Fabric choice

Fabric choice, washing instructions and recyclability

Since a large part of Little Green Steps functioning revolves around the clothes that they sell and provide, the fabric that these clothes are made of could be quite crucial for its success. Therefore an analysis was conducted to find the most suitable fabric. This fabric needs to be suitable for infants, reasonably priced and to match the green, environmentally friendly brand image of Little Green Steps.

To help this research process along, a fashion and textile technologies student was consulted. She advised to first look at what competitors are using since these fabrics would be suitable candidates. In addition to this she advised that fabric blends are more difficult to recycle, so if possible the clothes should be made of one material. Any new product made with the recycled material would also only be able to contain a maximum of 30% of the recycled fabric and a minimum of 70% virgin material. If all these clothes would be recycled again and again then the quality of the clothes would most likely deteriorate over time (each recycling cycle) and cannot be guaranteed to be of consistent quality. This is why using the recycled fabric for alternative purposes was taken into consideration. In order to ensure that the clothes still have the ability to stretch without any elastic materials added in, she advised using knitting since this way of producing fabric allows for stretch and movement.
When comparing the most commonly used fabrics amongst a few of the most commonly used baby brands, cotton was clearly favoured. Cotton was the majority composite of the blends for near all fabrics. A large percentage was even made of cotton only. However in order to broaden the search for fabric compatibility afew lesser known brands that have a similar green brand image to Little Green Steps were taken into account as well. These brands often chose one type of fabric, however between brands they varied between organic cotton, organic wool, bamboo-based fabrics and Tencel.

Cotton is a fibre that grows around the seeds of the cotton plants in the family of Gossypium. While cotton and organic cotton originate from the same species of plants, they are grown and produced differently. The process of making organic cotton does not use pesticides during growth and uses no chemicals during production, whereas non-organic cotton often utilises both. So even though they are made from the same type of natural fibre, they are quite different when it comes to the amount of chemical waste they produce and the amount of chemicals that can be found within the fabric. To ensure that organic cotton really hasn’t been treated with any chemicals it should have a GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certification. Both types of cotton can be recycled when they are not blended, but they do need a lot of water to grow. Nearly all sensitivity to cotton is associated with the chemicals they are treated with.
Wool is another natural fibre, however this is animal derived and not plant based. Unfortunately, the production of wool is still associated with animal cruelty. To ensure that the clothing is cruelty free and pesticides are not used, the fabric should be GOTS or Zque certified. Lower quality wool can be associated with itching, however this is not the case as the quality increases. Due to its high specific heat capacity wool functions as a great insulator and it ignites at a higher temperature than the other considered fabrics. This makes it a very safe fabric.

On the other hand we have the two other fabrics, Tencel and bamboo- based fabrics. These two are actually quite similar since both use types of cellulose fibres. When making a fabric out of cellulose fibres often a lot of chemicals are used to be able to transform the pulp and plant fibres into yarn. These types of semi-synthetic fabrics fall under the group name rayon, however there are different sub-categories of rayon that are distinguished by the manner of production.

Tencel is a brand whose fabric falls under the sub-category Lyocell, to produce Lyocell a direct solvent is used. Of the chemicals used each cycle approximately 98% is recycled and reused. This means that this process has very little waste product, this makes the process relatively eco-friendly. Unfortunately, this process is more expensive than bamboo (viscose) rayon and cotton. In addition to this it can occur that people with sensitive skin react to possible remaining chemicals in the fabric (this however can be true for most types of rayon). Nonetheless Tencel is biodegradable and suitable for recycling.

There are bamboo-based fabrics that can be produced mechanically as well, these are also known as bamboo linen. This is the only type of bamboo fabric that can actually be called bamboo fabric without the possibility of being prosecuted for false advertising. Bamboo rayon has to clearly be described to prevent confusion. Bamboo linen is made through the process of retting, in this process the bamboo is soaked in a fluid most often water or exposed to moisture. This sets off a partial rotting process that allows the fibre to be removed from the wood or cellulose structure (in this case bamboo). This is a very labour intensive process which means that the production of bamboo linen is quite limited and often expensive. It is produced most prominently by the company Litrax and for the rest it is mostly produced locally in India. It is unclear whether or not this fabric is very suitable for recycling, nonetheless it is very durable and very high quality.

When comparing all of these fabrics organic cotton and wool seem to be the most suitable. Since they make no use of chemicals there is a very low chance of irritating the skin and they are also very affordable in comparison to the other alternatives. They are also well known and associated with eco-friendliness and suit the Little Green Steps brand image. To be able to still appeal to the vegan community it might be better to opt for organic cotton as a main fabric. Nevertheless organic wool could still be an option for extra added packages or upgrades. This system may confuse customers and if it is to be applied in the PSS, further research should be performed, by means of target group surveys for example.

As for the washing instructions a majority of the clothing that were looked at when searching for the most commonly used fabrics, most brands advised that most of their clothes should be washed at 40°C. Other instructions regularly given where either 30°C or 60°C. When considering the washing temperature a few factors are important to focus on. It needs to survive many washes and needs to properly kill bacteria. In order to make the garment’s lifetime last as long as possible, keeping the temperature low at 30°C for example would be most beneficial, but when it comes to killing bacteria and cleaning out stains a high temperature like 60°C would be more beneficial. Therefore a more averaged temperature would probably be best, in this case 40°C seems to be the most standardised option and would also be available on all regular washing machines. In addition to that popular instructions were to wash the clothes inside out and with similar colours. These types of instructions should be taken into consideration, but this should be researched more in depth before bringing any garments on the market.

In conclusion knitted GOTS certified organic cotton that is washed at 40°C seems to be the better option for Little Green Steps. However to really make the clothing ready for production, further consultation with experts is needed, not only shortly evaluate the choices made, but also to design the stencils, determine the best knitting pattern, decide which machines need to be used and choose which dyes and which fabric finishes to use.