What makes a fabric sustainable?
Guest Blogger Annin Barrett, Textile Specialist,
CROW Clothing
"Sustainable" and "green" are words that get thrown on just about everything these days. It becomes harder and harder to trust what is meant by these labels. Here's some information to help you understand what sustainability is and what it means for your clothes.
It's important to remember that in the quest for sustainability there is no such thing as a panacea. Championing sustainability means accepting a wide variety of factors in evaluating impact on our planet and people. Textiles can contribute to pollution at every step of production: growing fiber, producing fiber, dyeing, printing and fabric finishing, waste scraps, transportation to market, fashion obsolescence, and landfill trash. The textile industry also has a history of oppression and exploitation and continues to compromise human lives today.
Additionally, gross overuse of any one of our planet's resources will result in an imbalance. The green movement could suffer from a "replace and drain" phenomenon if we simply replace conventional sources with sustainable sources and use them at the same rate. Anything can become toxic if it is overused. This makes it is important to design using a range of fibers that are derived from a variety of resources. Your CROW Clothing is made from a diverse range of eco-conscious fibers from quickly-replenished, organic and/or post-consumer sources so that we don't drain any one source on our planet ever again. We even design with sustainability in mind- offering you items like our Three Way Shirt that can be worn in so many settings you'll need less clothes in your closet. Reducing is a big part of decreasing our environmental footprint.
Last but never least, our definition of sustainable means valuing people as well as the planet. CROW Clothing garments are constructed locally in the U.S. by independent sewing contractors in the hopes of revitalizing a dwindling domestic textiles industry. We practice fair work practices, and support our team with naturopathic care, massage, and the public credit they deserve for the role they play in our company.
At CROW Clothing we strive to learn as much as we can about our fabrics and the global impact of the fashion business. We pledge to take every opportunity to build more and more sustainable practices into every aspect of our operations.
Sustainable textiles are a fairly new commodity. As such there is not yet a 100% perfectly sustainable fiber. Instead there are several factors that have to be assessed to determine if a fiber is sustainable.
At CROW Clothing we have divided these factors into four categories:
Does its use reduce or eliminate toxic chemical pollution required by production (fertilizers, pesticides, manufacturing chemicals, fabric dyes, and finishes)?
Does its use reduce CO2 emissions by shortening the transportation distances of goods to market?
Does its use reduce the above toxins, emissions, and waste by increasing the longevity of garment?
The life cycle of a garment must be considered. Can it be reused? Will it biodegrade? Can it be recycled or composted?
The fabric bios at our site will introduce you to each of our fabrics according to these four points.
Once you wear CROW Clothing, you won't want to go back to clothes made in sweatshops or out of synthetics. CROW Clothing is stylish, soft, supple, and dynamic. Our clothes fit a wide range of lifestyles, from active to minimalist to the most fashionable.
You'll feel great in your clothes and you'll feel great about your clothes.