If a fabric is identified as 100% “cotton” – or even 100% “organic cotton” — it’s important to remember that processing the fiber, and then weaving it into fabric, is very chemically intense. One-quarter of the total weight of the finished fabric is made up of synthetic chemicals, so it’s important to know that the …
In considering fabric for your sofa, let’s be altruistic and look at the impact textile production has on global climate change. (I only use the term altruistic because many of us don’t equate climate change with our own lives, though there have been several interesting studies of just how the changes will impact us directly, …
So we have produced the frame and put in the suspension system. Next in line are the cushions – something soft to sit on. In an upholstered piece of furniture, the cushions need a filler of some kind. Before plastics, our grandparents used feathers, horsehair or wool or cotton batting. But with the advent of …
Summer has been beautiful in Seattle this year – and I’ve been taking advantage of it. My month turned into almost two months – I just couldn’t bring myself back to the computer. But now I’m refreshed and ready to go again. We’ve often had people question why organic sofas cost “so much” – and …
When plastic was introduced in 1869, it was advertised as being able to replace natural products like ivory and tortoiseshell in items such as jewelry, combs and buttons – so it would “no longer be necessary to ransack the earth in pursuit of substances which are constantly growing scarcer.”(1) What a success: Plastics are versatile …
I ran into some interesting ideas that seem to display why we should not immediately discredit new science – like genetic engineering or nanotechnology – because it might well provide clues to how we can continue to live on this planet. So rather than taking a global stand against GMOs or nanotechnology perhaps we should …
I’m happily planning what will be my new organic kitchen garden, and I keep thinking about agriculture and how it relates to Fritjof Capra’s statement that we are all part of a vast interconnected universe – one that is constantly in flux. And I also keep returning to the subject of how agriculture, as practiced …
This blog is supposed to be “textile specific”, meaning we try to keep the topics restricted to those things that apply to the growing of fibers, or the manufacture of synthetic fibers, and the processing of those fibers into cloth. But society seems to have tunnel vision about many things, such as chemical use. Bisphenol …
What does asbestos have to do with fabrics? Asbestos has been used in fabrics for centuries – the story goes that Roman soldiers (or, depending on the story, wealthy Persians) would clean asbestos napkins by throwing them into the fire – and they’d emerge clean and white. During the Middle Ages, some merchants would sell …
In our ongoing series of looking at the different chemicals used in textile processing, we’re up to the C’s. This week’s topic is chromium. Chromium (Cr) exists in several forms, which are described by different numbers in parentheses. The most common forms are elemental chromium (0), chromium (III), and chromium (VI). Chromium (III) occurs naturally …
OEcotextiles 