Environmental Footprint of Various Fibres used in Clothing - Part 4 the Ls

Part 4 - I to L of this alphabetical list but I can't think of any commonly used fibres that start with either I or J (if you can, please let me know and I'll add them to the list) & of K I can only think of Kevlar - again not commonly used.  
An attempt at a cradle-to-grave, un-biased evaluation of most of the fibres used in our clothing & crafting.  
Firstly to repeat a couple of important things (for more, see parts 1 & 2): 
1.  When it comes to clothing - it isn't easy being green ...
2.  A great deal of the environmental impact of our clothing lies with the end user - that's you & me.  The person who buys, wears, washes, irons (?) mends, re-purposes, and ultimately decides when and how that garment is disposed of.  
3.  Listing is alphabetical and it'll go over several posts 
4.  I will update it as I discover more informationI'm Australian so the info is sometimes Ozzie-centric
5.  I knit a lot (so I'll look at fibres often made into yarns but perhaps not so often found in commercial clothing)
6.  I've tried to cover all aspects 'from cradle to grave'.  

 --- --- --- ---

Iconic - his gloves are probably leather too

Leather - Strong, flexible and long lasting - leather has many uses.  

Growing it - Most leather is from cattle and there are environmental concerns about raising cattle.  It is an animal product and some people avoid all such - but if you are an eater of meat then leather is a by-product of your food.  Although most leather is from cattle, you can also find sheep leather (it is soft and slightly more fragile than cow) and pig leather, called pig skin (it has an interesting dimpled texture).  Other speciality leathers you might find include Deer Skin, Ostrich & Emu (fabulous dimpled textures on those), Barramundi fish leather (almost looks like the scales are still there).  

Processing it - Most of the environmental concerns with leather are from the pre-tanning and tanning processes.  Tanning permanently alters the protein structure of the skin and is necessary to make the leather durable and prevent decomposition ... it'll probably also change the colour.  Here is a bit of etymology for you - because it is from the tanning of leather that we get all those other uses of the word 'tan' - tan brown, tanning ourselves in the sun ...  and 'tan' comes from 'tannin' which in turn comes from an old German word for oak or fir trees, early sources of tannin.  Then there is the tannin in our cup of tea - and that is what will stain the crockery and makes tea a very useful dye.  But I digress ...

Before the skin is tanned it has to be prepared and this all gets rather nasty if you think about it!  First it is kept from 'going off' by being cured in salt or by freezing - then there are the 'Beamhouse Operations' to remove everything except the actual skin.  These processes are noxious and smelly - usually done on the outskirts of a town, traditionally near a river - but waste-products can get into the water supply ... 
I will run through some of the steps and try not to get too 'icky'!  
Soaking - to remove the salt and increase moisture.  To prevent bacteria etc, biocides and fungicides might be used.  Until 1980 in the US they could use mercury-based biocides - let us hope these are not used anywhere nowadays.
Liming & various processes to change the pH and remove hair and other unwanted stuff.  Various chemicals are used including sulfides and ammonia - in the past one of the processes involved animal dung !!!  
Finally the skin is Pickled with common salt and then sulphuric acid ... to produce more changes to the pH - then it can be tanned ...

Tanning - Most modern tanning is done with Chromium (III) sulphate which sounds scary, chromium is a heavy metal in the non rock-music sense.   Wikipedia assures me that "Chromium (III) compounds ... are less toxic than hexavalent chromium" but I'm not a chemist and anything Chromium sounds scary to me.
There is also Vegetable Tanning which uses the bark from trees as the source of tannin - those trees include chestnut, oak, tanoak (how did that tree get its name?) mangrove and wattle.  

Coat of Arms

Yes my fellow Australians ... the Golden Wattle - our National Flower is a wonderful source of tannin (as are other wattle trees but the Golden is the best).  In the early 1980s I lived near a tannery that used wattle bark and I can truthfully say that it didn't smell - though perhaps that was because all the really noxious pre-processing was done elsewhere. 

Unfortunately, vegetable tanned leather is not as flexible as that tanned with Chromium.

How should we look after it - and some of this depends on how the leather has been used.  Leather can get stiff and it can get mildew or mould - so keep in a dry environment and use a good leather conditioning oil or 'wax' - keep your leather shoes & boots nicely polished.  Think of polishing shoes not as a chore but as a lovely form of meditation.

What happens when it does go into land-fill? -  not a nice thought for that expensive leather sofa but leather will biodegrade; it takes a while but it will happen.

Leather from Fungus or Slime Mould or Pineapple Leaves (Pinatex) -  Lots of very clever people are working to create products that look and behave like leather - sometimes this is called 'victimless leather'.  Early stages, but how wonderful if something as useful and adaptable as leather from a cow could be made (without massive environmental impact) from something as easy to grow as a slime mould.  Looking forward to seeing progress and more information about this. 

I do hope we can produce a good alternative leather but it needs to be environmentally friendly in every step of the process.

Leatherette  - another name for PVC.  This and other faux man-made leathers will be listed separately.

Linen - This fibre is less used now than in the past - cotton has taken the place of linen for many garments and for things such as sheets, tea towels, tablecloths ... all those things we refer to sometimes as 'household linen'.

A flax crop in flower - in Belgium

What is it?  Linen is a plant fibre and the plant is called flax which is confusing!  The cultivated flax plant (Linum usitatissimum yes, that means 'most useful') no longer exists in a wild form.   It is a very useful plant; not only do we get fibre from the stems but the seeds are crushed to make Linseed Oil and are edible, turning up in seeded bread and health foods - it is also quite pretty with dainty little blue flowers.

Humans have used flax fibre for at least 30,000 years.  The Egyptian mummies were wrapped in very fine linen, the Romans used it for their sails & flax fibre can be used to make paper.  Flax fibre is 2 to 3 times stronger than cotton fibre, it is also naturally smooth and straight, however, linen fabric is stiffer to handle and more easily wrinkled - linen garments need a lot of ironing though the 'naturally crumpled' look has a certain charm.

Producing / Growing it - Flax likes good soil, there aren't many pests that eat it but flax doesn't compete with weeds well.  The crop is harvested after 80 to 100 days - after flowering but before the seeds have set for the best quality fibre, but the seeds are valuable too.

Processing it  - There are a lot of similarities in the processing of hemp fibre and flax - both are retted & scutched to remove the unwanted harder and sticky parts of the stem.  The exact processes vary from country to country and depending on the intensity of cropping.  A lot of high quality flax / linen comes from northern France and Belgium where the process is quite mechanised but you can also find a lot of interesting clips on YouTube from re-enactors & historical places in Ireland and the US etc.

Harvesting flax in Belgium

The plants are usually pulled up roots and all for maximum length of fibre and then they are left in bundles in the field to ret naturally in the sun, dew and rain.  Retting is really a controlled rotting (those words are similar!).

Retting can also be done in water - but it will pollute that water and it smells.

When dry again, the retted stalks (sometimes called straw) undergoes breaking and scutching (similar processes) to remove the woody unwanted parts of the stem from the lovely flaxen fibre inside ...  and yes, it does look like blonde 'flaxen' hair.  In the US the terminology seems a little different e.g. they use a 'brake' to break up the hard part of the stem.  All this can be done mechanically of course and I've found this wonderful YouTube of a old Scutch Mill in Ulster - fabulous Irish accent too.

Aren't the names of these processes rather wonderful?   In the process of turning flax into linen we've retting, breaking, scutching and then heckling or hackling.  Yes, 'heckling' as in - teasing and interrupting a speaker ... does originate with the heckling and teasing of fibre.  Also, scutching and heckling are unpleasant hot & dusty jobs ... hecklers had "a reputation as the most radical and belligerent element in the workforce.  In the heckling factory, one heckler would read out the day's news while the others worked, to the accompaniment of interruptions and furious debate."  (Wikipedia here)

an early American Hackle 

But back to the flax - and this heckling / hackling is to pull the fibres through a metal comb (and now we know the derivation of the old saying "to get your hackles up").  Again, this process has been mechanised which isn't so picturesque but finally there should be lovely long, silky, white to yellow, flax fibres and the short courser fibres left behind which are called Tow.  Tow can be used to make twine, fishing nets, ropes, and in paper, building products or for fuel.


And now the Flax can be spun and woven into a linen fabric.

Postcard from very early 1900s -
the lady on the left is knitting a sock, the lady in the middle is spinning flax

As can be seen from this French postcard - spinning flax has always been a bit different to spinning wool.  The fibre is held on a distaff and often the wheel is turned with the hand ... rather than by foot pedals. Not apparent here but usually the fibre is kept slightly wet while it is spun - to keep it smooth and for strength (flax / linen is much stronger when wet than when dry) so the spinning wheels often had little wooden cups or at least a cup holder.  Of course, modern flax / linen fabric is spun and woven by large machines and in the spinning mills the fibre is wet so those factories are quite humid.

Caring for Linen Clothing - Linen is strong and durable, very absorbent and stronger when wet than dry/  Linen makes great clothes for hot, humid weather partly because it doesn't cling to you as much as cotton does.  Go with the naturally crumpled look rather than using lots of electricity (and your sanity) ironing it all the time.

Other Thoughts - This is more about the ethics of our clothing than the environmental impact but processing flax into linen is still very labour intensive - that lovely flaxen fibre is quite fragile.  If you can, check that the linen is manufactured in a country where workers get a living wage and there are good industrial practices to protect the workers' health etc.

Another thought - because I'm trying to learn how to made lace by hand (bobbin lace). The regions where lace was made were often the same regions that made linen (and some still do) because the lace was made from very fine linen thread - often much finer than we can find nowadays (and we usually use cotton thread now).

Burning and Biodegrading - Linen / flax burns and biodegrades just like all the other plant based fibres.

Lycra - see Elastane in part 3.

Lyocell - see Rayon when I get to the Rs in this list.

Environmental Footprint of Various Fibres used in Clothing - Part 1

I could be opening a can of worms with this post and setting the cat amongst the pigeons ... if you know something that I don't, or if I've left something out, please comment but - keep in mind that I do moderate the comments and if your comment is immoderate I'll simply delete it.

So why am I doing this?  because it is something I am passionate about and a subject that keeps coming up when I am teaching - I teach various crafts, 'make do & mend' and up-cycling classes.  And because it is so easy to get misled by all the mis-information, muddled information and advertising out there.  I am not being paid to do this.  My sources of income are rather various (such a modern woman am I! ) and in the interests of impartiality I should disclose that some of those classes I mentioned are for Morris & Sons who do have home-brand yarns ... but those yarns are of many different fibres processed in various countries.  I don't think I can be accused of bias towards any one particular fibre.  I do have personal opinions (don't we all? ) I'll try to make it clear when I'm airing a very personal viewpoint.

So what makes me think I know something about all this & have any right to do this?  Firstly, I've spent a great deal of time trying to find sensible, un-biased information about the fibres we wear.  It's not easy!  I use fibre a lot - I make a variety of mostly fibre & fabricy things and have done so for over 40 decades - and doesn't that make me feel old!  Perhaps I can put together a cradle-to-grave evaluation of most of the fibres used in our clothing and present something impartial, not too scientific and not too boring.

But before I start - 2 observations.

1.  When it comes to clothing - it isn't easy being green ...

2.  A great deal of the environmental impact of our clothing lies with the end user - that's you & me.  The person who buys, wears, washes, irons (?) mends, re-purposes, and ultimately decides when and how that garment is disposed of.  But all that belongs to another post ... perhaps I'll be brave enough to do that one too.

Listing is alphabetical and because it is going to be much longer than I initially hoped - it'll go over several posts
I will update it as I discover more information (this will be a learning curve for me)
I'm Australian
I knit a lot (so I'll look at fibres often made into yarns but perhaps not so often found in commercial clothing)
I've tried to cover all aspects 'from cradle to grave'.


Acetate (might be labeled Celanese, Avisco, Bemsilk) - Acetate / Cellulose Acetate used to be considered of form of Rayon but they are now listed separately.
What is it?
A semi-synthetic - it starts with plant material (usually wood pulp or cotton linters (waste from milling)) but is then processed with chemicals ...
Acetate has a long history dating back to 1865 and the uses for forms of cellulose acetate are amazingly various.  Some of these are historical, some are quite current: photographic film, filters in cigarettes, lacquer (aka dope) to stiffen the fabric of early aeroplanes, magnetic tape for computers, glasses frames, fibre tipped pens (textas etc),  high absorbency products (disposable baby nappies, feminine hygiene, surgical products),  playing cards, the original Lego bricks were made of it (till 1963), toys & model animals, award ribbons ... all those sashes for Miss World & Miss Universe & for all the other Best in Shows ...

Manufacturing - the Cradle
This will get a bit scientific and I'm not a scientist but I think that basically the plant material is deconstructed into a cellulose by using acetic acid (vinegar is 3-9% acetic acid), acetic anhydride and sulfiric acid.  That sulphate is removed with water then the cellulose gets dissolved in acetone (nail polish remover) to make a viscous resin which can be extruded into fine cellulose acetate fibres.
Dyeability
Acetate needs a disperse dye but it takes to colour well and should be quite colourfast.
What is it used for?  Where will we find it in our wardrobes?
Often used for lining garments - sold under the name Bemsilk in the fabric shops.  It has a nice shine so is often used for satins, taffetas etc in bridal and evening wear.  Is also used blended with other fibres.
How should we look after it?
Acetate is resistant to mold & mildew (a bonus in Sydney).  But Acetate doesn't take well to heat - so never tumble dry and take care when / if ironing.  It loses strength when wet and dry-cleaning is recommended.  It doesn't like abrasion so avoid rubbing.  May be damaged by some of the things in perfumes - is damaged by nail polish remover.  So if you get nail polish or super glue on acetate don't use nail polish remover as you might dissolve the fabric.  Best to embroider or appliqué something over the top!
Concerns & Bonuses
Made from renewable resource and/or cotton waste ... but let us hope that those trees are replanted.  In the past the chemicals used often went into the waste water system ... let's hope that no longer happens everywhere that Acetate is being produced.
Burning 
Acetate burns like paper ... it is processed cellulose.
What happens to it when it does go to land-fill? - the Grave
Acetate biodegrades well.

Acrylic 
What is it?
Synthetic / man made - a polymer / plastic.  Strange words here - acrylonitrile (aka vinyl cyanide) monomer, vinyl acetate or methyl acrylate comonomer.  DuPont made the first acrylic fibres in 1941.
Manufacturing - the Cradle
As with most plastics, there are environmental concerns in their manufacture  (google those strange words & see below)
What is it used for?  Where will we find it in our wardrobes?
Acrylic is used as an artificial wool - it is manufactured as a filament that is cut into short staple lengths (to imitate wool) and then spun into yarn for hand knitting / crochet and for commercial knit-wear.
On the positive: it is cheap, it survives careless washing (hot water and strong detergents) better than sheep's wool.
On the negative: those chopped lengths can pill badly, and personally - as a hand knitter I don't like using acrylic yarn - it feels like plastic.
Acrylic is also used in home furnishings, wigs and fake fur.

Acrylicus Fakus :-)

{aside: I've been yelled at by animal rights types when wearing (very obviously) fake fur and I have enjoyed yelling back that it is Acrylicus Fakus ... clubbed to death in the Antarctic ... those poor little baby Acryicus Fakuses ...}
How should we look after it?
Acrylic is quite robust in the wash though it often pills.  Avoid heat in drying - don't iron it.
Other Concerns
Fire - Acrylic burns like plastic (gives off nasty fumes and goes to hot melted stuff that'll stick to you).  There is Modacrylic - modified to be fire retardant but that process involves more forms of vinyl that are hazardous.
Cancer - acrylic fabrics may cause cancer!  Those strange words above sure look scary to me and vinyl cyanide is a carcinogen and mutagen.  Not good for people working where it is made and possibly not good to live with.
Pollution from washing - acrylic fabric releases lots of tiny synthetic particles when washed - our washing water often ends up in the oceans ... see "Concerns" towards the end of this wikipedia article
Recycling / Repurposing 
When your acrylic garment gets too shabby to wear even around the house, there are things you can do to keep it from land-fill and here are some ideas.  The better parts could be made into toys, or clothes for dolls.  Chop it into small bits and use as 'stuffing' (very useful for draught stoppers / door-snakes).  I wouldn't recommend using it as a polishing cloth as acrylic tends to scratch but it might make good cleaning cloths, or cut into strips and use to tie up unruly plants in the garden.
What happens to it when it does go to land-fill? - the Grave
It's plastic, not readily biodegradable.

Alpaca
What is it?

A natural fibre from the alpaca, a camelid from Sth America, scientific name Vicugna pacos, bred for thousands of years for their fibre and meat, there are no known wild alpacas.  There are 2 types - Huacaya and Suri, the Suri look like they have dreadlocks, or like Dougal from the Magic Roundabout only with long legs and a long neck ...

Suri Alpaca 

Dougal

Environmental footprint
What is the environmental impact of alpacas?  Well, they have padded feet rather than hard hooves, they require less food than most animals of their size, are said not to damage root systems ... so all that sounds better for the environment than sheep.  Fly strike is not an issue, so no mulesing (much better than sheep).  Interesting animals, they use a communal dung pile where they do not graze and this behaviour tends to limit the spread of internal parasites.  They have a 3-chambered stomach and chew cud ... so they get maximum nutrients from low quality food. Gestation on average is 11.5 months (wow!) with one baby (rarely twins), they can live to 20 yrs.  More info on Alpacas in Australia here
Shearing
Alpacas are shorn once a year, using the same electric shears as for sheep.  Alpacas can kick and spit so in Australia they are usually lain on their sides on the ground or on a table (better for the shearer's back!) with their legs tethered ... known spitters might get a sock over their noses.  All that sounds unpleasant but most animals go into a sort of trance while being shorn - the submission of a prey species?  or perhaps it tickles?
Processing
It seems that a lot of the alpaca produced in Australia is sold to hand spinners or as specialty yarn to crafts people for knitting and weaving.  There are a small number of mills that will process alpaca fleece.  Alpaca is not greasy like sheep's wool,  so it is easier and takes less water & detergent to clean.
Commercial mills have heavy machinery so energy use is a consideration - home spinners run on cups of tea and ginger-nut biscuits.
Alpaca can be dyed with the same dyestuffs as sheep's wool (protein dyes) but Alpacas came in some really gorgeous natural colours - from soft greys through lovely gingers to strong blacks.
Baby Alpaca - we often see this on yarn labels - it doesn't actually relate to the age of the animal.  It means that the alpaca fibre is 21 - 23 microns - fine and soft.
What is it used for?  Where will we find it in our wardrobes?
Mostly we find alpaca in the yarn store and it is lovely to knit with.  You might also find garments made of alpaca, mostly in craft-shops & speciality stores.  Not all that yarn or fabric will be from Australia alpacas - much of it comes from Sth America.
Notes for fellow crafters:  alpaca yarn behaves differently to sheep's wool, it has beautiful drape but doesn't have the same 'return' after stretching.  It is lovely for loose fitting garments and for shawls and scarves (where you can enjoy the soft handle) but alpaca is not so good when a snug fit is required.  Unless treated (label will say machine-wash) it will felt, full, shrink (all basically the same thing) but the scales are small so it takes longer than sheep's wool.
How should we look after it?
Knitwear should be stored folded - not hanging.  Gentle wash, preferably by hand, in luke warm water with very little soap (yellow laundry soap is best) do not rub, support garment when lifting it from the water.  Rinse well.  Pop into an old pillow-case and knot the top and spin dry.  Never tumble dry.  If you do not have a gentle spin dryer you can roll garment in dry towels and press out the excess water.  Dry laid flat on clean dry towels away from direct sunshine.  It shouldn't need ironing.
Burning
Like wool, alpaca burns slowly and will self extinguish if direct flame is removed.  There is little smoke but it smells like burnt hair (because that's what it is).
What happens to it when it does go to land-fill? - the Grave
It is natural and will break down.

Angora
What is it?

A natural fibre (fluff) from certain breeds of rabbit.  There are English, French and German or Giant - sounds like the beginning of a bad joke!

apparently there is a rabbit in there!

Environmental paw-print
If you've ever kept a pet rabbit you know that they are quite cheap to maintain.  Feral rabbits are a problem in Australia but I doubt a fluffy angora rabbit would last long in the wild here.
Processing 
OK - this is the concern ... in 2013 PETA released a video showing dreadful treatment of angoras in China.  At the time 90% of commercial angora fibre came from China.  Apparently the problem starts with the breed of Angora ... seems that it was a bad joke after all!   This blog article explains things rather well but I'll try to do a 'Readers' Digest version' here.
The English and French angora rabbits shed their coats and the fibre is harvested by gently combing out the old fluff as the new coat grows in.  "A time consuming process, best done over several days" ...  I think people in Australia usually keep these breeds as pets and to use the fluff for their own hand spinning.  The German or Giant angora doesn't shed and needs to be shorn - most commercial angora comes from this breed.  Now I'm not going to watch that PETA video but apparently it showed rabbits being plucked like chickens and claims they were kept in filthy cages.  Perhaps PETA found a rogue angora farmer because it doesn't really make sense to me - angora is expensive fibre, you would want to keep your rabbits (and their fluff) nice and clean.  This breed should be shorn every 3 months, they are productive animals, why would anyone terrorise, hurt or damage a good source of income.

A just shorn angora bunny

Angora rabbits can and should be shorn without hurting them ... however, it is impossible not to laugh at a freshly shorn angora.

What is it used for?  Where will we find it in our wardrobes?
Angora is a lovely luxury fibre; it is (and should be) expensive.  Angora is actually finer and softer than cashmere!  We find it in knitting yarn and occasionally in garments.  If you are concerned about those PETA claims it might be difficult to avoid Chinese angora in ready-made clothing (though price might be a guide).  There are Australian and humane suppliers of angora fluff for hand-spinning and angora yarn for knitting.
Note:  because angora has a short staple and because it is expensive, it is usually blended with other fibres.

Personally, I still have dreams of owning a few angora rabbits and using their fluff to spin enough yarn to knit myself a classic 1950s style twin set.
How should we look after it?
Angora is delicate - you don't want it to shed all the soft fluff.   In the past, people put their angora knitwear in the refrigerator.  Not sure I would do that - but I would store folded, not hanging.  Gentle hand wash, in luke warm water with very little soap (yellow laundry soap is best) never rub, support garment when lifting it from the water.  Rinse well.  Roll garment in dry towels and press out the excess water.  Dry laid flat on clean dry towels away from direct sunshine.  Don't iron.
What happens to it when it does go to land-fill? - the Grave
Angora is so expensive I'm not sure I want to think about this ... but it is natural and will break down.

Art Silk - artificial silk - an early name for Rayon and an example of clever marketing ... I'm not sure if the Art Silk of the 1920s was what we now call Acetate or another form of Rayon.


Well - I've only done the A's and this post is already really long ... so I'll leave it here and get started on the fibres that start with B for the next post.