Unit II

Rethinking Material Sourcing

conventional fiber market and its impact on

environment, alternative and new materials,
sustainable and ethical sourcing,
sourcing local and light
Dr. Neha Sah, Assistant Professor, School of Fashion Design, LPU
 Textile fiber
• Primary materials from which most textile products

are made.

• It is a smallest textile component which is microscopic

hair like substance that may be man made or natural.

• They have length at least hundred times to that of

their diameter or width.

“A unit of matter which is capable of being spun
into a yarn or made into a fabric including
weaving, knitting, braiding, felting, twisting, or
webbing etc.’’

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a. Fibres Classification according to
the length

STAPLE FILAMENT
FIBERS FIBERS

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 b. Fiber classification according to
origin
Natural Fibers
• Plant Fibres
• Animal Fibres
• Mineral fibers
Man Made fibers
• Regenerated fibres
• Synthetic fibres
• Inorganic fibres

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 NATURAL FIBRES SOURCES
• Any hair like raw material directly obtainable from
an animal, vegetable or mineral source that can be
converted after spinning into yarns and then into
fabric.
• Under them there are various categories:
(1) Plant
(2) Animal
(3) Minerals
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• Plan fibers can further be classified as:
(a) Seed hair fibers (raw cotton)

(b) Bast fiber (flax, ramie , hemp, jute)

(c) Leaf fibers (manila hemp, sisal hemp etc)

(d) Miscellaneous fibers: fibre occurring around the trunk,

fibre of fruit/ nut shells (coconut fibre – Coir)

• cotton and linen are the most important among them.

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 Animal fibers
• Natural fibers that consist largely of proteins such as
silk, hair/fur, wool and feathers.
• The most commonly used type of animal fiber is
hair.
They can be classified further as

Hair Fibres Secretion Fibres

Staple Filament

e.g. wool, specialty hair fiber e.g. silk, spider silk 9

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 Mineral fibers

• Asbestos is the only natural mineral fibre

obtained from varieties of rocks.

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 Man-made fibers
a. Regenerated Fibres
Cellulosic – Cotton linters and wood pulp
• Viscose rayon, Cupra-ammonium,
• Cellulose Acetate (secondary and triacetate), Polynosic, High Wet
Modulus (HWM)
Protein – Casein fibre from milk
• Groundnut Fibre,
• Zein fibre
• Azlon fibre from corn and soya bean 13
 b. Man-made Synthetic Fibres
• Polyamides-Nylon 66, Nylon 610, Nylon 6 etc
• Polyester-Terylene, Terene, Dacron etc.
• Polyvinyl derivatives
✓ Polyvinylchloride
✓ Polyvinylchloride acetate
✓ Polyacrilonitrile
✓ Polyvinyl alcohol
✓ Polystyrene and Copolymers
✓ Polyvinylide Chloride and Copolymers
• Polyolefins
✓ Polyethylene
✓ Polypropylene
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• POLYESTER, NYLON

• ARAMID, ACRYLIC

• MODACRYLIC, SPANDEX

• VINYON

• SARAN, NYTRIL

• TEFLON / FLUOROCARBON

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 Inorganic Fibres

Glass – Silica sand, lime stone and other

minerals
Ceramic – Alumina, Silica and
Graphite fibres - Carbon
Metallic fibres - Aluminium, silver, gold and
stainless steel
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FIBER CLASSIFICATION 17
End use will vary as per Fiber Properties
• Physical properties (length, fineness, moisture regain, etc.)
• Chemical properties (chemical composition, effects of acids, alkalis
etc.)
• Mechanical properties (stiffness, tenacity, tensile strength, elasticity,
etc.)
• Electrical properties (electrical conductivity and resistance)
• Thermal properties (thermal conductivity, flammability, melting point)
• Structural properties (micro structure, X-sectional, and longitudinal
view)
• Biological properties (toxicity, bio-compatibility, microbial, and fungal
resistance)
• Optical properties (reflectivity, transmittance, color)
• Acoustic properties (sonic velocity, sound absorption)
• Radiological properties (ability to protect from atomic/nuclear
radiations)
• Environmental properties (UV stability, weathering, oxidation)
 In textiles all over the world cotton and
polyester are the mostly used fibers; these
fibers together contribute about 80% of the
worldwide market in textiles.
 COTTON “THE KING OF FIBERS”
• Most widespread profitable non-food crop.
• Provides income for more than 250 million people
worldwide.
• Employs almost 7% of all labor in developing countries.
• Approximately half of all textiles are made of cotton.

• About 75% of global production occurs in China, United

States, India, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and West Africa.

• China is the largest cotton producer, consumer and importer.

• The Top Consuming countries after China are India, Pakistan,
Brazil, USA and Bangladesh.

• The major cotton exporting nations were USA (ranked 1st with
3.1 million MT cotton exported in 2010-11), contributing about
41% of world’s total exports followed by India (1.1 million MT-
14% of total export).
 INDIAN COTTON SCENARIO
• Sustaining the livelihood of an estimated 5.8 million cotton farmers.
• About 40-50 million people engaged in related activities, such as cotton processing
and trade.
• India has the largest cotton cultivated area which constitutes about 30% of the
global cotton area.
COTTON SUPPLY CHAIN IN INDIA
 Conventional fiber impact on environment
COTTON
♣ INTENSIVE USE OF HAZARDOUS PESTICIDES
• Cotton consumes 44.5% of the total pesticides used in the
country.
• In INDIA the per hectare pesticide consumption for cotton
amounts to 2.7 kg/ha, which is much higher than national
average of 0.8 kg/ha.

It is estimated that 99.9% of

these chemicals dispersing into
the soil, water, and air.
 Indiscriminate use of Fertilizers
• Cotton accounts for about 6% of the total fertiliser consumption in
India.
• Causes nutrient [nitrogen and phosphorous] loading in surface and
ground waters.
• The major problem with nitrification is the contamination of ground
water and other freshwater bodies.
• Nitrification can reduce alkalinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and promote
bacterial growth in.
• Leads to methemoglobinemia in infants (“Blue Baby”) and nitrate
poisoning in animals.
• The contamination leads to eutrophication, growth of biomass and
reducing biodiversity.
• The excessive increase in biomass production creates anoxic conditions
and a decrease in water quality.
Water wastage
• 73% of global cotton harvest comes from land which has to be
irrigated [WWF].
• It’s the quality of the water that is affected most in cotton
cultivation due to leaching and run off chemicals in
ground and surface water.
• This also affects the net available water used for other
activities.

One well-known example of water wastage due

to cotton production is the Aral Sea in
Kazakhstan.
Destroys natural habitats
• The application of pesticides and chemicals for crop
protection, without understanding the Economic
Threshold Values, results in negative impact on essential
organisms for the ecosystem.
• This leads to the loss of beneficial insects, which are
required for crop development.
 Increased carbon footprint
• The production of fertilisers uses large amounts of finite
energy sources and leads to the release of huge amounts of
carbon dioxide into the air.
• Cotton processing plants are often located in far-flung areas of
the world, meaning transportation methods are definitely not
carbon footprint-friendly.
 RAYON
• The oldest manufactured fiber.
• Originally developed as a cheap alternative to silk.
• VISCOSE process is most frequently used for making
rayon.
Cellulose is treated with caustic soda and carbon disulfide,
converting viscous liquid about the color and consistency of honey.
This substance gives its name to the manufacturing process, called
the viscose process.

• Another popular rayon is acetate rayon.

• There is also cuprammonium rayon (made with copper and
ammonia)
 ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN
Viscose process is declared UNSAFE based on the process chemicals
used.

The environmental burden comes in disposing of these process

chemicals: the sodium hydroxide (though not harmful to humans) is
nevertheless harmful to the environment if dumped into our rivers as
untreated effluent.

Same with carbon disulfide and, certainly, sulfuric acid (chemical bath
used to harden the fibers).

There are emissions of these chemicals as well, which contribute to

greenhouse gasses.
 Polyester
• A synthetic petroleum-based fibre
• Ubiquitous in fashion industry
Polyester is frequently used for;
• wrinkle-free properties
• quick drying
• lasts well and maintains the quality of it’s surface.

Used by manufacturers because it is a cheap alternative to natural

fibres.
Most polyester clothing on the market is cheap, poor quality fast
fashion, which will last few wears.
• More than 70 million barrels of oil are used to make polyester
each year.
• Non Bio-degradable.
• Less energy intensive than nylon to produce, still requires
more than double the energy of conventional cotton to
produce.
• Production uses harmful chemicals, including carcinogens,
and if emitted to water and air untreated, can cause significant
environmental damage.
• Polyester cannot be dyed using low impact and natural dyes.
 The fashionable companies are now using the

sustainable fibers as raw material for their products in

order to move away from ‘end of pipe’ approach to

clean manufacturing.
 ECO TEXTILES

MAN-MADE RECYCLED
ORGANIC NATURAL
FIBERS FIBERS

ORGANIC CORN/SOYA RECYCLED

NATURALLY
COTTON BEAN COTTON
COLORED
ORGANIC COTTON
PINEAPPLE RECYCLED
WOOL POLYESTER

ORGANIC SILK LYOCELL

HEMP/JUTE
 ALTERNATIVES AND NEW MATERIALS

• Organic cotton fabric = grown without use of herbicides or pesticides.

• Bamboo/soy/hemp/bio-fabric = fibres that can be harvested with
reduced impact on the environment.
• Tencel/regenerated fibre/lyocell = made from renewable source.
• Recycled polyester/PET = made from existing polyester so reduced use
of coal/oil, or recycled plastic bottles. No to polyester unless linked to
recycling
• Peace silk, ahimsa silk = produced without harm to silk worms.
• Faux fur/leather = made from synthetic materials
• Recycled/reclaimed/reused fabric = existing fabrics reused rather than
manufacturing more from raw materials
• Natural dyed fabric/natural pigmented fabric/unbleached fabric =
use of toxic chemicals reduced/avoided
• Biodegradable fabric = will break down in time naturally.
O R G A N I C Cotton
• A sustainable alternative of conventional cotton.
• Grown without use of harmful chemicals like
pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, growth regulators.
• Focuses on selection of locally adopted varieties according
to local conditions like climate and soil.
• Natural methods are used to control the pests and diseases
instead of pesticides and fertilizers.
• Growing organic cotton is a systematic approach that
needs a lot time and there is a transition time of
approximately three years to get organic cotton from
conventional field.
• Organic cotton has a 98% lower water pollution rate and produces
94% less greenhouse gas emissions than the non-organic alternatives.
• Organic cotton seeds are also GMO-free and not treated with
hazardous synthetic fertilizers.
• Organic soil becomes a ‘carbon sink’, which removes CO2 from the
atmosphere.

A good tool
for social
change
GOTS [GLOBAL ORGANIC TEXTILE STANDARDS]

• Aim to define and establish world-wide recognised

requirements that ensure organic status of textiles.

• A premium price is possible only if there is mutual trust

between producers and consumers.
• GOTS covers the entire supply chain from ginning to retail.

• GOTS defines high level environmental and social criteria

for textiles made from certified organic fibres backed up by
independent 3rd party certification.

• GOTS relies on a dual system to check compliance with the

relevant criteria consisting of on-site auditing and residue
testing.

• GOTS has a practical public data base that enables its users
to search for GOTS certified entities in the supply chain,
their location, fields of operation and GOTS certified
products according to individual parameters.
The standard provides two labels or “grades”:

• A textile product carrying the GOTS label

‘organic’ must contain a minimum of 95%
certified organic fibers.

• A product with the label ‘made with organic’

must contain a minimum of 70% certified
organic fibers.
The Big name brands who are
‘cottoning on’ to the
environmental and social
benefits of organic cotton

• H&M, Nike, Target, Puma, Patagonia, Nudie

Jeans, Kathmandu and Stella McCartney, all of whom
have made significant increases in their use of organic.

• They’re all also rated from Good to Excellent by

Good On You.
Advantages of Organic Cotton in Comparison
with Conventional Cotton

• Environment
• Social
• Economy
• Food
• Agricultural
• Health
BAMBOO
• Bamboo grows naturally without
using any herbicides, pesticides and
irrigation, it grows with natural
rainfall.
• There is no need of planting of
Bamboo because it grows from stalks
cut off and buried it in the ground
and these starts to grow after a short
time period.
• Bamboo fiber is free from chemicals
and additives.
• Bamboo fibers make smooth, soft,
antibacterial and luxurious fabric that
have a very good absorption quality.
 Tencel ® and Modal ®
• These fibers are manufactured by the Austrian
company Lenzing, which advertises its environmentally
friendly production processes, based on closed loop systems.

• Tencel is a fibre’s brand name for lyocell.

• It is made with wood pulp cellulose from the eucalyptus tree.

• Modal is a generic name for a semi-synthetic rayon,

wood pulp cellulose comes from beech trees.
According to Lenzing:
• There is an almost complete recovery of the solvent,
which both minimizes emissions and conserves
resources.
• Lenzing uses a new non-toxic solvent (amine oxide) and
the cellulose is dissolved in N-Methylmorpholine N-
oxide rather than sulfuric acid.
• Water is also evaporated, and the resulting solution
filtered and extruded as filaments through spinnerets
into an aqueous bath.
• Over 99% of the solvent can washed from the fiber and
purified for re-use.
• The water is also recycled.
 RECYCLED POLYESTER
• Polyester is completely recyclable, and it is also possible to
manufacture polyester from recycled plastics.
• The benefits of polyester can be accessed without needing to
manufacture from virgin petroleum stocks.
• There are an increasing number of new polyester-type fabrics
that are made from recycled plastics, including the certified
recycled fabric Repreve, which is made from recycled plastic
bottles and is commonly used in sportswear and men’s
swimwear.
• There are also some producers, such as Eco Intelligent
Polyester that recycle old polyester clothing to create new
polyester, however these are not yet common or easy to
access.