The fashion industries connection to animal cruelty, ranging from "live-plucked" geese to snakes brutally hacked and skinned for luxury bags and belts and silk pupas boiled live, have turned the stomachs of the pro-life vegan. Not only animal anti-cruelty activists and vegans but also consumers and NGO’s are demanding more transparency and ethical practices in the rag trade.
This demand has pushed the textile industry to be more innovative. This is a good start for the fashion industry and with a lot more vegan options on the market one is able to make deliberate and conscious choices.
What we have to keep in mind, aside from the animal and planetary aspects of vegan textiles, is the human aspect. Clothing made in sweatshops involving human rights violations, albeit vegan, is not ethical. It is also important to remember that the clothes boasting eco-friendly, sustainable, guilt free and socially inclusive labels may just be greenwashing by big fashion brands. Let’s look at the pros and cons of some of the VEGAN textiles.
Synthetic alternatives: faux fur, pleather, polyester, nylon
Plastics are found in 60% of clothing and because these materials are made from crude oil, they are very bad for the planet. Polyester and nylon manufacturing process requires toxic chemicals and heavy energy consumption. Not only do these textile mills generate greenhouse gases, but they also make up a fifth of the entire world's wastewater.
Because synthetics can be produced cheaply, they drive the fast fashions overproduction of cheap, poorly made clothing resulting in an unsustainable cycle of excess waste that takes hundreds of years to decompose.
PROS: Cheaper, waterproof qualities, stain resistant, durable, dry quickly.
CONS: Not Biodegradable, unhealthy for skin (carcinogenic), non-breathable, environmentally unsustainable, create polluting microfibers.
Semi-synthetic alternatives: rayon, viscose, modal, and lyocell
Cellulose fibres such as rayon, viscose, modal, and lyocell are produced from the wood pulp. They are often categorized as "semi-synthetic" because although they come from the organic tree fibres of oak, birch and eucalyptus trees, fibres need to undergo chemical processes to create yarns.
Heavy demand for these wood-based fibres is resulting in thousands of hectares of pristine rainforests being cleared annually and replaced with these hardwoods. Delicate ecosystems are being threatened and the forests’ capacity to absorb carbon dioxide has diminished.
PROS: Closed loop production, biodegradable, renewable resource, decomposable, antibacterial qualities.
CONS: Linked to deforestation, heavy chemical processes, costly.
Plant based alternatives: cotton, hemp, bamboo, flax (linen)
Cotton
Cotton has an enormous carbon footprint because of the vast number of pesticides and agro-chemicals it requires to grow. These chemicals wreak havoc on both underground water and surrounding waterways.
Cotton cultivation also requires excessive water for irrigation, and this is often at the cost of local communities using those waterways for their livelihoods. Aside from the adverse environmental impact of cotton, this crop is also linked to slave and child labour. For this reason, ethical organic cotton should be the vegan’s choice.
PROS: Breathable, biodegradable, good on skin, durable, recyclable
CONS: Negative environmental impact, linked to human rights abuse, excessive waste and pollution, not sustainable.
Bamboo
Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plants on the planet, it absorbs carbon dioxide, requires less water and chemicals, prevents soil erosion, and can be harvested efficiently.
However, it also has its drawbacks. Bamboo is often sourced from China, where healthy forests are being rapidly cleared to meet the growing demand for this fast-growing crop.
PROS: Regeneration resource, water efficient, CO₂ negative, anti-microbial, closed loop.
CONS: Requires heavy chemicals in production, not very durable.
Hemp
Hemp is made from the celluloid fibres of the hemp plant stems and is a high-yielding, carbon-negative crop with a low impact on the environment. After the leaves have been harvested, the stalks break down and return the plant's nutrients back to the soil. Hemp has a low water and ecological footprint.
As a bonus, organic hemp is turned into fabric through an entirely mechanical process, requiring no chemicals.
PROS: Extremely durable, resilient to pests, requires very little water, sustainable, renewable, CO₂ negative, low environmental impact, closed loop recyclable, compostable, breathable, absorbs moisture, resists mildew, blocks ultraviolet light and has natural anti-bacterial properties.
CONS: Expensive
Flax
The flax plant used to make linen is exceedingly adaptable, needs little water and can grow in a range of climates which eliminates shipping pollution. It's gentle on water and energy use in production and produces little toxic waste.
PROS: Regeneration resource, water efficient, carbon negative, anti-microbial, closed loop, resilient to pests, recyclable, compostable, naturally moisture-wicking & odour resistant, naturally antibacterial and antifungal, hypo-allergenic.
CONS: None
Emerging innovative textiles- Nullarbor, Piñatex, Cork leather
Nullarbor – Made by using bacteria to ferment liquid coconut waste from the food industry into cellulose.
PROS: Bio-degradable, marginal environmental footprint, sustainable, not linked to deforestation, low water consumption, repurposed waste (by-product of coconut industry)
CONS: Vegan but may indirectly involve monkeys to harvest coconuts, some violations of human rights.
Piñatex (pineapple leather) - Made from pineapple leaf fibre
PROS: Natural, bio-degradable, renewable, Durable eco-friendly production process, generates income for pineapple farmers
CONS: requires PU (polyurethane) coating therefore not completely eco-friendly
Cork leather - Made from bark of cork oak trees
PROS: Trees harvested not cut, no waste in extraction, processing, or production, no additives required in processes, recyclable; renewable, water resistant
CONS: not durable
Article by Tonya Lehtinen, Vogue Xchange
Download the app https://goodonyou.eco/, which rates clothing brands on the sustainable practices and gives informative articles on what the brands are doing to improve their actions.
Sources:
PETA, Animals Used for Clothing, https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-clothing/#:~:text=Animals%20Used%20for%20Clothing,being%20killed%20for%20their%20fur [Accessed 22 April 2022]
Ashley V, 2021, Knowledge of Leather Alternatives: An Exploratory Study: Implications for Education, https://irispublishers.com/jtsft/fulltext/knowledge-of-leather-alternatives-an-exploratory-study-implications-for-education.ID.000668.php, [Accessed 22 April 2022]
McCullough D G, 2014, Deforestation for fashion: getting unsustainable fabrics out of the closet, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/zara-h-m-fashion-sustainable-forests-logging-fabric, [Accessed 22 April 2022]
CLEAR Cotton: Eliminating child labour and forced labour in the cotton, textile and garment value chains: an integrated approach, https://www.ilo.org/ipec/projects/global/clearcotton/lang--en/index.htm, [Accessed 22 April 2022]
Camilli S, 2020, Innovative Company Creates Vegan Wool From Coconut Waste, https://plantbasednews.org/lifestyle/innovative-company-vegan-wool-coconut-waste/, [Accessed 22 April 2022]
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
The information contained herein is for general information purposes only. APS Bank plc will not be held responsible or liable in any manner for any of the information contained herein. While APS Bank plc has made every attempt to ensure that the information contained herein has been obtained from reliable sources, APS Bank plc will not be held responsible for any errors, omissions or inaccuracy, or for the results obtained from the use of this information. The primary purpose of these articles is to educate and inform. These articles do not constitute legal, medical or professional advice or service.