There are currently all sorts of innovative solutions available for fabrics \u2013 from recycled fibres to recycling materials, bio-degradability and ways of saving water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is seemingly\nimpossible to find any functional fabric these days without some form of ecological\ninnovation. While manufacturers used to boast about who could produce the lightest,\nsturdiest, most waterproof or breathable fabric, today the most important thing\nis who can push back the boundaries regarding sustainability of resources and production\nmethods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No matter\nwhether we are talking about recycled fibres, biodegradable materials, saving\nwater, sustainable finishing or using natural fibres in functional textiles –\nthere are just so many innovative products out there at the moment. This wealth\nof ideas is also reflected by the product innovations that fabric manufacturers\nare currently producing for the autumn and winter seasons 2021\/22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nJapanese fibre specialist Teijin has managed to develop the very first triple-layered\nmaterial that is made entirely of recycled polyester. The degree of purity of\nthe material enables it to be recycled again \u2013 an absolute prerequisite if products\nare to be fully cyclic. To date, laminated triple-layer materials have been virtually\nimpossible to recycle because the membrane was made of a different material to\nthe laminated fabric and they were too difficult to separate from one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The discovery\nof new fibres and rediscovery of old types of fibre also currently play a major\nrole. Nettles, soy, ginger or abaca (banana hemp) are all being turned into\nfabrics. New resources are continually being used to create viable alternatives\nto leather and as a reaction to the increasing demand for vegan products. The\nMexican company Desserto has introduced just such a substance made from the prickly\npear cactus. Raffia made from palm leaves is become ever more popular for bags.\nIn addition, fibre-specialist Tintex presents \u201cEcoHeather\u201d, a thread made from spinning\nwaste from natural fibres like cotton, wool, cashmere, linen, silk or modal and\nviscose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dyeing\nmaterials involves the use of many chemicals and a lot of water, which is why we\nare also seeing many new developments being made in this field too. Manufacturers\nsuch as the Japanese fabric producer Toyoshima are beginning to offer textiles\nwhich have been coloured using dyes made from waste from the food industry. Water-saving\ndyeing processes, such as spin-dyeing and dope-dyeing, are also being used ever\nmore widely for fabrics and associated materials. They are being used for the\nfirst time for products such as zippers, which are no longer dyed but already\nhave their pigments added during spinning, so that the dyeing process can be left\nout entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New production\nmethods have also been introduced by the US-American fibre specialist\nPrimaloft. It has reduced its CO2<\/sub> emissions by around half by not\nheating the fibres at all during the production of insulating wadding. This\ntechnology is going to be first applied on the Primaloft Gold Series and will\nbe extended to cover their full range of products over the next few years. Another\nimportant topic is the avoidance of micro plastics by developing new fleece fabrics\nthat shed less fibres during washing and while being worn. The textile industry\nis, on the one hand, researching new fabric designs that bind the pile better,\nsuch as with Polartec, and is also looking at other biobased fibres that are\nmore biodegradable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Image: Primaloft<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are currently all sorts of innovative solutions available for fabrics \u2013 from recycled fibres to recycling materials, bio-degradability and ways of saving water. It is seemingly impossible to find any functional fabric these days without some form of ecological innovation. While manufacturers used to boast about who could produce the lightest, sturdiest, most waterproof […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[367,368],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability","category-textiles"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n