Blue planet, green ideas | Reduce the ecological footprint of textiles

A slack period due to the pandemic and rolls of fabric gathering dust: it took the children’s clothing company Deux par Deux no more to make puppets. Aware of the pollution generated by the textile industry, entrepreneurs are trying to reduce their ecological footprint. Overview.

Florence Morin-Martel
Press

“It’s on a small scale,” says Zacharie Elmaleh, co-owner of Deux par Deux. The Quebec company has handcrafted around a hundred puppets such as Romilda la Renarde and Antonin le Lapin. “We had lots of rolls of fabric that we had been carrying around for years, so we thought we were going to do a concept for [les] reuse, ”he says.

As with many businesses, the pandemic has slowed the operations of Deux par Deux. The project of puppets made of recycled fabric was born in order to avoid cutting the positions of long-time employees. “It’s a bit of a family here,” says Claude Diwan, the other co-owner, looking at his son Zacharie Elmaleh.

As soon as they were put up for sale on the company’s website, all the puppets found a buyer in less than 48 hours. “But it is not a crazy success”, shade M^me Diwan, which recalls the small number of puppets created.

From bottle to fabric

If the puppets are just a project “made for fun”, Claude Diwan believes that the true environmental gesture of Deux par Deux is to use fabric made from used plastic bottles in its clothing collections.

Half of the snowsuits, the company’s “flagship product”, are made from this fiber, underlines Zacharie Elmaleh, pointing to the brightly colored clothing behind him.

The recycled synthetic fiber provides the same quality as found in other snowsuits from Deux par Deux, known to be warm and resistant.

In recent years, the use of recycled synthetic fibers has gained popularity among clothing companies. While it is laudable to want to recycle these materials, we must not forget that they are made from petroleum, says Marie-France Turcotte, professor in the department of strategy, social and environmental responsibility at the University of Quebec in Montreal. .

With each wash, plastic particles break off and end up in the ocean, adds Alice Friser, professor of management and social responsibility at the University of Quebec in Outaouais. “They end up in rivers, in the ocean and even in what we are going to drink,” she sums up. Fortunately, a snowsuit is rarely washed, unlike many other clothes.

Cotton and water consumption

In addition to synthetic fibers, each material used by industry has an environmental impact. ” No solution is carbon neutral, ”says Alice Friser. To limit oil consumption, some companies are turning to natural fibers, such as cotton.

“Cotton is also problematic,” says M^me Curl. It is one of the most water-intensive crops in the world. ”Not to mention the chemical fertilizers often used, which make the land non-cultivable after a few years.

While some types of cotton consume less water, the fact remains that this material requires a lot of energy during drying, continues Alice Friser. In this regard, synthetic fibers are gaining points, maintains Marie-France Turcotte. “They will dry faster, and some can be very strong,” she argues.

Bamboo: a glimmer of hope

There is one silver lining, however: synthetic fibers made from bamboo. In addition to avoiding the use of petroleum, these fabrics are made from plants that grow quickly and use less water. These fibers also dry faster, explains Alice Friser.

But again, these fabrics are not a miracle solution, since their problem lies in the making. “The processes with which they are transformed generate a lot of greenhouse gases and can be toxic”, warns M^me Curl.

Buy less, buy better

If there is no such thing as a totally green choice, the best solution is to buy less quality clothes and buy better. Thrift stores are a “very interesting” solution, especially since they have experienced tremendous success since the pandemic, underlines M^me Curl. Snowsuits can be passed on from one child to another, among siblings or between cousins ​​and friends.

Used clothing is so popular that supermarkets like Simons now have to offer it on their shelves. “The problem today is the lack of manpower to sort all these clothes,” says Alice Friser. They continue to accumulate in bags. ”

With the huge amount of clothes produced by express fashion (fast fashion), second-hand stores cannot mop up all the excess. “A good part of it ends up in the dump,” says Marie-France Turcotte.