ECO-APPAREL TERMINOLOGY

With new “crops” of eco-friendly textiles entering the apparel marketplace, you’ll find it helpful to brush up on some “green” options:

• Organic fabrics use no pesticides, herbicides or insecticides during the growing cycle.
• Soy silk uses liquefied proteins (a by-product of making tofu) forced into fibers which are then spun.
• Ingeo corn fiber is created by extracting starch and then sugars from corn, and processing them into a form which can be spun into a yarn or woven into fabric.
• Fortrel EcoSpun polyester is made out of recycled plastic bottles and is frequently used for fleece.
• Biodegradable fabric has the ability to naturally break down and return to raw material or to be absorbed by the earth. The Federal Trade Commission guidelines say only products that contain materials which “break down and decompose into elements found in nature within a reasonably short amount of time when they are exposed to air, moisture and bacteria or other organisms” should be labeled biodegradable.
• Natural bleaching means that hydrogen peroxide was used to whiten fibers, rather than a chemical such as chlorine.
• Bamboo fabric is made from the cellulose fibers of the plant. It’s naturally antibacterial and 100% biodegradable and sustainable.