How AI Is Making the Fashion Industry More Sustainable

Sustainable Fashion and AI

The fashion industry as it stands today is not sustainable in the truest sense of the word; we cannot continue to produce clothing in the way we are now.

The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world and contributes to 10% of annual global carbon emissions. Our consumption of clothing is rising astronomically, and with it rises the fashion industry’s pollution and carbon footprint.

However, achieving sustainability in fashion presents great difficulty, as the industry is truly global and faces many pressures to keep costs low and keep output high.

Artificial intelligence (AI) presents new opportunities to increase sustainability in the fashion industry. While the technology is still relatively new, many brands have already begun using AI in creative ways that help reduce waste and reduce carbon emissions.

1. AI Predicts Trends to Reduce Waste

One of the most exciting innovations in AI and fashion sustainability is the use of AI to predict future trends. Clothing companies spend much time, effort, and money predicting fashion trends, and then create waste and pollution manufacturing those trends, only to produce clothing that doesn’t sell. AI trend forecasting eliminates some of the uncertainty and human error currently derailing trend forecasting, helping companies invest in clothing concepts that will sell.

AI trend forecasting works to understand a company’s target market and how they may respond to clothing trends. By predicting trends with higher accuracy, AI can help companies cut off production of clothing lines that won’t sell. This reduces unnecessary waste, reduces water use in production, reduces pollution, and reduces carbon emissions.

AI helps predict type and quantities of fabric, helping companies reduce excess scrap fabric. Additionally, AI can help keep track of inventories of already-produced clothes, helping companies achieve proper production size.

2. AI Helps Customers Shop Used Clothing

AI makes thrift shopping, a sustainable shopping practice, easier. Thrifting, or buying used clothing, is a great sustainable shopping option, as it reduces the demand for new clothes. Slowing production of new clothing reduces carbon emissions and reduces the amount of waste and pollution created in the production process.

Several online used-clothing platforms, such as Depop, are using AI to provide smarter recommendations to their customers. This use of AI makes buying used clothing much easier, as you don’t have to go sort through racks of clothing to find something specific or something you like.

If AI makes thrifting easier, more people are likely to buy used, rather than going to buy something new simply because it’s the simpler option.

3. AI Speeds Up 3D Modeling

Before a clothing item is sold, it goes through many stages of review, sometimes requiring up to 20 samples of the item. Instead, fashion brands are increasingly relying on AI-created 3D models of the clothing, rather than physically producing samples.

AI can even create digital models to wear clothes that have not been manufactured yet, making the review process much less wasteful. This also helps companies reduce the costs of creating samples.

AI makes the process of 3D modelling much faster and more efficient, which can help clothing streamline production and also reduces the need for human labor. That said, AI 3D modeling is still being perfected, and still requires some human input to truly get the model to look realistic.

4. AI Increases Customer Satisfaction

Every year, around 500 billion USD is lost due to clothing that is not worn frequently and is not recycled. Increasing customer satisfaction with the clothes they buy helps slow fashion production, thereby reducing its environmental impact, and reduces clothing waste in landfills.

AI is helping customers find products that they really like. First, AI offers the opportunity for increased customization of clothes. AI body scans of customers help brands make clothes that fit a larger range of people. AI can help create clothing that fits body measurements that exist in the real world, rather than making clothes that fit an “average” assumed body type.

AI also offers virtual fittings, which reduces the number of clothes that are returned. Many people buy online simply to try the clothing on, or buy multiple sizes or colors, and then return it. Shipping these returns not only has a large environmental impact, but also becomes a logistical difficulty for the company.

Lastly, AI helps predict correct sizing based on a database of body measurements. According to the founder of EyeFitU, an AI clothing sizing prediction company, it is unclear what happens to clothes after they’re returned; some may end up in the landfill. Buying the correct size will help customers reduce their returns, and reduce fashion waste.

The opportunity to virtually try on clothes and buy the right size helps reduce customer returns by up to 55 percent, thereby greatly reducing the waste caused by clothing returns.

5. AI Ensures Sustainable Supply Chains

Many clothing brands choose to undergo third-party environmental compliance audits to make sure that they and their suppliers are complying with all environmental regulations.

While these audits are a step towards more environmentally-friendly clothing production, they don’t truly take all aspects of sustainability into account. It may also be difficult for large companies to keep an eye on the sustainability of every supplier they use.

AI provides a solution; AI can help fashion brands better assess the sustainability of their supply chain as a whole. AI tools can analyze information about a company’s suppliers to examine their sustainability practices.

AI company Prewave has created a tool that uses AI and machine learning to search the Internet for any mention of a company’s suppliers, and alert the company to possible sustainability violations. This type of tool is immensely powerful, as it can also assess a supplier’s adherence to ethical labor practices and anti-corruption practices.

While this has been piloted by Audi, a car manufacturer, since October 2020, it can and should be used by clothing brands as well. This tool will help the fashion industry choose and monitor suppliers to ensure the utmost adherence to sustainable practices.

Conclusion

So, is AI the future of sustainable fashion? In some ways, yes. AI provides us with increasingly powerful tools to reduce waste in clothing production.

However, AI alone will not fix the sustainability issues in the fashion world. Instead, a variety of multifaceted, human-led approaches, from reducing clothing consumption to using sustainable materials, are necessary to address the industry’s extreme environmental impacts.

About the Author:

Lena Milton is a freelance writer covering sustainability, health and environmental science. She writes to help consumers understand the environmental and ethical challenges in everyday life so we can find viable solutions for both.

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Deforestation & The Fashion Industry

We often hear about the climate footprint of different clothes and materials, but there’s another important impact to consider too, the deforestation footprint of fashion. Ancient forests are still being destroyed for the sake of fashion, at the expense of endangered animals, native plants, indigenous communities, and our climate. However, not all materials have such a high cost, so which ones do we need to be aware of?

Forests are often thought of as the ‘lungs of the Earth’. They help ensure the air we breathe, and the water we drink is clean, they are home to a biodiverse array of plant and animal life, and they even help us to combat the climate crisis – securely storing carbon inside of them.

Rainforest Trust suggests that protecting just one acre of forest from destruction helps to keep as much as 400 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions stored and unable to further wreak havoc on our climate.

Yet, despite the irreplaceable significance and beauty of these natural places, the fashion industry is destroying them. But how, and for what materials?

Clothing made from decimated ancient forests

According to non-profit Canopy, more than 200 million trees are logged each year to be transformed into cellulosic fabrics like viscose and rayon. The organization notes that if these trees were placed end-to-end, they would circle our planet seven times.

Unfortunately, many people aren’t aware that viscose and rayon are even made of trees, let alone trees from old-growth forests – those which are at least 120 years old but often even centuries older. This is an environmental disaster, as Canopy also states that less than 20% of the Earth’s ancient forests remain in intact tracts large enough to maintain biological diversity, which supports wildlife. Meanwhile, it’s also estimated that up to 30% of the viscose and rayon used in the fashion industry is made from endangered and ancient forests which once were home to native plants and animals. Often, even if it’s not old forests being cut down but trees planted specifically for harvest, old-growth forest is still cut down in order to make space for the monoculture of planted trees.

Leather: destroying the Amazon rainforest

By now, you might have come across a headline noting the link between deforestation in the rainforest of Amazonia and cattle ranching. This is because cattle ranching, which exists to sell cattle to slaughterhouses to produce and sell beef and leather, is responsible for 80% of destruction in the Amazon.

A significant amount of this harm is done illegally, with fires being set in order to burn forest and make space for cattle to graze, but other land is harmfully cleared for the same purpose legally, too.

Shockingly, recent research from environmental organization Stand.earth found a massive number of luxury and mainstream brands – including Adidas, Reebok, Camper, Nike, Puma, H&M, Zara, Gap, River Island, Coach, Calvin Klein, Prada and many more – have multiple ties to deforestation in the Amazon, because of their leather bags, shoes, wallets and accessories. Even brands using Leather Working Group certified leather were implicated.

While Indigenous advocates from Amazonia deplore the fashion industry for their terrible mistreatment of such a precious land, Indigenous communities around other parts of the world combat massive land clearing for leather – a highly profitable co-product of beef production – too.

In Queensland in Australia, for example, over 90% of deforestation is due to cattle ranching, as well as sheep farming. Native animals like koalas, considered vulnerable to extinction, have their habitat destroyed, with 50 million native animals dying each year due to habitat destruction. Skins of cattle and sheep grazing once rich and natural land are sold to the fashion industry for a great profit.

It’s not just leather, all animal-derived materials are land hungry

A large part of the reason that leather production results in so much land clearing, is because the animal industrial complex which raises all farmed animals is inefficient and wasteful – putting more into the system than the system produces.

More agricultural land is used for animal production than anything else. Half of all habitable land on the planet is used for agriculture, and 77% of that is used to raise animals for slaughter and grow crops for those animals to eat.

So how does this impact fashion? We can produce far more cotton or hemp than we can wool on the same amount of land – did you know that producing one bale of Australian wool (where most wool is from) instead of cotton requires 367 times more land? Alpaca’s wool and cashmere are similarly land-inefficient.

We can also produce far more pineapples to feed people and create leather alternative materials than we can leather from cow skins on the same land. The same can be said of cacti used as the building block of another leather alternative, and cork bark – also used in place of leather and stripped from trees in a process that allows the living tree to sequester more carbon.

So how do we protect forests when we get dressed?

The first and most important thing we can do to protect precious forests when we get dressed is to consider them at all – so asking this question is a great start. When we are more aware of the potential impact our wardrobes have on the planet and those living on it, we are able to make more informed and less harmful decisions.

Suppose you’re seeking to ensure your wardrobe has a low deforestation footprint and protects native land by using efficiently produced materials. In that case, it’s best to choose some of the many wonderful alternatives to leather and avoid all viscose and rayon that is not certified to come from trees planted specifically for the material’s production, on land which hasn’t been decimated for production. Fortunately, there are plenty of great alternatives to these materials, made in supply chains that are both similar and entirely different – more sustainable – at the same time.

A great alternative to rayon is this EcoVero fabric from Brava

What are some forest-friendly alternatives to viscose and rayon

Tencel

Tencel is a lyocell material – a cellulosic material similar to rayon, with some major differences. Tencel is made from fast-growing Eucalyptus trees grown specifically to create the material, without any biodiverse forest risk involved. Forest protection organization Canopy gives the company producing Tencel it’s highest rating category possible. Tencel is also made in a closed-loop, meaning that the substances used to create it are recycled and not sent out into waterways.

Ecovero

Ecovero is made by the same company which created Tencel, Lenzing. Ecovero is still actually a viscose material, but it is made from ‘certified renewable wood sources using an eco-responsible production process by meeting high environmental standards’. The material has been awarded the EU Ecolabel and is manufactured with up to 50% fewer emissions and water impact than generic viscose.

Recycled, post-consumer materials

Every second around the globe, a garbage truck full of textiles and clothing is sent to landfill. This disturbing amount of waste is due to the ever-quickening pace of our fast fashion industry, which too often is no longer selling clothes designed to last and be loved.

With so many textiles currently being discarded, why do we continue to make more new material? Again, non-profit Canopy suggests we needn’t: ‘all 6.5 million tonnes of viscose being produced this year could be made using only 25% of the world’s wasted and discarded cotton and viscose fabrics, thereby saving forests, reducing municipal and industrial waste to landfills, and reducing carbon emissions, energy, and water use.’

More and more brands are beginning to use materials made from old materials, which is a wonderful thing.

Which leather alternatives are best for forests and the rest of the planet?

Desserto cactus leather

This leather alternative is quickly becoming more widely available and is made up largely of cacti grown in Mexico, where its makers support natural biodiversity. No trees are cut down for the cacti plantation. The material is made by turning the cacti into a dried powder, which is backed onto a woven (sometimes recycled) material, which is then coated with polyurethane. It’s not totally perfect, but it’s one of the best and most sustainable choices that is available at the moment.

Piñatex

This pineapple leaf alternative to leather is 95% biodegradable and uses the leaves on a pineapple plant that are otherwise simply discarded. This means no additional land is needed for the production of the material, which is then coated with a bio-based resin for longevity.

Cork

Cork leather is a really great option for those who want their bags and wallets to be biodegradable, water-resistant and eco-friendly. Able to be embossed to mimic the patterns of crocodiles and snakes, cork trees are harvested of their bark every few years while the trees continue to grow – largely across Portugal.

What are some low-land impact alternatives to wool?

Hemp

Hemp is a much-loved material in the sustainable fashion community, and for good reason. Extremely land efficient because of how densely this plant grows, hemp can be grown without pesticides and minimal water if sustainable agriculture is practiced. This bast fiber is often blended with organic cotton to make it more cosy to rug up in.

Sustainably sourced cotton

There are a lot of unsustainable and unethical sources of cotton – which can degrade land and drink up too much water – but too, there are plenty of great sources of it! Certified organic cotton, recycled cotton, and sustainably grown cotton like Good Earth Cotton are all wonderful options which are used to make knitwear.

Bamboo lyocell

Similar to Tencel (which is also a good alternative), bamboo lyocell is produced in a closed-loop. Bamboo can be cut down while it continues to grow, and it grows at a rapid pace. What’s more, it can be grown without pesticides. It’s important to opt for bamboo lyocell rather than rayon because it is more sustainable, and this material is great for knitted garments that are breathable and soft.

About the Author

Emma Håkansson is the founder and director of Collective Fashion Justice which seeks to create a total ethics fashion system that prioritizes the life and wellbeing of non-human & human animals, as well as the planet, before profit & production. She has written countless articles on ethics, sustainability, and fashion, and has two books due out over the next two years.

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Go Plastic-Free with these Zero Waste Lotions

For most of us, lotion is one of our skincare essentials. Lotion keeps our skin moisturized and healthy, and we tend to use it every day. As such, choosing a sustainable, zero waste lotion can have a big environmental impact over time. Thankfully, switching to zero waste lotion bars and balms is pretty easy to do, thanks to the numerous sustainable skincare brands producing them.

Below, we’ve put together the ten best brands to find the perfect zero waste lotion for any skin type.

Why You Should Choose Zero Waste Lotion

The majority of lotion brands package their products in large plastic bottles. It can be difficult, or impossible, to get the bottles clean enough to recycle after use. While more brands are using recycled and recyclable plastic packaging, lotion pumps or caps usually can’t be recycled. This waste adds up - especially when we use lotion daily.

Thankfully, numerous brands are now producing a variety of zero waste lotions to choose from.

Zero waste lotion doesn’t further contribute to landfill waste. Everything is biodegradable and/or recyclable. From the ingredients to the packaging, if there is any packaging, no waste is left behind. This is why it’s best to choose a zero waste option if possible.

What to Look for in Zero Waste & Sustainable Lotion

There are numerous ways a lotion can be sustainable. What you’re looking for depends on your needs and preferences. That being said, there are a few key things to keep in mind when choosing a zero waste, sustainable lotion.

Most zero waste lotions should have several, if not all, of the following:

Reusable and/or recyclable, recycled/upcycled packaging
Biodegradable ingredients and packaging
Cruelty-Free
Organic
Vegan
Natural fragrance
Sustainably, ethically or locally sourced ingredients
Chemical-free
No parabens, sulfates or silicone
Transparent and sustainable production methods

Our Top Picks for Zero Waste Lotion, Bars, and Balms:

1) Ethique

Lotion Bars

Pricing: $13-$17 USD

Ethique is one of my personal favorite brands for zero waste products. They are an entirely plastic-free, cruelty-free, woman-owned company. Ethique has a wide variety of zero waste lotion bars to choose from, both scented and unscented. They even have a travel size option that comes in a compostable tube so you can easily transport your lotion with no mess. Each lotion bar is vegan, palm oil-free, and made with only natural ingredients like organic cocoa butter ethically sourced from a farm in the Dominican Republic.

Ethique is a climate-positive company and they donate 2% of their proceeds to different charity organizations.

Shop Ethique

2) Plaine Products

Body Lotion

Pricing: $30 USD

Last but not least, Plaine Products is founded and led by two sisters. They are a vegan company eager to combat plastic pollution. Their zero-waste body lotion is biodegradable, Non-GMO, and palm-oil free. Plaine Products lotion comes unscented or in Rosemary Mint Vanilla and Citrus Lavender. They offer a refill option that doesn’t include a lotion pump to prevent unnecessary waste. They also give you the choice to subscribe in 2-6 monthly installments and save 10% on the total price.

Plaine Products was founded after one of the founders noticed the amount of plastic pollution on a beach vacation. This inspired her to launch a zero-waste skincare company that’s completely plastic-free and chemical-free. Everything they make, including their lotion, they use themselves. Each product is zero waste and comes in recycled packaging. Plaine Products is now a certified B Corp.

use code sustainablychic20 for 20% off your entire purchase

Shop Plaine Products

3) EcoRoots

Lotion Balm

Pricing: $34 USD

EcoRoots makes a moisturizing and nurturing lotion balm. EcoRoots uses primarily organic ingredients and it’s compostable and fair-trade. Their lotion is plastic-free and comes in reusable glass jar. The Grapeseed and Organic Jojoba Seed Oils used in this lotion help nourish skin by delivering rejuvenating antioxidants and essential fatty acids to help skin perform at its best. EcoRoots even uses plant-based labels that are made from wildflower seeds, designed to break down into food for bees after use.

Shop EcoRoots

4) Cocokind

Lotion and Balm

Pricing: $11-$19 USD

Cocokind is a woman-owned skincare brand based in San Francisco. They have several zero waste options to choose from, such as their multi-use balm and skin butter. I’m personally obsessed with their skin butter. It’s made from natural ingredients like coconut oil and shea butter, perfect for the whole body.

Their vegan multi-use balm is ideal for dryer spots like lips and hands. For each purchase, they donate 5% of the proceeds to One Tree Planted.

Cocokind is leading the way in transparency when it comes to sustainable brands. For each product, they break down each ingredient used, how it’s made, how to use it, and how to recycle it properly.

Shop Cocokind

5) Blendily

Lotion Bars

Pricing: $16-$18 USD

Blendily is a woman-owned company that produces handmade, zero waste botanical skincare. They have a full sustainable skincare line, but their lotion bars are wonderful. They offer two scents, Lavender and Rosemary. Each small batch sustainable lotion bar is vegan and made from organic ingredients. One awesome thing about Blendily is that they have their own garden where they grow most of their ingredients. If they can’t grow it themselves, they source directly from local farmers.

They also handmake each bar in their storefront, in their “Skincare Kitchen.” Blendily even invites customers to visit and watch them make their products.

Shop Blendily

6) Etee

Lotion Bars

Pricing: $8.10 USD

Etee has a complete line of zero waste products including their lotion bar. Each lotion bar comes in a refillable tin, and they offer the option to purchase refill bars with no packaging. Their lotion is biodegradable, compostable, and made from six sustainable ingredients. Etee’s lotion bars are cruelty-free, palm-oil-free, and without sulfates, parabens, or toxic chemicals. As a company, they are completely plastic-free. Plus their lower price point makes their products more accessible.

Shop Etee

7) Alaffia

Balm and Body Butter

Pricing: $5.99-$16.79 USD

Alaffia is another personal favorite of mine when it comes to sustainable skincare companies. This Black-owned company sells its products at an accessible price point in numerous convenient storefronts like Target. Alaffia is Fair-trade, For Life, and Good Manufacturing Practices Certified. While all of Alaffia’s products are low waste and natural, their line of balms and body butter are perfect zero-waste moisturizers. Each product is made from a base of unrefined shea butter sourced from West Africa and from West African recipes.

Each lotion comes in a variety of scents and unscented options, perfect for dry skin, daily use, or treating skin conditions. Their products are packaged in a fully recyclable tin.

Shop Alaffia

8) The Best Kind

Body Butter

Pricing: $11- $100 USD

The Best Kind makes a luxurious handmade body butter from shea and cocoa butter. Their body butter only contains seven ingredients, all-natural. The Best Kind’s lotion is non-GMO, vegan, mostly organic, with natural fragrance and no parabens. It’s available in a range of sizes starting from 1 ounce up to 100 ounces. Their body butter is a great choice if you’re someone with dry to combination skin and looking for something to use on both your face and body. Each lotion is made with love in Brooklyn, in small batches.

Shop The Best Kind

9) Moon Valley Organics

Lotion Bars

Pricing: $13.19 USD

Moon Valley Organics is a B Corp Certified sustainable skincare brand based in Washington. They make lovely herbal lotion bars in a variety of essential oil-based scents like Lemon Vanilla and Bergamont Geranium. Each lotion bar comes in a reusable metal tin, but they also offer refill options without packaging.

Their products are Non-GMO and Certified Organic. One unique thing about Moon Valley Organics is that they are working on expanding habitats for pollinators on their farm.

They have their own four-acre “pollinator sanctuary,” where they grow many of their ingredients. Anything that they can’t grow themselves is sourced from local, organic suppliers and farms. They also host volunteers from WWOOF to provide education on organic farming and pollinator habitats. Plus, they donate 10% of their profits to organizations that support this cause.

Shop Moon Valley Organics

10) Fat and the Moon

Lotion

Pricing: $18 USD

Fat and the Moon’s sustainable “All Cream” lotion is a botanical blend made from shea butter. They also have an aloe lotion if you’re looking for something more lightweight. Each ingredient is ethically sourced, wild, or organic. They source from local farmers when possible. Their lotion is handmade and packaged in reusable jars. Fat and the Moon is a woman-owned company passionate about being a body-affirming, sustainable skincare brand that promotes conscious self-care.

They use botanical wisdom to create nourishing, healing products. Fat and the Moon also donates a portion of their proceeds to different justice organizations whose causes they support. As a plastic-free company, all their shipping materials are recyclable, upcycled, or biodegradable.

Shop Fat & the Moon

About the Author

Alicia Briggs is a writer & editor specializing in slow travel & sustainable living. She has been a full-time traveler since 2018 and runs her own blog, Learning the Local Way, where she covers responsible travel tips and guides.

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Sustainable Vegan Knitwear You Will Love

Getting rugged up and feeling cozy amongst the cold of winter and other cooler seasons is such a simple pleasure. While often we might not think of our knitwear choices beyond what it looks like, how it feels, and if it will keep us warm, there are environmental and ethical considerations worth making whenever we buy new clothes. For the sake of the planet, as well as human and non-human animals, sustainable vegan knits are great to seek out.

What can make knitwear unsustainable?

If we’re wanting knitwear that warms us up, while not contributing to the warming of our planet, there are a few things we can do. Before we even talk about material choice, it’s important that we think about how often we purchase knitwear. Even the most sustainably made knitwear can become unsustainable if we don't really want it, and it ends up going to waste.

Before buying any new piece of clothing it’s worth asking ourselves some questions, like, ‘do I really need this?’, ‘can I see myself wearing this hundreds of times, over years to come?’, ‘is this well made?’, ‘is this a timeless piece, or will it fall out of fashion quickly?’, and ‘do I absolutely love this?’.

If we ask ourselves these questions, we’re likely to slow down our clothing consumption, only buying things that we adore. This is a great win for the planet, as, across the globe, we consume 400% more clothing than we did just two decades ago, and globally, equal to one garbage truck full of clothing and textiles heads to landfill every single second.

Once we’ve made sure we’re being conscious about our knitwear purchases and how we make them, it’s a good idea to think about materials.

Why avoid synthetic knitwear?

As the fashion industry has sped up, we’ve seen the rise of synthetic fibers like nylon, acrylic and polyester. It’s worth avoiding knitwear made from these synthetic materials, including knitwear made with a blend of these materials (because organic cotton or wool knitwear isn’t going to biodegrade if blended with plastic) for a few reasons. First, while plastic fibers don’t biodegrade, returning to the earth, they do break down into tiny pieces. These microfibers can wreak havoc on already fragile ecosystems, including our oceans. There are more than 500 times more microplastic particles in the ocean than stars in our galaxy. These particles end up inside fish, marine mammals, and birds and make their way into almost all parts of the planet as they wash up on beaches and are even eaten by people. When it comes to knitwear, if you ever wash a synthetic sweater, it will shed these microplastic fibers, contributing to this problem.

What’s more, the production and sale of synthetic fibers like polyester and acrylic funds the fossil fuel industry – as these materials are made of said fossil fuels. Did you know that producing polyester, which made up 52% of all fibers produced in 2020, alongside other synthetics, means using an estimated 342 million barrels of oil each year? We need to be transitioning away from this industry entirely, not supporting it.

Is wool knitwear sustainable since it’s biodegradable?

Often, once people learn about the environmental devastation associated with synthetic knitwear, they will instead consider opting for knitwear made from sheep’s wool, or alpaca wool, cashmere, and so on. But is this the sustainable choice that it might first seem to be?

While it's true that (so long as animal hair isn't treated or dyed with substances that render it non-biodegradable) these materials do decompose, there's much more to material sustainability than this factor alone. The animal agricultural systems that produce these materials are hugely harmful to the environment, particularly when considering greenhouse gas emissions and land clearing.

The United Nations recognises the farming of animals as one of today's 'most serious environmental problems', which must be remedied with 'urgent action'. This isn't surprising, considering how much methane systems rearing animals, including sheep, alpacas, and goats, release. Higg's Material Sustainability Index shows that alpaca and sheep's wool are the most climate impactful materials to produce, only after silk. In fact, did you know that if you chose an Australian wool knit sweater over one made from Australian cotton, that choice would emit about 27 times more carbon equivalent emissions

Animal agriculture is also extremely land inefficient, with far more land needed to rear animals than to grow cotton, hemp, or other plant-based fibers (not to mention the benefits of recycled materials!). Given that forests, trees, and natural green landscapes can sequester so much carbon, this is also a climate issue. Using land for animal agriculture comes with a 'carbon opportunity cost', and if we transitioned to an entirely plant-based agricultural system by 2050, we could sequester 99-163% of our carbon emission budget to 1.5 C through rewilding of currently cleared land used for animal agriculture! If you're wondering how that works, consider that producing a bale of Australian wool requires 367 times more land than is needed for a bale of Australian cotton – and hemp is considered to be even more land efficient.

Are all plant-based knitwear materials sustainable?

Given both synthetic and animal-derived yarn used to produce knitwear come with serious environmental harms, it’s worth looking into plant-based materials. Unfortunately, not all plant-based materials are sustainable – let’s talk about conventional cotton.

Conventional cotton is often made in a very thirsty system, requiring significant amounts of freshwater to be used. Then, too, pesticides and fertilizer, which often run off farms and into waterways that are polluted and eutrophied – sometimes leading to dead zones – are often mismanaged and over-used in conventional cotton systems. These are all significant reasons to seek better alternatives.

Fortunately, not all cotton is grown equally, and it can be grown sustainably. Often, certified organic cotton is a great and sustainable choice. Some systems and countries have developed more sustainable production methods, and Australian cotton has come far in recent years. But, of course, recycled cotton is the most sustainable choice, making use of something which already exists, rather than requiring more resources to be made.

Other materials like hemp and lyocell produced in a closed-loop like Tencel, and blends of these, can be really sustainable options worth seeking out.

Is all knitwear ethical?

Of course, sustainability in fashion isn’t only about the direct impact that materials have on the planet. We cannot sustain injustice on this planet either, and so we need to think about the ethics of how our knitwear is produced.

Another reason to consider the materials used in knitwear more carefully is because of the individuals who are harmed in the making of some fibers. For example, if cotton isn’t certified to be made fairly, it is far too often grown and picked by children, people forced to work, and even people working in modern slavery conditions. Fortunately, ethical cotton and other plant-based materials exist.

Too, animal-derived materials don’t only have a harmful environmental impact, but their production harms animals. Not only are sheep often treated with extreme cruelty on farms and during shearing, but the wool industry is a slaughter industry, and sheep are killed when they are no longer of financial value because their wool quality has degraded as they age. This happens about halfway into their natural lifespan and is a practice across the alpaca wool and cashmere industries.

What’s more, even if an ethical and sustainable material has been used to produce knitwear, the knitwear itself won’t be ethical if it is knitted and sewn by a garment worker who is mistreated. Today, a shocking 98% of garment workers are paid a poverty wage, and exploitation and abuse are far too common in the industry full of people – largely women of colour – who make our clothes.

With all of this being said, buying knitwear might begin to feel impossible! But don’t worry, there are plenty of wonderful brands out there making knitwear that is good for the planet, people and animals.

1) Willow and Claude

This brand isn’t so much a brand, but a project from Collective Fashion Justice, a non-profit working to create a total ethics fashion system. Named after two rescued sheep, the project is made up of a collection of 100% Australian, sustainably grown and ethically made cotton knitwear – turtlenecks, scarves and crewneck sweaters – and an award-winning short film which explores the environmental and ethical issues of knitwear production, and a kinder alternative to these existing systems.

Shop Willow and Claude

2) Afends

This Australian brand grows its own hemp and offers beanies, knit sweaters, and other garments made from the planet, as well as from recycled and organic cotton.

The brand also provides details on how much better for the environment their hemp products are compared to others made across the fashion industry.

use code SUSTAINABLYCHIC15 for 15% off full-priced items

Shop Afends

3) Will’s Vegan Store

Another brand offering both feminine and masculine styles is UK-based Will’s. Ethically made across Europe, the knitwear selection is largely made of recycled materials, like recycled cotton, as well as recycled post-consumer polyester, made from recycled clothing. If opting for a recycled synthetic garment, it’s worth considering a Guppyfriend or other microfiber catching bag to use in your washing machine.

Shop Will's Vegan Store

4) Kowtow

This gorgeous, New Zealand based brand offers a wide selection of knitwear like cardigans, crew neck sweaters, scarves, beanies and turtlenecks which are made ethically from certified organic and fair trade cotton. The cotton is dyed sustainably, and the knits feel weighty and luxurious.

Make sure to check the product details, as this brand also sells some wool.

Shop Kowtow

5) Kordal Studio

This beautiful label offers sweaters which are hand-knitted ethically in Peru, and botanically dyed.

While not all of the brand’s selected fibers are sustainable, Kordal offers a divine selection of organic cotton pieces like fisherman style sweaters, cardigans, and even knitted pants.

Shop Kordal

6) ArmedAngels

Offering styles for both men and women, ArmedAngels is a fairly made German brand which uses some excellent materials in their knitwear collections.

Through the site, you can set a specific ‘vegan’ search, and find knitted dresses, vests, jackets, sweaters, cardigans and more, made from materials like organic cotton and Tencel.

Shop Armed Angels

About the Author
Emma Håkansson is the founder and director of Collective Fashion Justice which seeks to create a total ethics fashion system that prioritizes the life and wellbeing of non-human & human animals, as well as the planet, before profit & production. She has written countless articles on ethics, sustainability, and fashion, and has two books due out over the next two years.

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Is Wool Sustainable?

Wool is a go-to fabric for most people who live in a four-season climate: this fabric is comfortable, warm and soft. Who doesn’t have any bulky sweaters or cozy socks made of wool?

It has actually been used for millennia before us, for various purposes and in many parts of the world. As it is made from natural fibers, wool is often seen as a sustainable fabric. We also imagine free-range sheep grazing in green fields and being happy to be shorn every year.

But what is really happening in the wool industry? Wool production comes with different environmental and ethical issues. This fabric is generally not as eco-friendly as we might think and animal welfare is often not a priority for sheep farms.

How sustainable and ethical is wool exactly? And why? Let’s find out together!

What is wool and how is it made?

What is wool?

Wool is a natural fiber obtained from sheep and other hairy mammals like goats and camels, and it is mainly used for garment production.

The story of wool begins in Mesopotamia, where it has been used since around 10,000 BC when sheep were domesticated. Back then, humans used their skin to keep warm, and they were a great source of food.

As a few millennia passed, humans learned to spin and weave wool to create warm clothes, boots, blankets and carpets. Wool production was exported far beyond the region, and between 3000 and 1000 BC, the Greeks, Romans and Persians distributed wool throughout Europe.

England, Spain and Italy became important producers and exporters, with thriving wool industries, especially during the medieval period. The Spanish wool trade helped fund the voyages of Columbus to America, and wool textile exports accounted for two-thirds of England’s foreign commerce in 1660.

At the end of the 17th century, the wool industry flourished in North America as European immigrants arrived on the continent with sheep.

The more modern production techniques and technology introduced during the Industrial Revolution greatly contributed to the soaring wool industry throughout the world. However, wool production fell in the middle of the 20th century due to the growing demand for synthetic fibers.

In 2018, more than a billion sheep were used to produce over two million kilograms of raw wool. To put things into perspective, this material accounts for 1.1% of the world’s global fiber market.

There are more than 1,000 sheep breeds around the world, and the largest wool producers are Australia, China and New Zealand.

Why has wool been so widely used?

Wool has been so popular around the world for so many centuries because it has many great properties.

Wool is a bulky fiber, which means that it retains a layer of air next to the skin, making it a good temperature regulator. As a result, wearing wool clothing helps insulate the body, keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Wool is comfortable to wear, has a high level of UV protection, and is both hypoallergenic and breathable, so it’s an ideal fabric for clothing. It is also very easy to spin, and it takes dyes beautifully.

Another great characteristic is that wool is very elastic as it can stretch up to 50% of its original length. So wool fabrics do not lose their shape or wrinkle easily.

Wool can also absorb up to 40% of its weight in water, meaning that clothes made of wool absorb body sweat, release it and dry by themselves.

It is also a very durable material, and it is resistant to flame without chemical treatment as each fiber contains moisture.

For all those reasons, wool has been used in various industries, the main one being the fashion industry. It is also commonly found in bedding, carpets, insulation, home textiles, and even in the protective garments worn by firefighters!

How is it produced?

We can find the most common wool from sheep, but we can also produce wool from many other animals, such as alpacas, Angora rabbits, camels, Cashmere and Angora goats…

Many breeds of sheep are also used, resulting in various types of wool fabrics, like Merino wool or Shetland wool. Some fabrics are even made from lambswool!

To produce wool, sheep are shorn once a year: the shearer shaves the sheep with a shearing machine and ends up with up to eight to twelve pounds of fleece.

The fibers are then divided depending on how thick and long they are, and they are washed to remove dirt, vegetable matter, grease and other impurities.

Clean wools are mixed together to help unify their colors and quality, and they are ready to be dyed. Wool can actually be dyed at different moments during the production process (at the fiber, yarn, fabric or garment stage).

The next step is the carding process, during which the wool passes through a system of wire rollers that help straighten the fibers and form a thin web of aligned fibers. This thin layer of material is divided into fine strips that are scoured, rolled and stretched into slivers.

If the fibers are shorter and coarser, the machinery twists the slivers into ropelike strands and winds them into balls that are spun into woolen yarns. If the fibers are longer and finer, the slivers go to the combing and drawing steps and are spun into worsted yarn.

Afterward, the yarns are either woven by interlacing two sets of yarn at right angles or knitted by interlocking rows of yarn and loops. The weaving and the knitting processes leave us with a very large variety of different wool items.

Finally, wool products undergo an inspection, and manufacturers can put them through different procedures to improve the wool quality. Depending on their end-use, several chemical treatments may also be applied to the fabrics.

How sustainable and ethical is wool?

Is it a sustainable material?

Since wool is made from sheep or other animals, it is a natural material. So we can easily think that it is sustainable, but it is not that simple…

As long as there are sheep on our planet, humans will be able to produce wool, so it is a renewable material, and it is also one of the most recycled fibers in the world.

Wool is usually biodegradable, so you can compost your wool clothing at the end of its life, as it will decompose naturally after only a few months. However, a large proportion of wool products are labeled "SUPERWASH", which means that they were treated so that they can be machine-washed. When it is the case, wool is contaminated with synthetic chemicals and is thus no longer biodegradable.

Moreover, wool products usually contain very harsh chemicals, dyes and finishes that can be released into the environment at different stages of the products' lifecycle.

Another major issue is that wool is the highest greenhouse gas emitter during the fiber production phase compared to all other fabrics. Indeed, sheep are ruminants, meaning they release huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere. And we need to remember that methane has 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide!

Producing wool requires a lot less energy and has a lower carbon footprint than many other fabrics. But animal farming requires huge portions of land to be kept clear to make room for grazing.

Even though sheep can be raised on non-arable land, deforestation is very common: trees are cut down, which releases carbon dioxide and causes many environmental issues, such as erosion, biodiversity loss, and increased soil salinity.

The increasing flock sizes also lead to overgrazing in certain regions of the world, like Patagonia. This contributes to the desertification of already fragile landscapes and the displacement of native wildlife.

To sum up, while wool has some environmental benefits, I don't think it is a sustainable fabric.

How ethical is it?

Since it is a fabric made from animal fibers, wool production comes with different ethical issues.

One of the most striking ones is that sheep often endure painful and inhumane practices, such as mulesing, tail docking and castration, generally done without pain relief when the lambs are only a few weeks old.

Tail docking, meaning cutting the sheep's tail, and mulesing are practiced to prevent flystrike, which happens when flies lay their eggs and burrow into the sheep's flesh. Banned in New Zealand but still practiced in other parts of the world, mulesing involves cutting skin from the lamb's buttock.

As you can imagine, such practices are very bloody and painful for the animal. Flystrike can actually be avoided without harming the sheep, yet mulesing and tail docking are still very common in the wool industry.

There is evidence of other inhumane practices that sheep and other animals must endure. A few years ago, a video was released showing an angora farm in China, where angora rabbits were ripped out of their wool so brutally that we could hear them scream in agony.

The organization collected video footage showing workers in a South African angora goat farm lifting goats by the tail and dragging them by their legs. They were also caught cutting the throats of fully conscious animals.

Workers in the wool industry are usually paid very poorly and by the volume. It means that they need to shear the animals as quickly as possible. This not only shows how stressful their working conditions are, but the extreme working rhythm contributes to the mistreatment of animals: they are often cut so deeply that they need to be stitched.

Not to mention the fact that animals are kept in increasingly cramped conditions, they are often sprayed with insecticides, which contain hazardous chemicals for the farmers and the sheep.

Sheep are generally killed for their flesh as soon as their wool quality degrades. Before they are slaughtered, they are sent on live export ships where they must endure conditions so bad that many die of starvation, stress and heat.

Another unethical issue is that, since sheep are usually bred to be born in the winter, millions of lambs die each year because of the cold, neglect and starvation. Breeders also selectively bred sheep to have more twins and triplets. Those tend to be weaker and die more easily, and their mother is more likely to have birthing complications.

All those harmful practices are common in the wool industry, making it a very unethical material.

Better alternatives to conventional wool

We saw the impact wool production has on the environment, workers and animals. However, there are different types of wool, depending on which animal produces it.

It is difficult to determine which type of wool is more sustainable, because there is little data on the topic. But a few types of wool are known to be better than others.

Chianti cashmere is a more sustainable and ethical cashmere. It is made from goats raised in Tuscany on abandoned and weed-covered lands to prevent overgrazing. The cashmere goats are not shorn but combed painlessly, and the farmers use predator-friendly tools to coexist with wolves.

Alpaca wool is also believed to be more sustainable than other types of wool. Mainly bred in the Peruvian Andes, raising alpacas is more gentle on the environment. These animals can live on poor pastures, and they have cushioned paws that do not damage the soil.

Alpacas also eat grass by cutting it instead of pulling it out by the roots, thus allowing it to grow again. They need very little food and water to live, and they produce enough wool to make four or five sweaters per year, compared to only once every four years for cashmere goats.

However, while alpaca wool is more sustainable than other types of wool and it is less prone to mass-scale farming, workers on a Peruvian farm were caught brutalizing alpacas and treating them very rough. It’s worth being aware that typically when these fibres are coming from a commercialised industry, the animals are slaughtered when they are no longer profitable, just like with sheep.

It shows that, even though some types of wool are more sustainable than others, it is difficult to know for sure if they are more ethical and if animals are treated well. So, how to find more ethical wool?

Wool certifications and standards

Two main certifications aim to ensure the fair treatment of animals in the wool industry: the Responsible Wool Standard and the ZQ Merino Standard. However, they are far from being perfect!

Both standards prohibit mulesing, but they allow tail docking, and they do not require pain relief to do so. They also do not prevent the practice of winter lambing.

What’s more, while neither the ZQ Merino Standard nor the Responsible Wool Standard allows selling sheep into the live export trade, they can be sold to slaughterhouses.

You can find a few other certifications, but like for these two, there is room for improvement.

Organic Wool

Organic wool seems to be a much more sustainable and ethical choice compared to the alternatives mentioned previously.

In GOTS-certified organic farms, sheep are allowed to roam and graze freely all year-round in very large portions of land, and they are treated a lot more humanely, with mulesing being prohibited. Tail docking is also prohibited shorter than the caudal fold, and precautions must be taken to minimize pain. Of course, it is not perfect, but organic wool is still better than non-organic one!

Organic sheep cannot be sprayed with insecticides, and chemicals are highly restricted. All livestock feed, forage and bedding must also be certified organic, and diseases are treated with a preventative approach, so antibiotics are not routinely used.

However, GOTS certified wool systems are permitted to slaughter sheep, and while they cannot be certified while mulesing sheep, tail docking is accepted, even without pain relief. This is a serious welfare issue for lambs.

Recycled Wool

Recycled wool is probably the best alternative to conventional wool (if we exclude other fabrics entirely).

Recycled wool involves reusing old wool garments and turning them into new products. Doing so diverts used wool fabrics from the landfill, reducing land use. In addition, it minimizes the use of chemicals and doesn’t contribute as much to environmental pollution.

Compared to virgin wool, producing one kilogram of recycled wool helps save 11 kg of CO2 and 500 liters of water. Recycling wool also does not cause any ethical issues because no animal is harmed or treated poorly in the process.

There are several certification labels you can look for if you want to make sure that you are purchasing recycled wool, the most famous one being the Global Recycled Standard.

And remember that buying second-hand wool is another way to “recycle” this fabric!

Conclusion

Thanks to its many beneficial properties, wool has been used for millennia, and it continues to be a popular fabric in the fashion industry in particular.

However, it is far from being sustainable, mainly because of the huge methane emissions produced by sheep. Wool production also comes with different ethical issues, especially regarding animal welfare.

Fortunately, some alternatives are more eco-friendly and ethical than conventional wool, even though most are not perfect. The best option seems to be recycled wool.

About the Author

Eva Astoul is a French freelance writer, specializing in content related to sustainability, simple living, and a growth-focused healthy lifestyle. She runs her own blog, Green With Less, to inspire people to live a more minimalist and sustainable life.