The World of Fashion: The Sustainability Response

I would begin my treatise with the quote of Ms. Solitaire Townsend, an entrepreneur par excellence, a sustainability expert, and an author. She is the co-founder of the change agency ‘Futerra’, one of the first sustainability agencies in the UK. I like her because of her candid views and acts on climate optimism and sustainability advocacy. She says,

“Wear Clothes that matter”!

Now one may wonder what type of clothes matter. Costly ones, branded ones, or the ones that will help make the world as green as it was before the industrial revolution? Sustainable fashion includes garment workers’ well-being and care for environmental health and beauty. And this is the time to act. We must act to save the Earth from the perils of the distorted development of technology and fashion. As Robert Swan says,

“The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it”!

There’s an urgent need to come up with better sustainable solutions in the fashion industry. And it starts from the fabric. Synthetic materials used in the fashion industry are one of the biggest polluters and health hazards. Not only does their production involve so much pollution, but the concept of fast fashion and using synthetic materials in it are increasing the toxic waste. These synthetic clothes end up in landfills and do not degrade. We must realize that fast fashion is making us pay through our health and life expectancy. We should go for sustainable clothing if not for others, then at least for ourselves.

While washing, these synthetic clothes release microplastics that end up in our water bodies. They harm marine life and then clandestinely enter our lives again as water from these water bodies is circulated back to us as drinking water, and the microplastics enter our system, putting us at serious risk. Interestingly, microplastics have even been found on Mt. Everest. Scientists say it’s because of the materials used and left by the climbers over the years.

Therefore, there is an immediate need to focus more on sustainable fabrics derived from nature so that they can be degraded once out of use and do not harm the environment and the entire biome.

The fashion industry is the flagship of the linear economy. It’s high time it charts its course to a circular economy.

Bamboo Fabric:

Bamboo fiber is a very comfortable and versatile cloth. It is naturally antibacterial, anti-UV, bacteriostatic, and a good agent for deodorization. Besides being a far better absorbent than cotton, bamboo apparel is very soft, silky, shiny, and durable and dissipates body heat by 2%. In fact, because of its antibacterial properties, it is being used in making sanitary towels, gauze, bandages, absorbents, pads, surgical apparel, surgical masks, etc.

Bamboo can be planted and harvested more economically and ecologically. It doesn’t require pesticides and consumes comparatively less water. Moreover, when it is harvested, it grows from the same rhizomes again and again. Thus, it doesn’t need to be planted every time you harvest it. And this is where bamboo can sequester a lot more carbon from the air than any other tree at the same time.

Bamboo fiber: Sports industry and Reducing Synthetic Consumption

The sports industry can be a significant force in mitigating climate change. Millions of metric tons of synthetic clothes are produced every year and used by millions worldwide.

If more organic and plant-based fiber is used in the sports industry and subsequently in the entire textile industry, we will bring down synthetic materials and thus mitigate plastic pollution. I’m not saying the whole synthetic material is to be replaced, but it is time that the synthetic textile industry must have introspection. Bamboo fiber or any other such fiber won’t have the capacity to replace the synthetic fibers in absolute numbers so soon, but replacing a good percentage will definitely have a telling effect on plastic pollution.

As discussed above, using fibers such as bamboo fiber has advantages. I’ve personally used them and can vouch for their usefulness. Wearing bamboo fiber makes you feel better than wearing synthetic fibers.

We have now closed-loop manufacturing technology to extract bamboo fibers. Therefore, its extraction and production processes will not harm the environment. 

Opportunity for India and Europe:

Let’s consider the innocuous bamboo growing in our backyard. India is the second-largest bamboo producer, yet we do not really know its potential use, which can be a game-changer in the sustainable fashion and competitive sports industries.

Bamboo fiber can change the face of the textile industry worldwide in a way that blue denim did around a century ago. It can create a massive difference in our fight to mitigate climate change and arrest deforestation.

In India, it is being used to make carpets and bamboo rugs. Bamboo silk carpets are very cheap compared to cocoon silk carpets and rugs. At present, bamboo silk is being imported from China, and it costs Rs.435/- to Rs. 550/- per kg, while the Indian cocoon silk of the desired quality costs Rs.3400/- to Rs.3800/- per kg. The Grade “A” Chinese silk goes up to Rs.4500/- per kg. Naturally, as bamboo silk’s raw material is far cheaper than cocoon silk prices, the bamboo silk carpet is naturally more affordable than the traditional cocoon silk carpet.

Bamboo fiber is also being used extensively in Bhadohi (a place near Varanasi) by the carpet weavers. The bamboo fiber carpet is 8 to 10 times cheaper when compared with the cocoon silk carpet of the same size and make.

Companies like ‘Athlos’ and ‘Bamboo Tribe’ are making bamboo cloths (mixed with other rayon) in many varieties that are gaining popularity.

Utilizing its antibacterial quality, “Pee Safe Sanitary Napkins” is one of the options available in the market.

All of them invariably get their bamboo rayon from China. Currently, China is meeting the world’s demands, but with the popularity of bamboo silk (fiber) growing, there is an opportunity for other countries.

India, being a third-world country, is largely dominated by the low and medium-middle class. This class looks for the cloth’s cost-effectiveness, and though their heart yearns for good clothing like silk and good quality cotton, their price is a deterrent. If some fabric is available with all these qualities, then that fabric is bound to grow in demand. Bamboo silk is one such fabric. So, it is expected that bamboo textile will create its niche in the textile and cocoon silk market very soon with proper marketing.

India must realize that, as Tony Kirwan, the iconoclastic founder of ‘Destiny Rescue’, says, “We only have two choices; do nothing or do something.” So we must begin to take up (i) the mantle and foray aggressively into the bamboo fiber industry and (ii) the utilization of its abundant bamboo stock.

India imported around 1000-1200 MT of bamboo fiber from China in 2020, spending USD 3.6 million. Interestingly, bamboo fiber demand is increasing every year in India. In 2016, the imports of bamboo fiber were around 600 MT, which became 900 MT in 2019.

Bamboo silk or fiber has a significant market in India. The market is so big that it can absorb any quantity of bamboo fabric. The more people understand the efficacy of bamboo, the more they grow it. You never know if the cotton growers too would begin growing bamboo for fiber side by side to achieve better livelihoods and the desired financial security. As we know, cotton has serious ecological issues and is a water guzzler. Bamboo fiber provides a better solution with no adverse ecological effects.

European countries should start looking to rehabilitate their wastelands and vacant farmlands by planting bamboo. Various species can grow in wastelands. This will have two-pronged benefits. Firstly, the wastelands get rehabilitated, helping us achieve “Bonn Targets” and thus arrest desertification, and secondly, it will create a bamboo stock for bamboo fibers.

World over, there’s a lack of meaningful investment in sustainability and sustainable fashion, which is why innovations in the textile are moving at a slow pace. It’s pertinent that the world starts making meaningful investments now to have a plethora of nature-based solutions on a large scale. And there would not be many choices other than to go for such vegetative fibres ultimately. We are running out of options. We must always remember E.F. Schumacher’s words that “Infinite growth of material consumption in a finite world is an impossibility.”