Should we be using synthetic fibres or fabrics at all?

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

I am in the process of reading a book which I had long being trying to obtain - The Golden Thread - How Fabric Changed History by Kassia St Clair, having already read her fascinating book The Secret Lives of Colour.
The book starts, as you would expect, with the earliest known woven fabrics and comes up to 2018, the year of publication.  When I got to chapter 10 - Workers in the Factory - Rayon's Dark Past, I was horrified at the cost in lives, pollution and timber loss in the manufacture of Rayon - also known as Viscose ("Also generically called artificial silk, viscose, bamboo and many other trade names." (my italics).)  Apparently some large manufacturers have been fined for labelling goods as "bamboo" when in fact they are Viscose.
What prompted me to raise the question of whether we should be using synthetic fibres, like bamboo, is because in the book the author states "In Indonesia, bamboo is often planted over the site of felled trees to produce fabrics that can be marketed as being 'renewable' and environmentally friendly.  Because rayon [viscose] is made from cellulose, it is ripe for greenwashing, especially when consumers are fuzzy about how it is made." 
The environment is suffering because "the dirty work of producing synthetic fibres has been outsourced to areas of the world where labour is cheap and regulations are lax."  China, India and Indonesia are cited.  Waste and semi processed viscose has been dumped in the (populated) countryside and into rivers.  When you consider the chemicals used in Viscose's manufacture - high pH caustic sodas,  carbon disulphide and sulphuric acid, plus bleaches and dyes - the effect must be appalling.
Polyester is made from petrochemicals and doesn't biodegrade, but is apparently the cheapest manmade synthetic.  Plastic bottles may be recycled into fleece, but in that case instead of mountains of plastic bottles in landfill, we will be submerged with millions of sweat shirts and hoodies!
Mind you, if we look at cotton (which St Clair does in her book) it seems that its growing needs a lot of water (and field space) and the manufacture of denim uses even more.  The natural indigo dyeing process is not particularly environmentally friendly and, come to think of it, neither are most of  the mordants used in natural dyeing.  
I wonder if vegans realise what a toll to the planet using non animal products only causes.  Mind you, if we go back exclusively to wool all those extra sheep producing all that extra methane gas will add to global warming! and what do we do with all the synthetics already manufactured?

"We're doooomed, doooomed"  to quote Private Fraser (Dad's Army)

I'll stop now I've talked myself out of depression again.  The original question still stands though.

[Shepherdess]

It can be overwhelming. Here in Canada, they have to label it bamboo rayon but often they do not. I often wonder how people think they turn purls into a fibre.
Everything has an impact. we just need to try and have the least impact There used to be many more sheep and much less pollution. Before the were cattle in North America, Bison hurds covered more than a state in the USA. I think blaming animals for pollutions is not right. It seems to be diversionary. Is that what they call gaslighting? Look at tall the methane those cows are making, while ignoring all the pollution from transportation and other sources. It is us, plain and simple. But we do have to live, we do have to wear clothes. What we can do is be careful what we buy and how it's manufactured. Put pressure on the government and manufacturers to change what they are doing. Keep things out of the landfill as long as possible. I own very little that is new. I like to buy used. Often I can buy better clothes than I can afford to buy new, so they last longer.
I have probably babbled incoherently long enough.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

It's a real quandry isn't it. The fast fashion industry isn't helping. The book says that in 2010 "it was estimated that 150 billion garments were stitched together, enough to provide each person alive with 20 new articles of clothing". That's obscene!
I must admit I haven't purchased new clothes in a "proper" shop for, probably, about 25 years, apart from underwear. I patronise charity (thrift) shops. It's amazing what good quality things you can buy, possibly because I tend to go for classic styles which don't go out of fashion, and people who want the new fashion as soon as it comes in get rid of the clothes while they are still in very good condition. Quite often, the cleaning bill is higher than the price of the garment! I also tend to get most of the scarves and other fabrics that I use in crafting there too. It's amazing what great costumes (theatrical) you can get out of curtains, sheets, and duvet covers.
So I suppose I'm doing my recycling bit. That must help.
End of babble (for now).

[lyn]

I too like to buy my clothes and fabric/yarn/threads secondhand whenever possible (recycling yes, but to be honest it's more a thing about finding unusual items with financial saving at the same time).

It would seem that the human race is 'going to hell in a handbasket'. The planet that supports us can only take so much abuse.

We all notice different things. For me it's air travel pollution.

During lockdown the sky above the city I live in was quiet. Yesterday, while sitting in the garden with a cuppa, I counted 5 large aircraft going overhead in less than 10 minutes. And this is at a time when air travel is only just getting going again.

I think if all forum members gathered in one room the 'babbling' would be deafening

[Shepherdess]

I will join you on the fast fashion rant. Walmart has t-shirts for $5cnd. If you hold one up to the light, the fabric is so thin you can see through 2 sides. That is a shirt designed to be thrown out at the end of summer, if it lasts that long.

[caterina]

Personally, I try to visit charity shops or reuse what we already have, but I am not always careful. I am also chided for not throwing away, as I tend to hoarding: now that I have this new felting hobby, I am also buying amazing amounts of wool and fibers, because I may need those colours... I am really terrible at buying less, although I try. And that is one point: no fiber production is without impact on the environment, and I guess the only reasonable way is using less of any, instead of more of a supposedly greener one. I truly need to work more on using less.
Thank you for the thoughts and discussion.
Caterina

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

I'm a hoarder too. Mainly because I know that the moment I get rid of something, it turns out to be just the thing that I want. At least if you've still got it, it hasn't gone to landfill.
I agree with Lyn that air travel is a large cause of pollution, so are cars. It was amazing how much more wildlife we saw during the lockdowns, the first one especially. the air was cleaner and there was a large reduction in noise too.

I do recommend The Golden Thread if you can get hold of it. It was only the chapter about the manufacture of synthetics that was so depressing. The following chapter about the fabrics that went into the NASA spacesuits for the moon landing was really fascinating, (women's underwear was part of the process!) as were the earlier chapters on the history of various fibres and fabrics. The earlier book The Secret Lives of Colour was also very interesting, giving lots of stories about how the various colours we now take for granted were manufactured for painting and dyeing and where the pigments came from. Books to dip into.
Ann

[Queenpushy]

I am concerned about the environmental cost of using different fibers but it seems to me no one has mentioned the most obvious one which is Superwash yarns and fiber. Regular wool is coated with a polymer which holds down the cuticle preventing it from felting but this “plastic” of course comes off in tiny tiny particles every time you wash or wear the item and floods our water ways with plastic. 
Yes we get great colors with Superwash fibers and yarns but are they really worth the cost? Why does no one ever discuss what we are really using, plastic covered wool? 
I understand the “vegan” desire to have a variety of fibers to use, others here have mentioned the cost of water, but chemicals are used in almost all processes of wool and fiber production and we kid ourselves if we ignore it. Just commercially washing wool is very toxic if you get down to it. Detergent is harmful to the environment plain and simple. We could make ourselves crazy with all the worry but I feel that life is short, I do my best to live a responsible life, and I will use viscose, bamboo, dyes, detergents, Superwash and everything else that is available to me. God bless fiber animals and all the wonderful plant fibers. And thank goodness I don’t have to knit with cheap acrylic yarn like I had to when I was young!

[caterina]

Jun 8, 2021 19:23:12 GMT Queenpushy said:

I am concerned about the environmental cost of using different fibers but it seems to me no one has mentioned the most obvious one which is Superwash yarns and fiber. Regular wool is coated with a polymer which holds down the cuticle preventing it from felting but this “plastic” of course comes off in tiny tiny particles every time you wash or wear the item and floods our water ways with plastic. 
Yes we get great colors with Superwash fibers and yarns but are they really worth the cost? Why does no one ever discuss what we are really using, plastic covered wool? 
I understand the “vegan” desire to have a variety of fibers to use, others here have mentioned the cost of water, but chemicals are used in almost all processes of wool and fiber production and we kid ourselves if we ignore it. Just commercially washing wool is very toxic if you get down to it. Detergent is harmful to the environment plain and simple. We could make ourselves crazy with all the worry but I feel that life is short, I do my best to live a responsible life, and I will use viscose, bamboo, dyes, detergents, Superwash and everything else that is available to me. God bless fiber animals and all the wonderful plant fibers. And thank goodness I don’t have to knit with cheap acrylic yarn like I had to when I was young!

Thank you for explaining what Superwash fibers are: I did not know and never really wondered how Superwash wool could withstand being machine washed without shrinking.
Now I will think more before buying some (or garments made of Superwash yarn). Sometime it really was a choice that I maybe will do again, for instance babies' and kids' wool jumpers got washed quite a lot, and washing them all by hand got to the point of being too much for me: Superwash wool or a mix of synthetic and wool were a life-saver for me, and to be honest I am not sure that I am willing to go back on those choices. But in my felting I can definitely choose ordinary wool and natural fibers.
Although,as you pointed out, there is always dyes that are harmful to the environment.

[Shepherdess]

Jun 9, 2021 19:48:20 GMT caterina said:

Jun 8, 2021 19:23:12 GMT Queenpushy said:

I am concerned about the environmental cost of using different fibers but it seems to me no one has mentioned the most obvious one which is Superwash yarns and fiber. Regular wool is coated with a polymer which holds down the cuticle preventing it from felting but this “plastic” of course comes off in tiny tiny particles every time you wash or wear the item and floods our water ways with plastic. 
Yes we get great colors with Superwash fibers and yarns but are they really worth the cost? Why does no one ever discuss what we are really using, plastic covered wool? 
I understand the “vegan” desire to have a variety of fibers to use, others here have mentioned the cost of water, but chemicals are used in almost all processes of wool and fiber production and we kid ourselves if we ignore it. Just commercially washing wool is very toxic if you get down to it. Detergent is harmful to the environment plain and simple. We could make ourselves crazy with all the worry but I feel that life is short, I do my best to live a responsible life, and I will use viscose, bamboo, dyes, detergents, Superwash and everything else that is available to me. God bless fiber animals and all the wonderful plant fibers. And thank goodness I don’t have to knit with cheap acrylic yarn like I had to when I was young!

Thank you for explaining what Superwash fibers are: I did not know and never really wondered how Superwash wool could withstand being machine washed without shrinking.
Now I will think more before buying some (or garments made of Superwash yarn). Sometime it really was a choice that I maybe will do again, for instance babies' and kids' wool jumpers got washed quite a lot, and washing them all by hand got to the point of being too much for me: Superwash wool or a mix of synthetic and wool were a life-saver for me, and to be honest I am not sure that I am willing to go back on those choices. But in my felting I can definitely choose ordinary wool and natural fibers.
Although,as you pointed out, there is always dyes that are harmful to the environment.

I was reading yesterday there there are some natural polymers being used now as well.

[Ann @ frabjous fabrica]

Can you tell us what you were reading Ann, and who wrote it? What is being defined as polymers in what you read?
Apparently, we are using natural polymers already. According to the Carnegie Mellon University website "Natural polymers occur in nature and can be extracted. They are often water-based. Examples of naturally occurring polymers are silk, wool, DNA, cellulose and proteins." It's the cellulose ones that are made into viscose in such an awful way.

[Shepherdess]

Jun 10, 2021 6:31:26 GMT Ann @ frabjous fabrica said:

Can you tell us what you were reading Ann, and who wrote it? What is being defined as polymers in what you read?
Apparently, we are using natural polymers already. According to the Carnegie Mellon University website "Natural polymers occur in nature and can be extracted. They are often water-based. Examples of naturally occurring polymers are silk, wool, DNA, cellulose and proteins." It's the cellulose ones that are made into viscose in such an awful way.

I googles what is supperwash wool and in the answer was a note that there were some newer natural polymers but they were proprietary so that was the end of the info. I gather the use of chlorine gas or liquid is also one of the big problems. with either danger to the workers or disposal of the waste water.

[newfelter3]

Has anyone explored the new "wool"- "bio-nylon"? It is supposed to be bio-degradable if you happen to throw it away. It's also touted to be appropriate for Vegans, though I don't think it's edible! I wonder how well it works for needle felting. Anyone tried it?
www.worldofwool.co.uk/collections/bio-nylon-1?page=2&sort_by=manual

[lyn]

No I haven't tried it. I'll watch this thread with interest.

[MTRuth]

Haven't tried it either.