ok so saving the world might be a little extreme, but as you know i've been seeking out more sustainable fabrics. Yesterday I visited 2 vendors that tout eco-friendly materials and it is quite sad how little effort seems to go into creating them. They tend to be bland and unexciting- of course the world is going to continue using toxic materials if nobody out there is going to take the effort to make the sustainable ones chic!
The first place I went to uses organic cottons and hemp and bamboo (which is actually not eco friendly at all) but still makes those fabrics with some polyester to keep the prices down. On top of it the fabric isn't actually all that wonderful. TRAGIC!
The second I went to is the only leather tannery in the country, perhaps the world, who has perfected a vegetable tanning process for more than just saddle quality hides. The leathers were actually gorgeous and I will use them in the future for jackets and purses, BUT they're much too heavy for the leggings and dresses I make - I will look into this a bit more to see if there is a way I can work with it, but sadly I am stuck with lambskin again this time around until I get the samples from the fish leather tannery in iceland (still waiting!) The other issue I had with the tanner was that in a huge warehouse full of hides, they had maybe 2 shelves dedicated to the eco-friendly ones. Granted they do take custom orders and I could request any number of colors or finishes, but it still irked me, especially because the regular hides come in so many different weights where the eco hides are only the one heavy weight.
The other problem I'm running into is that because my business is run on such a small scale, I am often at the will of whatever small quantities I can find. On the plus side, I wind up buying ends and deadstock of already made materials, not generating more energy to create something that is already there, but I still want to know that if something of mine winds up in a landfill it will not leach harmful chemicals into the earth. Still researching, but in the meantime continuing with the same materials I've been using.
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sustainability. Show all posts
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Sustainability
I have always been interested in sustainability, and recently I've had that interest renewed. I have been doing a lot of reading on the subject lately, but I don't promise to be an expert on this concept, so dont hate me if I'm a little bit off on some of this..i'm still learning.
Sustainability is a tough concept to describe in relation to fashion, but the best way I can put it is producing a product with limited energy consumption that can either maintain its usefulness over time, or return to the earth without added harm to the environment. I started Linden with this in mind, but at the time I was more concerned with simply producing a 10 look collection so i mainly focused on producing locally as my effort in sustainability. I have since begun researching how to keep my aesthetic while using materials that are more sustainable.
In my searching I have discovered some interesting things:
1. many "revolutionary" textiles on the market are often the result of excellent marketing - for example, polyester derived from recycled PET bottles is merely prolonging the inevitable of being another harmful item in a landfill. It is unlikely that the recycled fabric will be repurposed in the future, and in its textile state it is more difficult to break down again to reuse. These textiles have been brilliantly marketed as keeping plastics out of the landfills and oceans, but the best way to stop plastic from hurting our environment is to find a less harmful alternative so plastic production slows down.
2. natural "environmentally friendly" materials, while bio-degradable, can still be polluting. Cotton requires a great deal of pesticides and energy to produce - organic cotton is significantly better though, but still consumes a sizable amount of energy to harvest. Often the natural substance has a flaw, especially with regards to mass production, that keeps it from being truly sustainable. That said, because it is biodegradable, it is still superior to plastics.
3. Leather, my guiltiest design pleasure, while natural and using the whole animal, is usually treated chemically and as a result is quite harmful to the environment. There are leathers tanned with natural substances that are not harmful, but their uses are more limited. I have however, excitingly come across fish leather. Again it is natural, and uses the part of the animal which is usually just discarded, but it simply requires hot water and not chemicals. The source I have found uses a natural hot spring instead of powering water heaters, and the only drawback I have found so far is that I would need to ship it from Iceland, but I think I can live with that since most of the leather I use is not tanned locally (looking into that as well) and is also shipped to the states.
So what i've learned so far is that I cannot produce a product that is completely sustainable, but I can, at the very least, reduce the amount of polluting waste my line produces as much as possible. I mean, even sparing some bottles from the landfill temporarily gives us all a bit more time to find another way to repurpose those plastics.
I will continue to share my findings here!
Sustainability is a tough concept to describe in relation to fashion, but the best way I can put it is producing a product with limited energy consumption that can either maintain its usefulness over time, or return to the earth without added harm to the environment. I started Linden with this in mind, but at the time I was more concerned with simply producing a 10 look collection so i mainly focused on producing locally as my effort in sustainability. I have since begun researching how to keep my aesthetic while using materials that are more sustainable.
In my searching I have discovered some interesting things:
1. many "revolutionary" textiles on the market are often the result of excellent marketing - for example, polyester derived from recycled PET bottles is merely prolonging the inevitable of being another harmful item in a landfill. It is unlikely that the recycled fabric will be repurposed in the future, and in its textile state it is more difficult to break down again to reuse. These textiles have been brilliantly marketed as keeping plastics out of the landfills and oceans, but the best way to stop plastic from hurting our environment is to find a less harmful alternative so plastic production slows down.
2. natural "environmentally friendly" materials, while bio-degradable, can still be polluting. Cotton requires a great deal of pesticides and energy to produce - organic cotton is significantly better though, but still consumes a sizable amount of energy to harvest. Often the natural substance has a flaw, especially with regards to mass production, that keeps it from being truly sustainable. That said, because it is biodegradable, it is still superior to plastics.
3. Leather, my guiltiest design pleasure, while natural and using the whole animal, is usually treated chemically and as a result is quite harmful to the environment. There are leathers tanned with natural substances that are not harmful, but their uses are more limited. I have however, excitingly come across fish leather. Again it is natural, and uses the part of the animal which is usually just discarded, but it simply requires hot water and not chemicals. The source I have found uses a natural hot spring instead of powering water heaters, and the only drawback I have found so far is that I would need to ship it from Iceland, but I think I can live with that since most of the leather I use is not tanned locally (looking into that as well) and is also shipped to the states.
So what i've learned so far is that I cannot produce a product that is completely sustainable, but I can, at the very least, reduce the amount of polluting waste my line produces as much as possible. I mean, even sparing some bottles from the landfill temporarily gives us all a bit more time to find another way to repurpose those plastics.
I will continue to share my findings here!
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