Fabric is the basis for all clothes and they can be detrimental to your health. To some, it could not matter than clothes are made using chemicals, though your skin is absorbing these chemicals, leading your health to worsen.
Here are fabrics you should avoid:
Polyester
Polyester is super thin plastic, meaning that it is made out of oil. To make the fabric, the first step is to drill oil from the Earth. This process releases harmful pollutants, such as methane, into the air and into the water. The oil industry emits around 8 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the air per year. The gases disturb and kill land and marine ecosystems. The oil is then refined into ethane and propane. The two are then treated in a heat process which makes plastic. This process also uses a mass amount of water(22 gallons per pound of plastic) and releases harmful chemicals into the air, harming every living thing on Earth. Plastic pellets are then melted and squeezed out through tiny holes, making very small threads. Finally, the polyester is made. The process of simply making the fabric already harms our Earth. This doesn’t account for dying the fabric or putting together the clothes. With your clothing item finally made and now being able to wear it, you will eventually need to wash it. Washing clothes made of polyester releases over 700,000 micro-plastics into the environment. This gets into our oceans and marine ecosystem. This ultimately means that fish will be eating plastic and Humans will be eating fish made of plastic. When the item of clothing is done being worn, it will sit in the landfill for 20-200 years until it is broken down. Most clothes in name brand stores are sadly polyester because it is so cheap to make and therefore will be sold for cheap in stores.
Acrylic
To make acrylic, acrylonitrile is needed. The chemical compound is a toxic liquid that is harmful to the eyes, skin, lungs, and nervous system. It can even lead to death. The factory workers are at very high risk when handling acrylonitrile and the fabric as a whole. In addition to this harmful liquid, acrylic is made with plastic threads. Therefore, the process of making acrylic is as harmful and unethical than polyester (plus even more because of the use of acrylonitrile). When washing acrylic fabric, it too releases micro plastics into our water ways. When the acrylic clothing item is in a landfill, it takes around 200 years to break down. Acrylic is ultimately harmful to Earth, its people, and its animals.
Rayon
Rayon is a fabric often used in greenwashing. It is made by dissolving cellulose(component in plant cells) into chemicals and then spinning it into threads. Seems pretty simple and harmless, though trees are cut down to get the cellulose. This leads to areas to suffer from deforestation. Once the plant cells are retrieved, they are broken down using chemicals such as sodium hydroxide and carbon disulfide. These chemicals are toxic and can give great harm to factory workers. They can lead to nausea, headaches, vomiting, and insomnia when absorbed into the skin. Factory workers could cover themselves up when working with these chemicals, but you are still wearing the clothes. Your skin is absorbing these harmful chemicals, leading to your health being at risk. This fabric is used for greenwashing because it can decompose in just a few weeks. You may think that this is a positive aspect of the fabric, but it truly isn’t. As said, the fabric is made of chemicals. Once decomposed, the chemicals will go into our soil and harm our ecosystems and us.
Comments