Removing plastics is key to decarbonising fashion

As the goal to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 dawns on all of humanity, the fact remains that the clothes we wear, approximately sixty two percent of them, are made from fossil fuels. Fashion is highly dependent on oil and our wardrobes have been shaped by synthetic fibers, which are cheap and offer a myriad of technical benefits ranging from elasticity, durability and heat control. Decarbonising fashion will eventually remove plastics and revert to using more old world fibers such as cotton and wool, to developing entirely new low impact fibers. But what choices are there today that can be implemented at scale?

Since chemistry powerhouse Du Pont introduced Nylon, described as «a new word and a new material», in 1939 in New York’s World’s Fair, synthetic fibers have outpaced cotton, linen, wool and any other natural or animal fiber in the global textile industry. The transformational material followed decades of new generational products such as tracksuits, swimwear, hosiery, and eventually led to fast-fashion which today relies heavily on Du Pont’s inventions.

Representing six out ten items of clothing worldwide, categories like activewear and fast fashion would not exist or be the same without them. And while the metaverse and its derivatives such as NFTs might be deemed like a future of sustainable living by some, the synthetic world of microplastics that do not biodegrade have infiltrated our most intimate places. In 2019, the WWF revealed in a report that we are approximately eating, drinking and breathing 250 grams of plastic, approximately a credit card, every single year.  More recent reports, both published within 3 weeks of each other earlier this year, declared that microplastics have been found in both human blood and within human lungs. Though microplastics had not been detected before, more potent microscopes have made it possible to see even smaller particles of non-biodegradable plastic flowing through our veins and our bronchioles. 

Moving away from plastics has never been more urgent, but what alternatives are there? Sebastian Boger, Managing Director and Partner at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) office in Munich, points out that «it goes back to the margin structure of how the industry is set up, especially in fast-fashion and high-street fashion». You can see why synthetic fibers are so hard to compete with when they are so cheap and yet offer so much versatility in design and performance. «I see many innovators focusing on higher priced fabrics because the margins are better and the use cases are probably easier to communicate, but especially on those volume fibers like PET, I’m not seeing too many efforts at this point to replace them». 

Mr. Boger’s comment may be ironically spotted in Lululemon’s 2020 Impact Agenda where the company states they are a member of the Mylo Consortium, an initiative launched by the rising startup Bolt Threads, known for its mushroom based leather. But if fifty percent of Lululemon’s carbon impact stems from their use of fabrics, primarily nylon and polyester, why tackle leather instead of synthetics? 

Though the company is quick to acknowledge that innovating a sustainable or renewable nylon «is by far our most challenging materials goal». Promises to replace polyester with recycled polyester and to find renewable solutions to elastane are made, but with nothing to show for, at least not yet.

Desynthesize to decarbonise

The search for fibers that are natural and that offer all, or most, of what synthetic fibers can do remains a challenge. Unmixed cotton, linen, hemp, and cellulose fibers are viable replacements to our daily wardrobes but are quickly ruled out for performance wear as they don’t possess characteristics required for activewear like shape-retention, meaning no knee-bags, or high moisture-wicking capabilities as we transpire through our workouts. 

Putting aside closed-loop systems that have yet to work in reality, today’s solutions must focus on real human behaviour and available infrastructures to deal with waste. When less than one percent of recycled materials make it into new garments, considering the use of materials that can biodegrade seems like a more realistic option. 

If we are to replace synthetic fibers, we must track replacement materials from cradle to grave and systematically follow each step of their journey. Regarding the source of sustainable materials, it would be safe to say that the substitute should not come from fossil fuels if the primary objective is to decarbonise. 

Plant and animal based fibers both use up land that would naturally sequester carbon in its wild state, both use polluting fertilisers and pesticides before raw materials are processed with chemicals further downstream when treated for colour and are finished into a final product. The carbon-footprint is significant. Very few of the solutions available today can claim carbon neutrality, but advances to lower our impact are being made with more efficient agricultural systems. 

Forest-based fibers promise a lower carbon impact when sourced from responsibly managed forests to produce a wood pulp that is spun into what is becoming a more popular fabric, Lyocell. Already adopted by the likes of Allbirds and Zara, it is a promising headwind that is gaining scale.  

Recycling garments however is likely the best available low-impact option given that the ingredients needed to make new garments won’t use much more energy, water or chemicals compared to virgin fibers. However available, still less than one percent of old garments are recycled into new garments.

Removing plastics from fashion is crucial for the main reason that it does not biodegrade when existing recycling practices are largely insufficient or non-existent. What fabrics then decompose naturally if buried in soil, in your backyard, or in a landfill where most of it ends up? 

I click back to Lululemon’s website. Its best-selling yoga leggings, are ‘buttery soft and weightless’, its composition is eighty one percent Nylon and nineteen percent Lycra elastane which together promise features like ‘four-way stretch and shape retention’, ‘sweat-wicking’, ‘breathable’. No mention of green credentials are made. Some would call that green-hushing.

A technical report carried out by Hamilton and Causer (Sept 2011) prepared for Wool Research Organisation of New Zealand studied the degradation of wool and polyester by calculating fabric weight and composition. The results are clear. Various samples of jersey wool were buried in individual soil pots over a period of nine months, showing rates of degradation of one hundred percent for the light woven wool jerseys, and seventy-six to ninety-nine percent for knitted wool samples, meaning heavier wool fabrics take slightly longer to degrade. Polyester and nylon samples showed a mass loss of zero percent from start to finish. 

Sadly, they will continue to persist in the environment for centuries to come as microplastics.

Can wool be a viable replacement to synthetic performance? 

According to Woolmark, an Australian not-for-profit organisation, virgin wool only makes up just over one percent of the textiles available worldwide. This will hardly suffice to replace the synthetic fiber monopoly. And though companies like Prato-based Manteco, have honed advanced methods to recycle wool from pre and post-consumer waste, the future of renewable materials will have to rely on various sources, not dissimilar to the shift the energy industry is experiencing as we move away from coal, gas and oil for wind, solar, hydro and nuclear sources. 

But by refocusing the question as to whether wool can replace synthetically made performance fabrics, previous collaborations spotlight a potentially untapped area that deserves more attention. Wool is derived from an animal that has evolved for millions of years to deal with incredible shifts of heat and cold from the mountains it grazes on giving it superhero-like abilities to thermoregulate, fend off bacteria and odour, wick away moisture and all the while being entirely biodegradable. Unlike animal leather, sheeps reared for wool are kept alive and looked after, as they’re sheared every twelve months, meaning a single Merino ewe can yield on average four and half kilograms of good wool per year for about five to six years. 

But what use cases are there? In 2021, The Luna Rossa Prada sailing team chose Woolmark as its new official technical partner for the 36th America’s Cup. This collaboration comes with a double-win. The new fifty-four percent Merino wool uniforms showed advances in performance that met the excruciating tests in thermoregulation and waterproofness, and crucially weaned off almost half of the synthetic fibers previously used to make the uniforms. In an ocean setting, that is one of the main sinks for microplastics, this is an encouraging development. 

Team sailor, Shannon Falcone, who helped design and develop the uniform, testifies for the use of Merino wool in activewear. «We tested the garments on support tenders in rough conditions at 50 [knots], by fire-hosing someone for 30 minutes to test waterproofing and sitting in the prepreg container freezer to compare thermal capabilities. Our Merino wool garments passed these tests and more».

Emerging startups like UK based Sheep Inc., claim to be carbon negative, a huge feat in itself. At the time of meeting Edzard Van Der Wyck, co-founder and chief executive, he explained that the carbon footprint for sending Merino wool from New Zealand was relatively small compared to rearing the animals. Achieving a carbon negative product was possible only thanks to the sheep rearers he chose and later co-invested with. 

This type of mindset and long-term investment ensures that its suppliers will keep innovating to minimize their impact. Brands should take a page from Sheep Inc, and partner more closely with their raw material suppliers to decarbonize, or as with the Luna Rossa sailing team, to innovate with old fibers to remove plastic.

An abridged version of this article was published on Lampoon Magazine on 3 August 2022