What are Synthetic Fabrics? (& are they sustainable?)
A Guide to Synthetic Fabrics
Do you know which fibers your clothes are made of? While the clothing labels on ready-to-wear garments indicate to consumers what the clothes they are about to purchase are made with, we nowadays tend to have a fraction of the knowledge of fibers our ancestors used to have.
In the past, not only did people make clothes at home, but fibers were also homemade. Evidence allows us to trace the use of textile looms in fiber manufacturing to thousands of years ago.
While most of us don't have to make our fabrics at home, knowing as much as possible about the materials that make up our clothes is still helpful. That can not only be useful from an everyday, practical perspective but also an environmental one.
Having more information about the characteristics of the various typologies of fabrics can guide us in choosing clothes and help us take care of our garments properly. This knowledge can aid us in making purchasing decisions that better align with our ethos and ensure our clothes' post-purchase impact is as low as possible.
If that sounds good, you are in the right place!
What are Synthetic fibers?
The term synthetic fibers, also sometimes referred to as manmade or artificial fibers, are textiles that are engineered through chemical processes instead of manufactured starting from natural sources.
Synthetic fibers are made from polymers derived from petrochemicals or other raw materials. Commonly found synthetic fibers include polyester, nylon, acrylic, and Spandex. As human-made fibers resulting from complex manufacturing processes, these materials can be engineered to have specific qualities.
While natural fibers such as cotton or linen have a history spanning hundreds of years, synthetic fibers are a much more recent feature of our lives. Nylon, for example, was created in 1927 by the company E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and was made available to the market in 1939.
Given their consumer-friendly characteristics, these fibers have become widespread in several industries, including fashion, automotive manufacturing, and home furnishings. According to the non-profit organization Textile Exchange, in 2021, these fibers comprised 64 percent of the global fiber market, with 72 million tonnes of synthetic fibers produced that same year.
Why is the production of Synthetic Fabrics a problem for the environment?
Despite their characteristics making them appetible to manufacturers and their consequential popularity in the market, synthetic fibers also have significant environmental drawbacks.
The use of virgin fossil-fuel-derived fibers supports the fossil fuel industry. According to the Intergovernmental organization, the International Energy Agency (IEA), synthetic textiles make up the second-largest end-use segment of global plastic demand, with the sector's estimated consumption of plastic amounting to 15 percent.
These numbers suggest that 1.35 percent of the total oil is utilized to manufacture synthetic fibers. So, while fossil-fuel-derived fibers are not conflict materials, they are products of an industry with a heavy social impact.
Synthetic fibers are not biodegradable and have been contributing to environmental pollution. Washing clothes made from fossil-fuel-derived fibers releases microplastics.
These minuscule bits of plastic are released in particular during the first few washes, and this makes fast fashion a significant factor in this phenomenon, given the ubiquitousness of fast fashion in people's closets.
About fourteen million tonnes of microplastics are on the Earth's ocean floor. Synthetic fibers have been contributing heavily to this issue. It is estimated that between sixteen to thirty-five percent of global microplastics released to oceans are from synthetic textiles.
Types of Synthetic Fabrics
Polyester
Made by mixing ethylene glycol and purified terephthalic acid, polyester is not only the most common type of synthetic fiber used today but the most common among all fibers, as it's used widely in the fashion industry and beyond.
You can find polyester in the textile composition of anything from blouses and trousers to waterproof clothing and backpacks. In 2021, polyester had a market share of over 54 percent of the world's fiber production, with an annual output of about 61 million tonnes.
Polyester fibers can be used to make resilient, pest-resistant, stain-resistant, and wrinkle-resistant fabrics. It has poor breathability, making it a poor choice for clothing meant to be worn in hot weather.
The production of this petroleum-based fiber is energy-intensive. A 2021 study by a team from Aachen Maastricht Institute for Biobased Materials (AMIBM) in the Netherlands has highlighted how polyester requires 125 MJ of energy per kilogram produced, resulting in the emission of twenty-seven-point-two kilograms of CO2 equivalent per kilogram of woven polyester fabric.
Nylon
Thermoplastic polymers are commercially referred to as nylon. DuPont built the first plan for producing this fiber, and the first nylon stockings pair in the US were commercialized in 1940, selling 800,000 pairs on the first days in shops.
According to the Textile Exchange's 2022 Preferred Fiber Materials Market Report, this fiber took up about 5 percent of global fiber production in the examined year. Nylon is particularly used in activewear, swimwear, stockings, and performance apparel.
Spandex
Spandex referred to outside the US as Elastane or Lycra, is a synthetic fiber made from polymers known for adding stretchiness to garments.
This characteristic makes Spandex a common feature in various clothing typologies, ranging from loungewear, denim, and dresses to underwear and shapewear, which add elasticity to the fiber mix. Hence, it's used chiefly in fiber blends.
In 2021, elastane had about 1 percent market share of the global fiber market, with global elastane fiber production of one point three million tonnes in the same year.
Acrylic
This fiber, made from a polymer, is most commonly used to manufacture knitted fabrics that compose sweaters, scarves, and hats.
In 2021, acrylic's share of the global fiber market was 1.5 percent, with about 1.7 million tonnes of acrylic fibers produced worldwide.
What Are Synthetic blends?
As mentioned earlier, synthetic fibers can make a textile material alone, but manufacturers can mix them with other synthetic or natural fibers.
Elastene can be mixed with anything from nylon to create shapewear and stockings to cotton in dresses, blouses, and trousers. In knitwear, manufacturers can mix acrylic with other knit-friendly fibers.
These blends are created to compensate for the technical disadvantages that one or more used fibers bring and mix their advantages. Synthetic blends present post-consumer management challenges, as garments made with these textile materials can be harder to recycle.
Semi synthetics
Semi-synthetic fibers are a third group of fibers that have characteristics found in both natural and synthetic fibers.
Also known as manmade natural fibers, these are fibers with a naturally occurring raw material created through a complex manufacturing process that heavily relies on chemicals.
Rayon
Rayon, also called viscose, is an artificial cellulosic fiber and semi-synthetic. With a production volume of about 5.8 million tonnes in 2021, viscose has the largest market share of all manmade cellulosic fibers.
Rayon is used chiefly in woven fabrics, and it's derived from wood pulp. This semi-synthetic fiber presents several issues along its life cycle, from the origin of the wood pulp to the chemicals used in the fiber's production.
Recycled Synthetic Fabrics
In addition to virgin synthetic, consumers can also find their recycled equivalent on the market. For example, of the total global polyester production, 14.83 percent comprises recycled polyester, mostly made from post-consumer PET plastic bottles.
Recycled nylon, elastane, and acrylics can also be found, but their share of the overall fiber's global protection is much lower than that of recycled polyester.
The Global Recycled Standard (GRS), the Recycled Claim Standard (RCS), and SCS Recycled Content Standards are some of the most known certifications for recycled textiles.
Image: Guppyfriend
How to take care of the synthetic fibers you already own
Clothes made of synthetic fibers have many of the same needs as those made of natural fibers. To take good care of them, we should do our best to wash them only when needed and follow the washing instructions. Avoiding the dryer and preferring air drying always saves much energy and is kinder on the fabrics.
But unlike those made of natural fiber and natural fiber blends, clothes made of synthetic fibers shed microplastics when washed. Then, these microplastics can make their way from our homes to waterways.
While tackling the issue of microplastics on a bigger scale will require action from governments and industries, we can still enact individual chances and avoid releasing microplastics from our homes into the oceans when we do our laundry. For example, we can use the GUPPYFRIEND Washing Bag when washing synthetic clothing in the washing machine and the GUPPYFRIEND Sink Filter when hand-washing them instead.
How to recycle clothes made of synthetic fabrics
Unfortunately, clothes get recycled less than we would want them to. According to the EPA, the recycling rate for textiles in 2018 was just 14.7 percent.
If you have garments you can't sell, pass down, reuse, or upcycle and want them to get recycled; you should avoid chucking them straight into the trash can. Instead, check out the solutions offered by local programs such as the Re-Clothe NY Coalition or use services like For Days Take Back Bag.
Better alternatives to regular synthetic fabrics
Different synthetic fibers have distinct characteristics, as do their most sustainable alternatives. Lenzing's Tencel is an excellent alternative to polyester-made apparel; organic cotton makes for a breathable alternative to underwear made of synthetic fibers. For activewear or performance apparel, garments made of recycled synthetic fibers can be a great option.
About the Author
Roberta Fabbrocino is a journalist specialized in climate change and sustainability-related topics. Her articles have been published in several international eco-publications. Roberta also works as a content writer for sustainable companies.
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