Cotton Candy: Thoughts on sustainability in fabrics with cotton and Lyocell
I understand that people are annoyed when something is dug up again, that actually is not as good as his reputation. Especially on the topic of climate protection, there are new bad news every day: avocados consume tons of water, streaming generates about 300 tons of CO2 / per year and now theres Manitober again and says that cotton is bad. Not per se, but the fiber consumes a lot of water before it turns into a T-shirt. In addition, it grows only in tropical, structurally weak regions of the world that are not necessarily nearby. We‘ve often said that most chemical fibers are derived from oil and thus from non-renewable raw materials. Cotton, on the other hand, keeps growing and therefore makes more sense. But we wouldn't be Manitober if that would be enough for us. That's why we've been talking about how we can make T- and sweatshirts even better without sacrificing the familiar comfort. I read about "wood" T-shirts that are getting more popular. Of course, these t-shirts are not made of wood in the true sense, but of viscose, better LYOCELL, a fiber by Lenzing. These are spun from cellulose which can also be obtained from wood (actually from any plant). If this wood or bamboo is sustainably produced, the production of the fiber is more advantageous in terms of water consumption and CO2 balance despite the use of chemical additives. Anyone who ever had a garment made of viscose /lyocell or something similar in the hand, might have noticed the light touch, the shimmer and the velvety handle. In contrast to the cotton, which comes along rather pungent, it is already quite a big difference and I'll say it this way: a matter of taste ... The common wood shirts also come as a fiber blend therefore more difficult to recycle. You see, it's relatively difficult to judge what makes more sense now and whether we can't get any worse ... However, after some back and forth, we decided to make our T-shirts from a blend of 67% organic cotton in the future and 33% lyocell. It combines the care and wearing properties of viscose with the feel and look of cotton and has a lower impact on the environment... fingers crossed it‘ll be ready for the next season!!