In a tight retail environment, apparel
brands have a vested interest in understanding consumers’ eco concerns, and how
fabric choice could impact their business.
According to the Cotton Incorporated
Lifestyle Monitor Survey, most consumers want to do right by Mother Earth. The
majority (64%) say they always or usually recycle, use refillable bottles (55%)
and purchase energy-saving appliances (53%) in an effort to protect the
environment. But just 16% check corporate environmental policies before making
a purchase.
However, companies shouldn’t take that to
mean shoppers don’t care.
“Many people,
even those in the apparel business, have no idea the rayon they’re using might
be coming from a tropical rainforest,” says Brihannala Morgan, senior forest
campaigner with the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). RAN created the Out of
Fashion campaign to demand the fashion industry commits to “getting rainforest
destruction and human rights abuses out of our clothing.”
As a natural fiber, cotton is
biodegradable. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Julia Valentine,
spokesperson, explains how clothes made of a synthetic fabric like polyester
and nylon can end up as microplastic in lakes, rivers and, ultimately, the
world’s oceans.
“Synthetic
fabrics are made partly or wholly from plastic polymers. In addition to the
fact that these polymers are made from petroleum, synthetic fabrics may also
degrade or break down during everyday use and laundering to produce synthetic
microfibers,” Valentine says, explaining that microfibers are those less than 5
millimeters in size in any dimension. “These microfibers do not biodegrade in
the environment like natural fibers do. Worldwide monitoring is showing that microplastics
exist in all of the world’s oceans and may pose health and ecological hazards.”
After being educated about deforestation
and microfiber waste issues, 66% of consumers say they’re bothered that brands
and retailers are using synthetic fibers in their apparel, according to Monitor
data.
Of all the fiber-related issues,
deforestation to create rayon fibers (31%) is the most concerning to consumers,
followed by microfiber waste from synthetics filling up the world’s oceans (25%).
Morgan explains that most of the wood pulp
for synthetics comes from rainforests in four countries: Indonesia, Brazil,
Canada, and South Africa. But the area most conflicted is Indonesia.
“Companies that
produce viscose staple fiber rely on fast-growing trees like eucalyptus and
acacia,” Morgan says. “They grow the fastest in tropical regions.”
Indonesia is home to the Leuser Ecosystem.
The Leuser is filled with carbon-rich peatlands. RAN states that when these
areas are drained and clear cut, and the peat is exposed to air, it begins to
oxidize. This releases large amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the
atmosphere, a process that continues for decades.
The dried peat is also highly flammable,
and last year “killer haze” from peatland wildfires was responsible for 90,000
early deaths, according to researchers from Harvard and Columbia.
After being educated about the microfiber
waste issue, 3 of 5 consumers (60%) say they are likely to check the fiber
content label before purchasing clothing to avoid synthetics, according to
Monitor data.
Even before learning about the
environmental issues with synthetics, 73% of consumers say better quality
garments are made from all natural fibers like cotton, and 65% are willing to
pay more for natural fibers.
What’s more, 63% are very or somewhat
likely to say they would “feel more connected or loyal” to a brand that offers
clothes made of natural fibers, followed by those that offer sustainable
apparel.
“We hear from
consumers every day,” RAN’s Morgan says. “We have a large list of people who
self-identify as caring about diversity, climate rights, deforestation. And
when we told them of the connection between rayon and deforestation, we had
hundreds of thousands taking part in our campaign saying they didn’t want
companies they bought clothes from involved in it.”