There is a very good effort by some manufacturers to improve the environmental performance of the manufacture and nature of their fabrics. They seem to be focusing on different aspects of the manufacturing and performance characteristics but its great to see some starting to change for the better.
These following sources are of use if you are looking for fabrics:
Camira Fabrics www.camirafabrics.com: Stingplus range (made with 28% nettles and the rest with cotton) and more info on the development of this fabric can be found here http://www.dmu.ac.uk/success/sustainability/alternative-fibres/index.jsp
Green Fibres www.greenfibres.com for organic cotton, silk and hemp
The Hemp Shop www.thehempshop.co.uk
Oeco textiles www.oecotextiles.com
Eco Earth Fabrics www.ecoearthfabrics.co.uk for cotton, hemp, soy and bamboo
Carnegie have cradle to cradle fabrics and trade through Vescom in the UK http://www.carnegiefabrics.com/index.htm
Momentum Group who only seem to supply in the US at the moment but are inspiring https://www.themomgroup.com/sustainable_contract_textiles.shtml
Panaz UK although not ideal they are making their process transparent and identified areas they are working on http://www.panaz.co.uk/profile/environmental
Also to look out for these new fabrics being developed and slowly coming into the market:
- A fabric created from coffee granules. (Jason Chen, the general manager of the Taiwanese Singtex Industrial Company got the idea as he was sipping coffee in Starbucks…)
- SeaCell which is made from seaweed
- Pina made from pineapple leaves
- Lenpur made from white fir wood
- Soy jersey
- Mutabar bark from Uganda which can be made into a leather or canvas lookalike
Some of the above info is sourced from http://www.daisygreenmagazine.co.uk/
