Today, more and more consumers want to adopt a much more eco-responsible approach. For this reason, they are becoming more demanding about quality, certifications, transparency in the production chain, respect for the environment, human rights and the promotion of sustainable development. We know today that the textile industry is extremely pollutant. Some manufacturers are now committed to reducing pollution by using mineral washing techniques for the manufacture of their t-shirts.
You have probably already heard that jeans are the most polluting garment in the entire textile industry due to their manufacturing process. The t-shirt, which is one of the most worn items in the world, is also very polluting.
To produce cotton that will be used to make a t-shirt classic, it takes a lot of water, fertilizer, pesticides, and oil. Generally, cotton is produced in Asia, particularly in India and China.
It’s done in three stages. First, the fibre is transformed into yarn, which is then knitted to form the fabric that is dyed and then made into a t-shirt. Each of these steps involves the use of a lot of energy, water and chemicals. To give you an idea, during this stage, the dyeing phase alone will represent half of the energy consumption.
This is probably one of the most polluting phases in terms of CO2 emissions, as it includes transport by ship from the manufacturing and processing site.
This is something that also has to be measured, since it will need to be machine washed and ironed regularly.
Unfortunately, of the amount of waste produced by textiles, from collection to sorting to recycling shows that few garments are actually reused (1 in 7). T-shirts are no exception to this rule.
Under pressure from NGOs, producers are beginning to develop a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) approach, which involves being aware of their impact on the environment and limiting it in order to achieve carbon neutrality. In terms of T-shirt production, some companies will commit, for example, to using chemical-free washing methods. These are known as mineral washing methods.
Here are three eco-friendly washing techniques that can be used for T-shirts.
Ozone is a gas (03) which is obtained by enriching Dioxygen (02). The machine that does this sucks in air to make Ozone, sprays the resulting gas onto the T-shirt and then releases it back into the air as Dioxygen. The Ozone acts in the same way as the sun's rays to fade colours. This technique has two advantages. It uses much less water, and the water it discards is not polluted. It doesn’t release toxic gases into the air.
Enzymes are organic proteins which are obtained from living cells. These proteins create a chemical reaction that can be used on textiles to wash them out. The advantages of this technique are that it barely degrades the fabric and makes it more durable. Furthermore, it does not release chemicals into the water and if the technique could be applied on an industrial scale, it would be possible to work in a closed circuit to use much less water.
This is also an environmentally friendly process that allows a t-shirt to be washed without polluting by using less water. It is currently the most widely used process in the textile industry for two reasons. Firstly, because it enables very precise effects to be achieved in order to replicate the look of a faded t-shirt. Secondly, this process uses machines that can be programmed to reproduce the same patterns on a batch of T-shirts. It is not only environmentally friendly, but also saves time.
What are the environmentally friendly techniques for washing jeans ?
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