choose environmentally friendly fabrics. By supporting conscious producers and ignoring those who only worry about making a profit and harming the environment, we can change the approach to production and save our planet. Our choice now depends on how comfortable and safe the life of the next generations will be.
Why is it so important to choose eco-friendly fabrics?
The use of environmentally friendly fabrics is a big and important step, since textile production accounts for the lion's share of harmful emissions.
Textile production is a complex cycle that includes the process of obtaining raw materials, pretreatment (washing, bleaching, etc.), dyeing, storage, labeling and packaging of the final product. These processes are accompanied by the use of various chemicals and toxins that cause serious consequences for nature.
It is proved that the waste of the modern textile industry causes enormous damage to the ecosystem of our planet. Together with the sewage from factories, resins and toxins enter the ocean, which slowly but surely kill the marine ecosystem. Pesticides and fertilizers used in the cultivation of plant fibers and chemical processing of fabrics pollute the soil and groundwater.
And, of course, we must not forget about the immediate danger to our health. Textiles interact directly with the skin, and harmful chemicals entering our body through the pores can cause irritation and severe allergies (such contact is especially dangerous for children).
What is eco-friendly textiles?
Eco-friendly fabrics are made from fibers that do not require the use of any pesticides or chemicals for production. Such textiles are naturally resistant to fungi, mold and do not cause allergies.
Eco-friendly fabrics that you should know about:
- Cannabis
The kind of fiber with a huge eco—friendly potential. Since the cannabis plant is absolutely unpretentious, it does not need any pesticides or fertilizers. The fabric obtained from it is extremely dense and exceeds several times the strength of cotton and wool.
In addition, the cultivation of cannabis does not deplete the soil. It's amazing, but the cannabis plant releases nutrients into the soil and leaves the ground in excellent condition for any subsequent crops.
In the process of production of cannabis yarn and fabric, a minimum amount of harmful chemicals is used. Therefore, textiles from it are completely natural, retains even a subtle herbal aroma, is suitable for allergy sufferers and newborn babies.
- Organic linen
Flax has been cultivated since time immemorial. It is used to make clothes, textiles, ropes and even sails for boats. In addition, linen has many advantages over cotton: the flax plant is unpretentious, does not require a lot of water, nutrients and not a drop of pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
That is why linen fabric is hypoallergenic, has antibacterial and antifungal properties. It breathes, absorbs sweat, cools in summer and keeps warm in winter. In general, just a magical fabric. And if you think that this is the end of its advantages – no!
Textiles made of linen fibers are able to absorb a significant part of harmful ultraviolet light. When washing, it does not deform, when worn, it does not lose its shape, and when wet, the fabric becomes even stronger (which is actually why it is so great for ropes). The main thing is to choose a 100% pure composition without any impurities.
- Organic cotton
Unfortunately, cotton production is one of the most polluting production processes. Since cotton is the most popular natural fiber in the world (60% of all clothing in the world is made from cotton), this leads to great environmental damage.
Organic cotton is grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, insecticides and pesticides. It is assembled by hand, which helps to get rid of impurities and collect only ripened cotton heads. Organic cotton products are often more expensive, but their quality is many times higher. As a rule, organic cotton fabric is softer, more delicate and pleasant to the body.
- Organic jute
Jute is a coarse brown fiber from the stem of a bast plant grown in India. The fabric made from this fiber is durable and recyclable, but it is not suitable for all textiles and clothing.
- Tencel
Tencel is a fiber made from the wood pulp of the eucalyptus tree. It will sound rather strange, but tencel is a real wooden fabric with amazing smoothness and softness. The production of tencel is very environmentally friendly, as it consumes very little water. In addition, it is very economical: from 1 m2 of grown tencel, 10 times more finished products can be produced than from 1 m2 of grown cotton. Tensel is a 100% recyclable product.
- Organic wool
Wool textiles are made from soft curly wool of sheep and other animals, such as alpaca, camel, cashmere goat. Wool is a completely renewable fiber, and it could be called environmentally friendly if it were not for the extremely toxic fabric processing process.
But organic wool is something else entirely! No chemicals are used in the production of organic wool. And animals are not stuffed with hormones and pesticides — they graze on pastures on their own and eat organically grown food.
- Organic silk
Unfortunately, silk fabric made on factories cannot be called silk in the broad sense of the word. Natural silk is obtained in the wild with the help of specially grown silkworms.
But not everyone knows the fact that in the process of obtaining natural silk, pupating silkworms are killed under the influence of steam! This is done so that the pupae, as they mature, do not gnaw through their cocoons and tear beautiful silk threads. The result is threads that can reach 2000 meters in length, they are characterized by uniformity, bright shine, softness and lightness.
In the production of organic silk, silkworm cocoons are collected in the natural environment (only damaged cocoons are used, from which butterflies have already hatched). The result is not a single silk thread, but small silk fibers.
Of course, the production of organically pure fabrics is a more labor—intensive and expensive process, but only such efforts can preserve the precious harmony of nature. Our civilization cannot live forever like an ostrich, pretending not to notice the damage to the environment caused by our selfish desires.
And the more people will consciously make a choice, the better. And Tintory already made its choice. It is better for everyone individually, and for the planet as a whole!