The environmental impact of fabric starts with agriculture, which is necessary for the production of many textile fibers, such as cotton. Then there are conventional production methods that leave about 15-20% of the fabric as waste, which adds up to 21 billion pounds of textile waste to landfills.
Some companies had enough of all this waste and are determined to make a difference in the industry. The most committed of them embraced a concept called zero-waste fashion design. These fashion companies are not content with merely sourcing organic cotton, for example, or finding the best places to buy organic fabric. Rather, the idea is to use every scrap of fabric to produce something, so that none of it goes to waste.
Green Whisper is one such company, a label that specializes in banana fiber apparel fabric and other products. Green Whisper is a sustainable fabric supplier committed to recycling agricultural residue from the banana industry by turning it into usable apparel fabric.
Not wasting any fabric is a fine start, but Green Whisper has gone far beyond that to address the environmental impacts of raw materials as well. Next to banana agricultural waste, the company turns agricultural residue from sugarcanes and areca into clothing as well. They even made plans to recycle maize, wheat, and rice residues as well.
Banana fabric might seem a counter-intuitive organic fabric solution, but it has several properties which make it optimal. Apparel fabric made from banana plants is lightweight, 30% lighter than cotton, and moisture absorbent, making it perfect for hot, sunny days. In addition to that, the fabric is comfortable, hypoallergenic, and completely biodegradable.
Reformation is another zero-waste fashion label, one which relies on sustainable materials, rescued deadstock fabrics, and repurposed vintage clothing. Reformation’s fabrics represent ecologically friendly alternatives to mainstream, conventional alternatives.
Take Reformation’s TENCEL™ Lyocell fabric, for example. Made by Austrian company Lenzing, TENCEL™ is a eucalyptus-based semi-synthetic fabric.
If you are looking for a sustainable fabric, eucalyptus is a nature-friendly no-brainer. A half-acre’s worth of fast-growing eucalyptus trees suffice to produce one ton of TENCEL™ fiber, and the trees can be grown on low-grade, marginal land using 80% less water than cotton. By contrast, cotton requires five times the acreage to produce one ton of fiber and can only be grown on high-quality farmland.
TENCEL™ is produced using a closed-loop production process which recycles over 99% of the non-toxic solvent rather than flushing it out as wastewater. The fabric is also certified by Oeko Tex 100 as containing low levels of manufacturing chemicals and byproducts.
The future of fabric looks greener than ever with sustainable apparel fabric and zero-waste fashion design.