Sharmon Lebby is a writer and sustainable fashion stylist who studies and reports on the intersection of environmentalism, fashion, and the BIPOC community.
Wool is the fabric for cold days and cold nights. This fabric is related to outdoor clothing. It is a soft, fluffy material, usually made of polyester. Mittens, hats, and scarves are all made of synthetic materials called polar fleece.
As with any ordinary fabric, we want to learn more about whether fleece is considered sustainable and how it compares to other fabrics.
Wool was originally created as a substitute for wool. In 1981, the American company Malden Mills (now Polartec) took the lead in developing brushed polyester materials. Through cooperation with Patagonia, they will continue to produce better quality fabrics, which are lighter than wool, but still have properties similar to animal fibers.
Ten years later, another collaboration between Polartec and Patagonia emerged; this time the focus was on using recycled plastic bottles to make wool. The first fabric is green, the color of recycled bottles. Today, brands take additional measures to bleach or dye recycled polyester fibers before putting recycled polyester fibers on the market. There are now a range of colors available for wool materials made from post-consumer waste.
Although wool is usually made of polyester, technically it can be made of almost any type of fiber.
Similar to velvet, the main feature of polar fleece is the fleece fabric. To create fluff or raised surfaces, Malden Mills uses cylindrical steel wire brushes to break the loops created during weaving. This also pushes the fibers upward. However, this method can cause pilling of the fabric, resulting in small fiber balls on the surface of the fabric.
In order to solve the problem of pilling, the material is basically “shaved”, which makes the fabric feel softer and can maintain its quality for a longer time. Today, the same basic technology is used to make wool.
Polyethylene terephthalate chips are the beginning of the fiber manufacturing process. The debris is melted and then forced through a disk with very fine holes called a spinneret.
When the molten fragments come out of the holes, they begin to cool and harden into fibers. The fibers are then spun on heated spools into large bundles called tows, which are then stretched to make longer and stronger fibers. After stretching, it is given a wrinkled texture through a crimping machine, and then dried. At this point, the fibers are cut into inches, similar to wool fibers.
These fibers can then be made into yarns. The crimped and cut tows are passed through a carding machine to form fiber ropes. These strands are then fed into a spinning machine, which makes finer strands and spins them into bobbins. After dyeing, use a knitting machine to knit the threads into a cloth. From there, the pile is produced by passing the cloth through the napping machine. Finally, the shearing machine will cut off the raised surface to form wool.
The recycled PET used to make wool comes from recycled plastic bottles. Post-consumer waste is cleaned and disinfected. After drying, the bottle is crushed into small plastic fragments and washed again. The lighter color is bleached, the green bottle remains green, and later dyed to a darker color. Then follow the same process as the original PET: melt the pieces and turn them into threads.
The biggest difference between fleece and cotton is that one is made of synthetic fibers. Fleece is designed to imitate wool fleece and retain its hydrophobic and thermal insulation properties, while cotton is more natural and more versatile. It is not only a material, but also a fiber that can be woven or knitted into any type of textile. Cotton fibers can even be used to make wool.
Although cotton is harmful to the environment, it is generally believed that it is more sustainable than traditional wool. Because the polyester that makes up wool is synthetic, it may take decades to decompose, and the biodegradation rate of cotton is much faster. The exact rate of decomposition depends on the conditions of the fabric and whether it is 100% cotton.
Wool made of polyester is usually a high-impact fabric. First, polyester is made from petroleum, fossil fuels and limited resources. As we all know, polyester processing consumes energy and water, and also contains a lot of harmful chemicals.
The dyeing process of synthetic fabrics also has an impact on the environment. This process not only uses a lot of water, but also discharges waste water containing unconsumed dyes and chemical surfactants, which are harmful to aquatic organisms.
Although the polyester used in wool is not biodegradable, it does decompose. However, this process leaves tiny plastic fragments called microplastics. This is not only a problem when the fabric ends up in a landfill, but also when washing woolen garments. Consumer use, especially washing clothing, has the greatest impact on the environment during the life cycle of clothing. It is believed that about 1,174 milligrams of microfibers are released when the synthetic jacket is washed.
The impact of recycled wool is small. The energy used by recycled polyester is reduced by 85%. Currently, only 5% of PET is recycled. Since polyester is the number one fiber used in textiles, increasing this percentage will have a major impact in reducing energy and water use.
Like many things, brands are looking for ways to reduce their environmental impact. In fact, Polartec is leading the trend with a new initiative to make their textile collections 100% recyclable and biodegradable.
Wool is also made from more natural materials, such as cotton and hemp. They continue to have the same characteristics as technical fleece and wool, but are less harmful. With more attention to the circular economy, plant-based and recycled materials are more likely to be used to make wool.
Post time: Oct-14-2021