As a fiber artist and zero-waste enthusiast, my goal is to exclusively use, in my projects, materials that are 100% natural. I am interested in fibers that are produced sustainably and can be disposed of in ways that do not contribute to the climate crisis.

I love the plastics audit suggested by Helene in one of her previous emails: it is very useful to understand the plastics that make their way into our homes. I decided to do an audit of my closet, with the goal to learn more about the fiber content of my clothes and see what I can do to reduce the amount of plastic that enters my life via the items I wear.

My favorite jacket is 100% polyester. Another jacket contains 75% cotton, 16% polyester, and 9% rayon. Other items are combinations of viscose and lurex, or cotton and elastane, or cotton and modal, or cotton and modal and acetate, or rayon and silk and acetate, or acrylic and polyester and wool. What happens to all these items once they get into the waste stream? According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology, only 15% of used clothes in the United States get reused or recycled. The other 85% head straight to the landfill or the incinerator. (1)

Rayon, acetate, cupro, lyocell, tencel, modal, viscose - these are semi-synthetic fibers, derived from renewable materials (such as wood pulp) which are then heavily chemically altered. Polyester, elastane, spandex, lycra, acrylic, microfiber, modacrylic, nylon, polyamide, polypropylene - these are 100% synthetic fibers, which means fibers that come from fossil-fuel derived resources including petroleum-based chemicals.

It turns out that polyester is the world’s most prevalent fiber - it is half the world’s fiber market and represents 80% of all synthetic fibers. If the fashion industry continues with business as usual, soon, almost three-quarters of our textiles will be produced from fossil fuels. (2)

My audit rendered more questions than answers: are these materials recyclable? We know that household plastics (such as PET#1, HDPE #2, LDPE #4, PP #7 etc.) have to be separated before being recycled. Is this the case with plastic fibers such as elastane and polyester? What happens when clothing items contain blended fibers? It sounds like recycling blended textiles into new fabrics is really difficult.

While trying to find better answers to all these questions, there are things you can do in order to reduce your clothing’s impact on the environment:

1. Know the fiber content of your garments; do you really understand the environmental consequences of fiber production? Synthetic, semi-synthetic and natural fibers - they all have an impact.

2. Extend the life of your clothing by better maintaining it: mend your garments, use the dryer less often, wash garments by hand.

3. Make your own clothes; this will give you more control over what fabrics, yarn, or thread you use; you will create items you will value and use more because of the time you invested in making them.

4. Wear your clothes until they are worn out.

5. Creatively reuse your garments - turn a dress into a cushion, or a sweater into a rug for a pet.

6. Opt for thrifted items.

7. Buy fewer garments; when you go shopping for clothes, pick garments that are 100% natural fiber (linen, cotton, hemp, ramie, etc.)

8. Avoid fabrics that blend natural and synthetic fibers together; they are not biodegradable and are not easily recyclable. An article I recently read recommends this: if your only choice is between a blended fabric and 100% polyester, choose the pure polyester garment (3). I believe the assumption is made that the pure polyester garment will eventually be successfully recycled into new fabric; however, I am not sure this is actually happening.  

   I hope you found this information as interesting and eye opening as I did.  

   Sustainably yours,

   Helene