9 minute read
MATERIAL WORLD
An organic cotton field in Adana, Turkey
Lauren Bravo, author of How To Break Up With Fast Fashion, provides a confused shopper’s guide to sustainable fabrics
Which eco-friendly fabrics are weaving a more sustainable future, and which are pure PR spin?
Responsible shopping in 2022 can often feel like a vocabulary test. Do you know your EcoVero from your eco no-no? Is flax an ethical flex? Should ‘100% cotton’ leave us breathing easy, or sweating in shame? As the climate crisis becomes more urgent than ever, fashion brands are keen to flaunt their material values – but as shoppers, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees.
First, it’s important to note that fabric alone can’t fix the problem. Until brands stop flooding the market with thousands of new products per week, no amount of recycled polyester is going to turn the tide.
Still, fabric does have a big part to play in fashioning a greener future. An estimated 62% of the world’s clothes are made from synthetics – mostly polyester, but also nylon, acrylic, polypropylene and elastane; all plastic by another name. Plastic derived from fossil fuel, which pollutes our waterways and can take hundreds of years to break down in the earth. And while ‘natural’ fibres have long been billed as the good guys, the truth is far knottier. Cotton may be biodegradable, but it’s also responsible for mass deforestation, soil degradation, pollution through toxic pesticides and wasting huge volumes of water. Viscose, meanwhile, is a popular ‘plant-based’ fibre made from wood pulp… which uses a raft of hazardous chemicals to turn it into silky-smooth fabric. So near, and yet so far.
The good news is that fashion is cleaning up its act with a combination of innovation (apple leather shoes, anyone?) and re-evaluation (suddenly linen has never looked so cool) – and many Marylebone brands are cottoning on quick.
Want an outfit that feels gentle on your conscience, too? Here’s a beginner’s guide.
EcoVero
Cheaper than silk, slinkier than polyester, viscose – also known as rayon – has been a fashion favourite for more than a century. But though technically biodegradable, the vast majority of modern viscose is energy intensive, chemically laden and highly harmful to workers and the environment. An estimated 30 per cent is made with wood pulp taken from endangered and ancient forests.
Enter EcoVero, which is viscose done right. Made from certified renewable wood sources, it emits around half the carbon of conventional viscose and re-uses nearly all the chemicals that would otherwise be dumped into water supplies. You’ll find it looking chic on the rails at Sessùn, where many of the brand’s viscose garments are currently certified. Further up the high street, Sirplus’s ceramic print EcoVero cuban shirt also makes good use of the fabric.
TENCEL Lyocell
Another cellulose fabric, TENCEL is fast becoming the darling of the slow fashion world. Made in a closed-loop system that recaptures and reuses more than 99 per cent of the solvents required for its production, TENCEL also uses significantly less water and energy than standard viscose and decomposes within three months in landfill. Though not in your wardrobe, thankfully.
Prized for its cool, slinky qualities, TENCEL works well as a breathable upgrade on polyester, or a vegan alternative to silk and wool. Hamilton + Hare uses it to make especially strokeable pyjamas, and it’s even used by Allbirds to top its ‘Tree’ trainers – alongside responsiblysourced Brazilian sugarcane in the brand’s patented SweetFoam soles.
Organic cotton
It’s the world’s most popular natural fibre, used as a marker of comfort and quality in everything from bed sheets to beachwear. But as mentioned, cotton is far from a fluffy innocent – thirsty, pesticide heavy and riddled with humanitarian issues, from child labour to farmer exploitation, ‘100% cotton’ isn’t the sustainable brag it’s often thought to be.
Organic cotton is the kosher choice, grown without harmful pesticides in a way that minimises
Poetry V-neck top made from hemp and organic cotton
Sso ¯ ne Laurent patchwork blouse made from dead-stock fabrics from previous collections
environmental impact and treats farmers fairly. In particular, look out for cotton certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), which assesses the processing, manufacturing, packaging, labelling, trading and distribution of clothes and guarantees a minimum of 70 per cent organic fibres. You’ll find GOTS-certified cotton in some of the jeans at Me + Em, t-shirts at Claudie Pierlot, big-collared blouses at Maje, and an entire collection of items at Suzannah London.
Bamboo
Fast-growing, self-regenerating and easy to grow with no pesticides, bamboo has sky-high potential as a sustainable fabric. In recent years it’s become a popular choice for socks, underwear, soft furnishings and luxury fashion too. “Bamboo is my all-time favourite fabric now,” says designer Isabel Manns, whose Marylebone boutique features reversible dresses made from silk bamboo, which gives a premium sheen to the soft plant fibre.
But not all bamboo is created equal. In fact, lots of bamboo fabric is made using the same chemically-intensive process as viscose – so the emperor’s new clothes might be less ethical than he thinks. To be sure of its credentials, look for Monocel-branded bamboo, which is made using the same closed-loop lyocell system as TENCEL.
Fruit leather
Sure, leather is – in theory – a natural product, while ‘vegan leather’ is often just plastic with delusions of grandeur. But with global demand for luxe leather goods so high that it’s now considered a co-product, not a by-product, of the meat industry, industrial methods of treating and tanning leather are far from sustainable.
Luckily there’s a smorgasbord of new, non-pleathery options reaching the market, including numerous veggie leathers made from items you might find in your fridge. Perhaps the most widespread so far is Piñatex, made from pineapple leaves – but there’s also Tômtex (made from used coffee grounds), corn leather (made from corn husks), Apple Skin (you guessed it) and Mylo (made from mycelium, the root-like structure of mushrooms), which Stella McCartney used to reimagine her cult Falabella
ALLBIRDS 46 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 5HQ allbirds.co.uk ALTERATIONS BOUTIQUE 14 NEW QUEBEC STREET, W1H 7RS alterationsboutique.co.uk BRITISH INVISIBLE MENDING SERVICE 32 THAYER STREET, W1U 2QT invisible-mending.co.uk GREY FLANNEL 7 CHILTERN STREET, W1U 7PE greyflannel.co.uk HAMILTON + HARE 39 CHILTERN STREET, W1U 7PP hamiltonandhare.com ISABEL MANNS 103 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4RP isabelmanns.com KOIBIRD 62 MARYLEBONE LANE, W1U 2PB koibird.com LUCA FALONI 108 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4RU lucafaloni.com MAJE 30 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4PN uk.maje.com ME + EM 4 NEW CAVENDISH STREET, W1G 8UQ meandem.com POETRY 35B MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4QA poetryfashion.co.uk SESSÙN 36 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4QD en.sessun.com SSO ¯ NE 17 CHILTERN STREET, W1U 7PQ ssone.com SIRPLUS 81A MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4QL sirplus.co.uk SUZANNAH LONDON 3 NEW QUEBEC STREET, W1H 7RE suzannah.com THEORY 1 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 4LZ uk.theory.com TOAST 44 MARYLEBONE HIGH STREET, W1U 5HF toa.st WILLIAM CRABTREE & SONS 15 NEW QUEBEC STREET, W1H 7RT williamcrabtree.co.uk
Sessùn Lee Han long dress made from EcoVero viscose
bag. These fabrics are all in their infancy and most aren’t fully biodegradable yet, but they’re an exciting taste of fashion’s crueltyfree future.
Recycled polyester
Fast becoming the high street’s getout-of-criticism-free card, recycled polyester (or ‘rPET’) is made by melting down plastic waste, such as water bottles and fishing nets, and spinning it into new fibre which uses 59 per cent less energy to make than virgin polyester, reducing CO2 emissions by over a third. But it isn’t a silver bullet solution. Many argue that rPET is kidding consumers that plastic waste is fine because
‘it can all be recycled’ (in reality, less than 10 per cent ever is).
Recycled polyester is often combined with virgin fibres to make it stronger, and it’s common for brands to advertise collections as ‘recycled’ when only a tiny percentage of the garment actually is.
One final catch: recycled polyester is still synthetic, meaning that microplastic particles are still shed into our waterways each time it’s washed – and into the soil via landfill, too. Plastic? Still not so fantastic. We’d vote for recycled viscose instead.
Linen
One of the oldest known fibres on earth, linen remains a very cool customer. Spun from the lowmaintenance, versatile flax plant, linen requires a fraction of the water that cotton does and when undyed, it’s completely biodegradable. Thanks to its breathable, moisturewicking properties, it’s long been a staple in holiday wardrobes – but come rain or shine, you’ll find linen on many of Marylebone’s rails,
Allbirds
Tree trainers, topped with TENCEL from laidback resortwear at Luca Faloni to classic menswear at Grey Flannel and William Crabtree & Sons, to fashion-forward tailoring at Theory and Toast. Just look out for the GOTS certification to guarantee no harmful dyes or pesticides have found their way into the supply chain.
Hemp
For too long, hemp was a punchline in the sustainability conversation; shorthand for a certain type of crunchy, granola-toting treehugger. But now that ethical fashion has gone mainstream, it’s time to re-evaluate the fibre. Densely growing, naturally pest-repellent and needing only a quarter of the water that cotton demands, marijuana’s ‘sober cousin’ makes a highly sustainable choice – and it’s durable too, perfect for hip utility styles like the canvas jackets at Toast, or Poetry’s veritable sonnet of hemp and organic cotton-blend shirts, tees and trousers.
“We started using hemp not because it was good for the planet, if I’m honest, but because it’s a lovely fabric and it makes nice clothes,” says Poetry founder Luke Dashper. “That’s been my starting point: what makes beautiful clothes?”
And finally… salvage
If, as the mantra goes, the most sustainable garment is the one already in your wardrobe, then it stands to reason the most sustainable fabric is one that’s already been used. While textile recycling might still be in its infancy, upcycling is an art as old as clothing itself, and the fashion world is full of young designers using heritage techniques to breathe new life into grandma’s curtains.
Head to Koibird for Magpie Vintage, a label of completely one-off pieces made from salvaged vintage textiles such as tablecloths and crochet blankets, and check out Sso ¯ ne’s recycled range, which turns a pick ’n’ mix of deadstock fabrics into stunning contemporary patchwork. Or resurrect old garments with a little help from the British Invisible Mending Service on Thayer Street or the Alterations Boutique on New Quebec Street, who can repair rips, tears and moth holes until they’re as good as new. Some might even say better.
