Trying to make sustainable decisions and integrating environmental responsibility into our lives can be overwhelming. As I have tried to learn and improve over the years, I have had to accept that it is impossible to live in a way that is perfectly sustainable. Our current system is simply not set up to allow it. There can be a lot of anxiety that comes with a desire to do better, particularly with the ever increasing sense of doom regarding the climate crisis. I intend to write a series of blog posts looking at the impact of different materials and processes involved in the fibre arts, but I don't want this series to become a scolding, guilt-inducing diatribe. Understand that you are only one small piece of the greater human race. You can make small and important changes for yourself, and even advocate for larger changes, but ultimately, you as an individual are neither responsible for, nor capable of generating massive change. My goal with this series is to help lay a framework of understanding of the impact of various types of consumption, to empower you to make informed decisions. There are many factors that go into decisions of what types of textiles or yarns to purchase, including budget, personal taste and preferences, allergies and sensitivities, access to laundry facilities, and more. The choices you make are valid, and you do not need to justify them to me, or to anyone else. Unless you are Jeff Bezos and would rather go to space than pay your employees a living wage, but that's a whoooole 'nother discussion.
[Image Description: A photograph of a vine with variegated leaves, resting on a wooden floor. Surrounding the vine are a rolled up ball of dark brown wool roving, and a wooden spinning bobbin filled with dark brown singles. Bright diffuse sunlight is causing these objects to cast shadows towards the camera.]
What does it even mean to say that a textile is sustainable? This article by the Guardian on sustainable textiles goes over some of the considerations, but it comes down to four factors - raw material extraction, textile production, added chemistry, and end of life. With these factors in mind, the topics I would like to discuss today are wool and synthetic fibres such as nylon and acrylic. I will start out with that most wonderful of fibres - wool!
It should come as no surprise to anyone in the fibre world that wool is a remarkable fibre in many ways. It is naturally water resistant, and can maintain its insulating properties even after absorbing up to 30% of its weight in water. However, wool has many other advantages when it comes to sustainability. At the beginning of wool's life cycle, regenerative farming practices can utilize sheep to sequester carbon, restore soil health, and reduce the impacts of flooding and drought. Prior to carding or combing, wool requires minimal processing when compared to other fibres such as bamboo, which must be first turned into a cellulose mush before being extruded into fibres that are able to be spun into yarn (this process typically uses very harmful chemicals that are often not disposed of properly). Of course, just because it is possible for wool to be processed in a minimal and sustainable way does not mean that is always is. There are so called 'vertical mills' where all of the processing is done in one location, such that raw wool from local farms goes in, is washed, combed, spun, dyed, and sold as finished yarn, but these types of mills are generally smaller and less common. Large commercial mills tend to specialize in one part of the process, and ship their product on to another mill for the next step, adding increased pollution from multiple transportation steps. A great deal of harm can be done along the way, particularly if these mills or factories are located in countries with lax environmental regulations. It is worth your time to do some research as to where your yarn is actually coming from. The harder it is to find out that information, the more likely it is to involve some degree of exploitation along the chain, either of natural resources or of the labour of people. However, wool on average uses less energy to manufacture than polyester (18% less in fact), and 70% less water than cotton. Wool textiles don't need to be laundered as often as other fibres, saving additional water and energy during their life cycle. A final huge advantage of wool over synthetic fibres is that it is completely compostable. Although
some dyes may potentially be harmful to the environment when the wool is breaking down, the fibre itself is able to rot without any damaging effects. I highly recommend Custom Woolen Mills' series of posts on Wool Textiles and the R's of Sustainability (Rethink, Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle, and Rot), for a great overview of the advantages of wool.
[Image Description: A photograph of a white person's hand holding a large cake of grey yarn. The yarn appears plump and bouncy. In the background, against a wooden floor, is the partially completed project, a section of knitting with honeycomb cables.]
However amazing wool may be, it is not always the right choice of fibre. Acrylic yarn is a common choice for gift knits, particularly baby knits. After all, it's not very kind to give a gift that makes a ton of extra work for new parents. Something that is low maintenance and safe to chuck in the washer and dryer just makes sense for someone if you don't know much about the way they do their laundry. That's not to mention the price - acrylic has come a long way over the years, and is now soft, cheap, and difficult to distinguish from wool to the average consumer. A close cousin, nylon is ubiquitous in sock yarn, and is generally regarded as indispensable for durability and abrasion resistance. However, a close look may challenge these assumptions. Is acrylic yarn really cheaper? For the most part, when you are only considering the upfront cost of materials, the answer is yes. But if the durability and longevity of the material is taken into account, then suddenly it doesn't look so attractive. Acrylic doesn't tend to hold up well to repeated washing and wearing, not to mention that synthetic fibres tend to hold odour, and thus must be washed more frequently. There are other considerations, including breathability, wicking, and others, but that tends to come down to personal preference. The main point here is that when you consider the cost per wear, wool may actually be cheaper in the long run than acrylic. Both acrylic and its cousin nylon have a major environmental downside - they shed microplastics every time they go through the wash. A huge amount of pollution in the oceans is microplastics, and because it is so tiny, it is incredibly difficult to deal with. Microplastic is taken up into the food chain, and bioaccumulates in larger animals that are higher up, including us! It can take up to 200 years for an item made of acrylic yarn to disintegrate, and when it does, it disintegrates into more microplastic.
[Image Description: A photograph of a white person's feet wearing socks knit from gradient yarn, with shades of red and blue. The toes and heels are cream, with stripes of cream around the heels.]
But about nylon in sock yarns? Although nylon is more elastic and durable than acrylic, it too sheds microplastics in the wash. There are certainly many alternatives. The Small Bird Workshop offers two different lines of nylon free sock yarn, one with hemp added for strength, and the other mohair. Sock yarn that is 100% wool is also viable. In fact, there are many strategies to increase durability that have nothing to do with adding in fibres. If you are a spinner, you will likely already know that high twist yarns are more sturdy and abrasion resistant than low twist yarn, and that certain sheep breeds produce wool that is more suited to high wear items like socks. Knitting at a tighter gauge will also increase the durability of your socks. It is likely that nylon's reputation for being a necessary component of sock yarn is based on marketing rather than reality. If you haven't already tried a nylon free sock yarn, give it a go! You might be surprised with the results.
I have so much more to say about sustainability in the fibre arts, but this post is already getting rather long. I am planning on writing more posts in the future, covering fibres such as cotton, linen, ramie, bamboo, and more. I am not intending this series to be a definitive coverage of all of the impacts of each fibre, as that would be beyond the scope of my blog, but I am hoping to learn more myself as I research and to share some of that knowledge with you. Let me know if there are any fibres or other aspects of the textile industry that you would like to learn more about! Did I leave out anything interesting about wool or synthetic fibres? I would love to hear from you.
Wool
Nylon and Acrylic