Sustainably "Green" Fibers

The world has grown become fascinated with the idea of being "green", and to make the earth a more sustainable place. A way to start being green is through fibers. Information about sustainable fibers needs to be spread. People need to be informed about what materials are good and bad for their environment, is there an alternative? There are two types of fibers, natural and man-made, which both have subcategories containing reusable and recyclable fibers.

A natural fiber is protein or cellulosic, animal or plant fibers. Protein fibers include silk, wool, and leather. One sustainable protein fiber would be wool. The thing that makes this good for the earth is if the animal being sheered and has not been injected with any type of hormones; but instead is fed organic substances not treated with any form of pesticides. These animals must be raised according to an accredited standard for organic livestock production. When sheering the animal is completed, the fiber must be made into a spun yarn and textile. Now in order to stay sustainable the fibers cannot be bleached or chemically processed, as it usually would be. Organic wool is very sustainable, but it must be certified. Cellulosic fibers would include any type of plant fiber, cotton, linen, silk, etc. Some green plant fibers would be organic cotton and recycled cotton. Organic cotton is grown without the use of pesticides, sewage, irradiation or genetic engineering. Recycled cotton derives from two sources. One when spinning waste is recycled in the same spinning plant. And when garment fall-out, scrap yarn, and fabric can be processed and recycled into a yarn. Other forms of sustainable cellulosic fibers can include linen, hemp, and silk. For natural fiber to be considered sustainable it must be accredited by a certification organization. Natural fibers are more difficult to make and consider eco friendly than man-made fibers are; with man-made the options seem almost endless.


A man-made fiber has two categories, natural man-made and synthetic man-made. With natural man- made are fibers made from that of cellulosic and protein fibers, these would include glass, rayon, acetate, etc; these fibers often use harsh chemicals that are bad for the environment. Rayon from bamboo is considered green because it grows fast and constant, it does use chemicals that could be considered polluted and must be carefully controlled. Synthetic fibers are made from a chemical process derived from oil and include nylon polyester, acrylic and spandex. Most synthetic fibers that can be considered green can be recycled only; because of the chemicals used in making of these fibers they will not decompose naturally. The recycled products first must be converted by chemical or mechanical recycling. Mechanical recycling is the least expensive and uses the least amount of energy, but produces the least amount of yarn filament options and can become unsustainable for textiles. Chemical recycling does just the opposite of mechanical. Once the product has been converted it then must be accredited just like the natural fibers. Recycled nylon and recycled polyester are the most common synthetic fibers that are considered sustainable.  In this decade people are beginning to come up with alternative fiber sources.

Alternative fiber sources can change our world and make it more sustainable. An example would be Abaca, which is a cellulosic fiber from the bast family that is blended with soft fibers to form textiles. It could decrease the dependency on agricultural crops and is biodegradable. Finding these alternative man-made and natural resources is what will enhance the "green" world and promote the sustainability options of fibers.