What do we mean by eco-friendly textiles?
Eco-friendly is a term used more and more, but not always defined. So let's agree on a definition first. At WeDressFair, we call "eco-friendly" any material, whether organic, natural or recycled, that has the lowest impact on the environment.
We have drawn up a list of the materials we consider "eco-friendly". We have grouped them according to their characteristics.
Organic textile materials
Organic materials meet the criteria of organic farming in the strict sense: no synthetic chemicals (commonly known as pesticides and insecticides, but also fertilisers) and no genetically modified organisms.
Here are the ones we favour:
Natural textile materials and materials made from natural sources
We sort natural materials into 2 categories.
"Purely natural" materials, which go through few processing steps. Among them are "eco-friendly" textiles, as they need very little water, few or no synthetic chemicals and/or involve less polluting processing methods. Some even have the advantage of growing in Northern Europe and/or France.
Here is a list:
💬 Cork
💬 Kapok
The second category is made up of cellulose-based materials: they come from a plant source but have been chemically processed. They are called artificial natural materials, and their manufacturing process uses organic solvents that are recycled and reused.
💬 Viscose (⚠️ Tencel process, not all viscoses)
Recycled textile materials
Recycled materials are any materials made by processing a raw material that has already had "a first life". Here too, there are 2 categories.
Synthetic recycled materials: these come from synthetic sources, often plastics or nylon from plastic water bottles, fishing nets from the oceans, etc. They are collected, washed, sorted, ground into flakes and then spun again to make new material.
💬 Recycled elastane
💬 Recycled EVA
💬 NILIT® EcoCare (recycled nylon)
The second category is materials recycled from natural and/or organic materials. In the same way, the materials are collected, sorted, shredded and spun a second time. These fibres often lose length (and therefore durability), which is why they are often blended with synthetic materials (recycled or not).
💬 Recycled cashmere
💬 Recycled linen
Upcycled materials
Some discarded materials are reused by brands as they are, without major recycling processes. This is called upcycling. Brands use what they find: old curtains, used or defective tyres, bike tyres, etc. The material is given new value on the spot.
