Fashioning a better world: Recycled, upcycled and innovative textile materials – part two

In Part One of Fashioning a Better World, we explored some of the amazing plant-based alternatives to animal-derived materials used by the fashion industry.

Today, in Part Two, we’re taking a look at options for recycling or upcycling, as well as some of the innovative new materials on the market.

Recycled fabrics

·         Recycled Polyester

If you’re looking for fashion that helps keep plastic out of landfills, then recycled polyester (also known as rPet) is often put forward as an option.

This material is made from recycled plastic bottles or fishing nets retrieved from the ocean. As marine life is ingesting large amounts of plastic, many feel it’s worth exploring anything that can reduce this exposure.

There are two different manufacturing processes, which affect the quality of the material. With mechanical recycling, the plastic is melted to be turned into yarn. However, if the plastic goes through this process several times, eventually the fibres break down and the material loses its quality.

Another option is chemical recycling where the plastic is broken down into molecules and reformed as yarn. According to Sustain Your Style, chemical recycling can be repeated indefinitely but is far more expensive.

Things to consider when buying recycled polyester

Although recycled polyester is a vegan material that keeps plastic bottles out of landfills and takes fishing nets from the oceans, it releases harmful plastic microfibres when washed or worn.

Ocean Clean Wash says that every laundry load releases nine million microfibres into wastewater treatment plants. These microfibres are so small that they’re impossible to filter out of the water, meaning they end up in the world’s oceans and then back in the food chain and environment.

As you may be aware, there are growing concerns that plastic microfibres are contributing to an array of health problems in humans and other animals, including reproductive problems, various cancers, respiratory conditions such as asthma, and even changes to DNA.

There are ways we can each minimise the number of microfibres our washing produces:

• Running a full wash will reduce friction between the clothes
• Washing liquid also causes less friction than washing powder, as does using a fabric softener
• Short washes at low temperatures cause less damage to synthetic fabrics
• You might also want to consider using a microfibre filter, washing bag or microfibre-catching laundry ball in your washing machine

Another thing to consider when buying recycled polyester is that it currently has a potential reliance on fossil fuels for production.

Some experts feel too that turning plastic bottles into fabric is just a stop-gap before the plastic ends up in landfill, which, as we saw in our blog on fast fashion, is the fate of 84% of garments. It would, many believe, be better to use bottles in a closed-loop, bottle-to-bottle recycling system.

If recycled polyester is going to be used in fashion, some experts say it’s better used in items such as shoes or bags as these don’t need to be washed regularly.

Sadly, recycled polyester may not be the best sustainable material because of the amount of resources needed to process it into yarns and textiles.

·         Recycled Nylon

Recycled Nylon shares many of the same pros and cons as recycled polyester. This material is made from pre-consumer fabric waste and post-consumer nylon waste such as fishing nets and carpet fibres.

The nylon is broken down into its chemical components, melted and spun into nylon thread. The good news is that it uses 90% less water and 50% less energy than virgin nylon.

Its key benefits are that it’s strong, durable, lightweight, elastic, waterproof, and that it helps to keep nylon items out of landfills.

Right now, Econyl is the best-known recycled nylon product and is produced in a closed-loop process, which the manufacturer says is “infinitely recyclable”.

Overall, manufacturers of recycled nylon are seen as transparent in their production processes and known to look after their employees’ rights and welfare, which is an important consideration.

Things to consider when buying recycled nylon

As with recycled polyester, recycled nylon isn’t biodegradable, and it may shed microplastics into the environment. It’s advisable to use a net wash bag designed to trap microplastics if you have items made of this fabric.

Also, The Eco Mastery Project warns that recycled nylon is not always vegan because animal-derived products may be used in the production process. Some manufacturers are creating vegan recycled nylon, but you will always need to check the garment label to be sure.

·         Recycled rubber

Even though natural rubber comes from trees, this material is associated with environmental problems such as deforestation, land grabs, poor working conditions, and the use of harmful pesticides and fertilisers.

Is natural rubber vegan? It’s a debate that rages on. Some people feel that although no animals are directly harmed to make natural rubber, the environmental consequences for local animal species have to be considered.

Synthetic rubber is made from crude oil and releases harmful toxins into the environment, as well as being non-renewable and non-biodegradable. This is a massive problem.

Currently, one billion rubber car tyres are manufactured every year. This industry is just one of the major sources of rubber waste – 250 million tyres are scrapped annually in the US alone, most of which are incinerated for their fuel value. This has a significant environmental impact.

In the 1970s, used tyres (which contains harmful chemicals) were dumped in the oceans in the hope that they would create artificial reefs. Instead, they caused more harm than good to marine life.

Fashion designers are now turning to recycled rubber as an alternative to latex, leather and synthetic rubbers such as neoprene.

Companies creating recycled rubber are using car and bike tyres and helping to remove the artificial rubber reefs from the world’s oceans.

Things to consider when buying recycled rubber

While recycled rubber is still non-biodegradable, it is helping to reduce demand for natural and synthetic rubber and uses less resources to produce, meaning it has a smaller environmental impact. The hope is that by cutting demand for virgin natural rubber, it may help to replenish biodiversity in areas affected by deforestation.

Recycled rubber is often used by fashion brands as a replacement for various animal-derived leathers, which is a positive step.

Of course, at the end of their life, garments and accessories made from recycled rubber may end up in landfill, meaning the recycling has put off the end problem rather than solving it. Therefore, steps are needed to keep recycled rubber in a closed-loop system.

Plant-derived leathers

·         Mushroom leather

Mushroom leather (the most well-known of which is Mylo) is a vegan alternative to animal-derived leathers. It’s made from mycelium, the underground roots of mushrooms – think of it as more a network of fine threads or filaments.

Mycelium can grow to cover a vast amount of space. The world’s largest known organism is a honey fungus in the Blue Mountains of Oregan that occupies almost 2,400 acres (965 hectares) of soil, covering an area as big as 1,665 football fields.

Mushroom leather was created very recently in 2012 by product designers Philip Ross and Jonas Edvard. It offers exciting potential as a material because the mycelium used for mushroom leather grows quickly – in just two to three weeks – if it’s grown in the right conditions.

By adding different dyes or changing how the mycelium is pressed during the production stage, it’s possible for mushroom leather to mimic the look and feel of any animal-derived leather.

Is mushroom leather sustainable?

There are a lot of reasons to be excited about mushroom leather.

It’s a fully sustainable natural fibre that is biodegradable at the end of its life cycle. It can be grown using post-consumer waste such as straw, corn cobs and wood chips, and its production is entirely closed loop. Any waste from the production process can be used for organic crop fertiliser.

Mushroom leather requires minimal resources such as water and electricity to grow and has no need to use animals (or the resources associated with animal agriculture) in any way. It doesn’t generate pollution or harmful chemicals.

The time difference between creating a piece of animal-derived leather and mushroom leather is staggering. It can take up to three years to raise a cow for use by the leather industry, for example, while mycelium, for a comparable size piece of leather, grows in just weeks.

It’s a light, breathable material that has an excellent insulating effect.

When used to make shoes, mushroom leather is less likely to cause conditions such as athlete’s foot than animal-derived leather. It makes ideal watch strap material for people with eczema too.

Right now, there are two main downsides to using mushroom leather. These are its limited availability and high price point (comparable to high-end leather). Of course, availability and pricing are largely driven by demand.

Manufacturers of mushroom leather such as Bolt Threads are working hard to produce higher volumes of the fabric and bring down costs to make it cheaper than animal-derived leathers.

·         Apple Leather

Apple leather, also known as AppleSkin, is a bio-based material part-made from pomace (the flesh, peel and stalks left over when apples are pressed). To make apple leather, the pomace is dried to a powder and then mixed with various ingredients, including polyurethane (the resin used to make synthetic leather) to create a leather-like material.

Is apple leather sustainable?

Apple leather is half bio-based and half synthetic, meaning that it does have a greater environmental impact than mushroom leather, for example. Made from 50% fossil-fuel-derived materials in most cases, it’s not biodegradable.

However, it is important to note that cow skin leather is the third most negatively impactful fabric to produce and, as a substitute for this, apple leather is less than half as harmful.

Manufacturers are exploring how fruit leathers can be produced without any plastics so that they become biodegradable and fully sustainable.

Other biosynthetic materials

Apple leather above is just one example of biosynthetic materials that are making their way into the fashion industry.

According to Textile Exchange, biosynthetic materials “can be wholly or partly derived from natural, renewable sources such as corn, sugar beet, sugarcane, wheat, and more, and can be a more climate-friendly alternative to their fossil-based counterparts”.

These materials mimic the properties of conventional fabrics.

Right now, manufacturers are looking at how they can better incorporate or use natural polymers like cellulose in materials. Cellulose can be extracted from waste products such as algae, nut shells, straw, coffee grounds and even cigarette butts!

It can also be extracted from recycled textile pulp and bacteria.

This is a rapidly evolving area of design and innovation, and many experts feel biosynthetic materials will be crucial to making fashion sustainable and cruelty-free.

Upcycled fabrics

Fashion brands are also increasingly exploring ways to repurpose existing materials so that they stay out of landfills and have an extended life cycle. This helps to reduce waste, encourage creativity and reduce the demand for new materials.

Unlike recycling, which breaks down the fibres of a fabric, enabling them to be woven as new fabric, upcycling reuses a fabric in its current form but transforms it into a new product. For example, this could be a pair of jeans being turned into a tote bag or jacket.

Methods to upcycle fabric include weaving, quilting and stitching. Visible mending is a current fabric upcycling trend where a repair becomes part of the fabric’s new design.

Is upcycling sustainable?

Upcycled fashion has the potential to be sustainable because it prolongs the life of materials, diverts textile waste from landfills and preserves valuable resources that would otherwise be used to produce new garments. In addition, it can help to protect the lives of animals who would otherwise be used as products of the fashion industry.

Conclusion

While researching our “Fashioning a better world” blogs, we’ve seen that there are some exciting textile innovations and developments within the fashion industry that have the potential to remove animal-derived products from production.

However, there are clearly other environmental issues to consider too. As ethical consumers, we have to do our homework before we buy and, indeed, reflect on whether we need to buy at all.

When looking for ethically produced materials, consider brands and manufacturers that prioritise transparency, fair trade practices, and certifications such as the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Oeko-Tex Standard 100, and the Cradle to Cradle Certified™ programme.

Additionally, explore sustainable fashion platforms and marketplaces that curate eco-friendly and vegan products like EarthHero, The Ethical Shop, and Eco-Stylist. These platforms can provide a variety of options and information on where to find ethically produced materials.

There are a number of fantastic vegan and sustainable clothing and accessories companies in the Ethical Globe directory too.

Finally, if you see your favourite fashion designers using animal-derived or unsustainable materials, let them know via email or social media that you expect better from them.