Our Fiber Eco-Review

We have created our own Fiber Eco-Review, using resources such as the MADE-BY Fibres Environmental Benchmark, Textile Exchange Preferred Fiber Market Report and other studies on the environmental impact of each of the fibers. Here, we have only taken the fiber production into consideration, and not the dyeing and finishing.

We have divided fibers in 2 categories according to their environmental impact:                                                               

The Fibers We Like

The FIBERS WE LIKE are “eco-friendly” fibers, which means that their production process has a low impact on the environment and meets at least half of the below criteria:

The Fibers We Avoid

The FIBERS WE AVOID have one or several of the below notably negative environmental impact. We consider these impacts serious enough to try to discard these fibers from our wardrobe:

Fibers we like

Products made with Recycled Polyester

Products made with RECYCLED Nylon

Recycled Cotton

Recycled cotton prevents additional textile waste and requires far fewer resources than conventional or organic cotton. This makes it a great sustainable option.

Cotton can be recycled using old garments or textile leftovers. The quality of the cotton may be lower than of new cotton. Recycled cotton is therefore usually blended with new cotton.

The production of recycled cotton is still very limited.

Products made with RECYCLED COTTON

Products made with RECYCLED WOOL

Recycled Textile Fibers

Organic Cotton

The fabric has the same quality as conventional cotton but not the negative impact on the environment. Organic cotton addresses most of the environmental challenges that conventional cotton production faces.

It is grown from non-GMO seeds and without the use of pesticides, insecticides, or fertilizer. Unlike conventional cotton, organic farmers use ancestral farming methods, including crop rotation, mixed farming, or no-till farming to preserve the soil.

Organic cotton farmers are not exposed to harmful substances.

Several organizations have established certifications for organic cotton such as GOTS, USDA-NOP, Organic Content Standards, IVN, and Naturland. Certification is the only proof that a product is truly organic.

Products made with ORGANIC COTTON

PRODUCTS MADE WITH LINEN

Products made with HEMP

Most of the soles of our shoes are nowadays made with synthetic rubber which is a very different thing from natural rubber.

Synthetic rubber is basically plastic whereas natural rubber is made from the milk of the Hevea tree.

Natural rubber, therefore, comes from a renewable resource, the harvesting of rubber doesn’t harm trees but actually helps the tree to flourish. It protects forests from being cut down as it gives value to the exploitation of the tree.

Rubber from FSC®-certified forest is even better as it ensures the good environmental management of the forest. There is also a Fair Rubber Association label, ensuring a better living for natural latex (rubber) producers.

Rubber is also easy to recycle & biodegradable.

PRODUCTS MADE WITH NATURAL RUBBER

Silk

Silk is a protein fiber spun by silkworms and is a renewable resource. Silk is also biodegradable. For these reasons, we consider silk a sustainable fiber. However, chemicals are used to produce conventional silk, so we will always consider organic silk to be a better option.

Because conventional silk production kills the silkworm, animal rights advocates prefer “Peace Silk”, Tussah, Ahimsa silks which allow the moth to evacuate the cocoon before it is boiled to produce silk.

PRODUCTS MADE WITH SILK

Sustainable Wool

Conventional wool is far from being as eco-friendly as we would expect. However, there are some sustainable wool options on the market which make it possible for us to dress warmly and sustainably.  

So far, we have found the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), which ensures that farms use best practices to protect the land, and treat the animal decently.

Certified organic wool guarantees that pesticides and parasiticides are not used on the pastureland or on the sheep themselves, and that good cultural and management practices of livestock are used. Certified organic wool is still pretty rare on the market. GOTS seems to be the only organization certifying organic wool.

PRODUCTS MADE WITH SUSTAINABLE WOOL

Sustainable Cashmere

As we can see in the related section, conventional cashmere has very significant consequences for the environment.

The good news is that there are a few sustainable cashmere options addressing these environmental problems and give us the possibility to buy cashmere without a guilty conscience:

Sustainable cashmere® by Chianti Cashmere;

PRODUCTS MADE WITH SUSTAINABLE CASHMERE

Sustainable Leather

Leather will never be an animal-friendly product: It is made of dead animal skin. However, the skin used to make leather comes from animals raised for their meat. In that sense, it uses a byproduct from another industry, so it doesn’t actually need additional land and resources.

Conventional leather is heavily criticized for the environmental impact of the tanning process.  But leather can also be eco-friendly. There are not many options in the market yet, but they do exist. These include Ecolife™ by Green Hides, which creates eco-friendly, chrome-free leather in Italian tanneries that recycle and purify wastewater.

The Leather Working Group is also promoting sustainable environmental practices within the leather industry.

Responsible Down

The main issue of conventional down is the live-plucking of birds which is cruel and painful to the animal.

For those wanting to use down and enjoy its durability, its lightweight, and warmth, we recommend looking for certified responsible down (Responsible Down Standard) or recycled down.

Products made with RESPONSIBLE DOWN

Lyocell (Tencel®)

Lyocell is a manufacturing process of rayon which is much more eco-friendly than its relatives modal and viscose. Lyocell is made in a closed-loop system that recycles almost all of the chemicals used. “Lyocell” is the generic name of the manufacturing process and fiber. Tencel® is the brand name of the lyocell commercialized by the company Lenzing AG. Tencel® is made from eucalyptus from PEFC certified forests. Eucalyptus trees grow quickly without the use of pesticides, fertilizers or irrigation.  

Just like rayon and viscose, lyocell is 100% biodegradable.

Ioncell-F is another rayon developed by Aalto University in Finland, similar to Lyocell but considered to be even more sustainable.

Products made with Lyocell (Tencel®)

Orange Fiber

Orange Fiber is an innovative fabric made from orange skins that comes from the juice industry wastes.  

Learn more…

Pineapple Fiber (Piñatex)

Piñatex is a fiber that comes from pineapple leaves. It is considered sustainable because it uses the by-products of pineapple harvests, so there is no need for extra resources to produce it. It is used as a substitute for leather. 

Learn more…  

Sustainable Viscose

Conventional viscose is usually not very sustainable because its production involves a lot of chemicals, heavily harmful to the environment when they are released in effluents.

However, we can find few available sustainable options in the market which worth mentioning such as ENKA®, Eastman Naia™, ECOVERO™.

Cupro

Cupro is an artificial cellulose fiber made from Linter Cotton (or Cotton wastes). In order to obtain the ready to weave yarn, the extracted cellulose is soaked in a bath of a chemical solution called «cuprammonium », hence the Cupro Name.

All the process is made in closed-loop. The large quantities of water and chemicals used in the production of Cupro are therefore constantly reused until they are completely exhausted. The chemicals used are free of toxic or dangerous compounds for health and the environment.

Cupro is also biodegradable, so it considers a good eco-friendly alternative to viscose.

Learn more…  

Fibers we avoid

Although it is a natural fiber, conventional cotton is far from environmentally friendly.

Cotton is mainly produced in dry and warm regions, but it needs a lot of water to grow. In some places, like India, inefficient water use means that up to 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce 1kg of cotton. In the meantime, 100 million people in India do not have access to drinking water.

99.3% of cotton grown globally is not organic, therefore means uses chemicals and is genetically modified seeds. Cotton represents 10% of the pesticides and 16% of the insecticides used globally. 

90% of the world’s cotton farmers are located in developing countries where labor, health, and safety regulations are nonexistent or not enforced most of the time. Child and forced labor are common practices.

In Uzbekistan (the 6th largest exporter of cotton in the world), until recently more than 1 million people were forced to pick cotton for little or no pay every year.

Wool as such is a renewable natural fiber, so it could have been considered an environment-friendly option. Unfortunately, the extensive sheep farming practiced to meet the global demand has had disastrous consequences on the environment.

Sheep survive by grazing, which can have a positive impact on certain types of ecosystems when it is well managed. But when the land is grazed too heavily, this leads to overgrazing.

Overgrazing means that the vegetation does not have enough time to grow back before it is consumed. The soil becomes weak and vulnerable to erosion and desertification.   

For example, a large part of the region of Patagonia is affected by desertification, mainly due to overgrazing by sheep which are primarily raised for their wool. 

Sheep also release methane, a gas that is 25 times worse for global warming than CO2. Sheep are often subjected to insecticide baths that contain substances hazardous to the farmers. Residues of those harmful chemicals can remain in the wool and make their way into our clothes.

Animal welfare:

Another concern about wool production is the poor treatment of sheep. When a sheep’s fleece is removed (shearing), the shearers often hurt the animals, cutting their skin or hitting them to keep them quiet. Finally, the practice of mulesing has been widely denounced by animal rights activists. Mulesing involves removing the skin of the Merino sheep around the breech to prevent parasitic infection.

Leather is a controversial fiber. First of all, it is not an animal-friendly option, since it is made of dead animal skin.

But environmental and social concerns related to leather are mostly linked to the tanning process:  Toxic chemicals are used (chromium in 75% of cases)  to transform the skins into wearable leather.

Those substances are often dumped into rivers, polluting freshwater and oceans. Also, most of the tanning factory workers around the world do not wear adequate protection and suffer from skin, eye, and respiratory diseases, cancer, and more due to their exposure to chemical substances.

Many children also work in tanneries.

"Chrome-free" leather, which usually means aldehyde-tanned or vegetable-tanned, is an alternative to chrome-tanned leather. However, it has been proven that its environmental impact is very similar to chrome-tanned leather.

The good news is that some sustainable leather options are starting to appear. 

Learn more...

Down is the layer of the fine feather of birds. Down has been used for a very long time for insulation and pillows and duvet. It is a light and warm material and very long-lasting.

The main sustainability issue with down is that part of the world’s supply of down feathers is directly taken (“plucked”) on live birds. This practice has been largely denounced due to the suffering of the animal. It is now banned in some countries but still authorized in others.

When buying down, it is essential to look for responsible down.

Polyester is the most common fiber in our garment. We can find it in 52% of our clothes.

Polyester is a synthetic fiber derived from petroleum, a nonrenewable fossil fuel.  As we know, the transformation of crude oil into petrochemicals releases toxins into the atmosphere that are dangerous for human and ecosystem health.

The production of polyester also highly energy intensive.

One of the major problems with this plastic fiber, is the fact that it is non-biodegradable. Learn more about fashion & wastes...

Furthermore, each time we wash a polyester garment, it releases 700.000 plastic microfibers, ending up in rivers and oceans and then in our food chain. Learn more..

Rayon is a fiber from regenerated cellulose, generally derived from wood pulp. Rayon is usually made from eucalyptus trees, but any plant can be used (such as bamboo, soy, cotton, etc). To produce the fiber, the plant cellulose goes through a process involving a lot of chemicals, energy and water.  Solvents used during the process can be very toxic to humans and to the environment. Viscose, modal, lyocell and bamboo are different types of rayon.  

The other substantial environmental concerns arising from rayon production is the massive deforestation involved. Thousands of hectares of rainforest are cut down each year to plant trees specifically used to make rayon. Only a very small percentage of this wood is obtained through sustainable forestry practices.    

Viscose (also called Artificial Silk or Art Silk) is the most common type of rayon. Viscose production involves a lot of chemicals, heavily harmful to the environment when they are released in effluents.

Modal, another type of rayon using beech trees with a similar process to viscose. The company Lenzing, selling modal under Lenzing Modal® only uses trees from sustainably harvested forests (PEFC certified) and employs an eco-friendly bleaching method. However modal is produced by many other manufacturers who don’t necessarily use sustainable processes.

However, it is now rather easy to find sustainable rayon in the market. See more details in our sections about Lyocell/Tencel, Cupro, and sustainable viscose.

Other Synthetic Fibers

Acrylic, polyamide, nylon, polypropylene, PVC, spandex (AKA lycra or elastane), aramide, etc, are all different types of synthetic fibers that are derived from petroleum and therefore have a very similar impact on the environment as polyester.

Bamboo

Bamboo is usually sold as an eco-friendly textile. This is partially true, as the bamboo plant is potentially one of the world's most sustainable resources. It grows very quickly and easily, it doesn’t need pesticides or fertilizers, and it doesn’t need to be replanted after harvest because it grows new sprouts from the roots. However, to turn bamboo into fiber, bamboo is processed with strong chemical solvents that are potentially harmful to the health of manufacturing workers, the consumers wearing the garment, and to the environment when chemicals are released in wastewater. Bamboo fabric is a type of rayon often called "bamboo rayon". 

Vegan Leather

Vegan leather is usually made of PVC or  polyurethane, which are synthetic fibers that have a similar environmental impact to polyester. It is certainly better for animal welfare, but it is not an eco-friendly option.

However, some plant-based substitutes of leather exist, such as the pineapple fiber.