How can a synthetic fabric be eco friendly?
There are three key parameters to measure the eco-friendliness of synthetic fibres. • Cradle-to-cradle” life cycle: This is a Utopian situation that has not as yet been reached. It means that sensitive synthetic fibres and fabrics can be recycled in perpetuity. Petroleum based fibres like Nylon should ideally be recycled continuously and plant-based synthetics like “Modal” can be returned to the soil and become manure for a Beech tree like the one that it was originally manufactured from. • Sustainable origin: The Origins of these fibres and Fabrics should be renewable. They should not have been farmed on lands where agriculture and food crops were discontinued to let fibre trees grow or should not have been developed in a factory that used chemicals that damaged the environment and its workers. • “Closed loop” processes: The process of manufacture of all such ecologically sensitive synthetics, should they use toxic chemicals should form a “closed-loop” i.e. they should not spill over
