Synthetic polymers have experienced almost exponential growth since 1950, and today about 5% of world oil production is used for that purpose. In fact, we will need 25% or more of the current oil production for making polymers by the end of this century. Some synthetic polymers are used to make fibers, and they have …
We’ve pointed out in several blog postings the names of various chemicals that are used in textile processing which are known to cause cancer. These include (but aren’t limited to) antimony, pentachlorophenol, methylene chloride, arsenic, formaldehyde, phthalates, benzenes, PVC, sulfuric acid, acrylonitrile. The fabrics we live with are full of chemicals that are known to …
Many chemicals used in textile processing – and elsewhere in consumer products – have been identified as “endocrine disruptors”. I never paid too much attention to “endocrine disruptors” because it didn’t sound too dire to me – I preferred to stick to something like “carcinogens” because I knew those caused cancer. I knew that endocrine …
Green-wash (green’wash’, -wôsh’) – verb: the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service. Wikipedia defines greenwashing as a term describing the deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a company’s policies or products …
Most of the time, we try to share information with you (which tends to be impersonal), but blogs are supposed to be personal. Last week, I had a personal experience I have to talk about. It was an experience that was entirely daunting, and defined for me the kind of mountain we’re trying to climb. …
Fabric might be the only product I can think of which is known by its component parts, like cotton, silk, wool. These words usually refer to the fabric rather than the fiber used to make the fabric. We’ve all done it: talked about silk draperies, cotton sheets. There seems to be a disassociation between the …
I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been told: “I’ve been an interior designer for (insert number of years here) and in all that time, not one person has ever asked for a “green” fabric!” Or the popular variation: “my clients don’t care about “green”. The implication, of course, is that I’m …
Let’s look at just three areas in which your fabric choice impacts you directly: 1. What are residual chemicals in the fabrics doing to you and the planet? 2. What are the process chemicals expelled in treatment water doing to us? 3. Why do certain fiber choices accelerate climate change? RESIDUAL CHEMICALS …
We’ve often been asked where we stand on the question of growing fiber crops on agricultural land when so many people go to bed hungry each night. In today’s world, you must add another “F” to the equation: fuel, because there is such a growing interest in biomass as energy. In fact, the picture is …
I just don’t know what it takes to change people’s habits. We need a huge wake up call about the disastrous state of our oceans! Our oceans are our life support system. And they’re in trouble. Because this is a blog about textile issues, I wanted to remind you that the textile industry is the …
OEcotextiles 