Better Than Cotton

Copyright (c) 2009 Virginia Ginsburg

As more and more companies shift and offer fabrics made of environmentally sustainable sources, people have also begun re-thinking of their options in buying fabrics. In the past, comfort or style were the primary consideration in buying fabric. At present, the fabric's impact on Mother Earth must be factored in.

A fabric is generally considered eco-friendly (or green) if it possesses the following characteristics:
>> Minimum chemical and/or pesticide use on the raw material
>> Sustainable planting and farming practices
>> A certification of the growers' and manufacturers' eco-friendly operations
>> Animal-friendly business practices
>> The production of the fabric abides by existing trade practices

Green fabrics are not only healthy to the environment but also to consumers. Consider this list of the options when seeking green fabrics:

1. Bamboo Fiber - Fabric made from bamboo, which is incredibly soft and smooth, luxuriously comfortable, and 100% biodegradable.

2. Hemp - Hemp fibers are longer, more durable and more absorbent than cotton fibers. This plant has been grown for fiber and food production for centuries.

3. Organic cotton - Organic cotton is produced from cotton that is grown without pesticides. Organic cotton is more costly to produce than conventionally produced cotton.

4. Jute - Jute is known as burlap in North America. It is one of the most competitively-priced natural fibers in the market today. It runs next to cotton in production quantity.

5. Ingeo - Ingeo is a trademark of a man-made fiber made from corn.

6. Hessian Cloth - Hessian or Burlap is an unrefined fabric woven from jute or hemp.

7. Recycled Polyester - Recycled Polyester is a fabric made from used polyester items such as clothes.

8. Tencel® - Tencel® is a brand patented to Lenzing Fibers' lyocell. Tencel is made from wood pulp cellulose and is soft as silk, strong as polyester, cool as linen, warm as wool and as absorbent as cotton.

9. Ramie - Ramie is one of the oldest textile fabrics dating back to being used as cloth in wrapping Egyptian mummies. It is also known for its durability 8 times stronger than cotton and 7 times than silk. Ramie is resistant to bacteria, alkali, mildew and insect attack.

10. Organic Wool - Organic wool is produced without artificial hormones and pesticides. Most organic wool products available in the market nowadays are baby apparel and accessories. The production of organic wool is more expensive than other organic sources because of higher operational and certification costs.

11. Organic Linen - Organic linen comes from flax plants grown without the use of harmful pesticides and fertilizers.

12. FORTREL EcoSpun - Made from 100% recycled plastic bottles and containers. Fortrel Ecospun is known for its durability, color fastness and shrinkage-free qualities. This fabric is developed in the US by Wellmann Inc.

13. Milk Silk - originally produced by Cyran, a Chinese company, this silk is made from milk. However, because of the high cost of milk, this fabric option never gained popularity in the textile industry.

14. Soy Silk - SoySilk is a trademark owned by South West Trading Company, which produces this silk known to drape like linen and has a smooth sheen like any other silk.

15. Nettle fiber - made from the stinging nettle weed. It possesses natural moth repellant characteristic and dates back as early as World War I as a cotton yarn substitute.

16. Spider-web fabric - Researchers have tried to extract fabric from spider webs. However, until today research on this kind of fabric has not produced significant results.

Whatever type of fabric you select for your clothing and household textiles, always check to see its source, and in addition to considering the impact it has on the environment during production, also consider the resources required to transport it from its country of origin.