Synthetic textiles cannot biodegrade, creating waste that disturbs the natural balance of our planet. The mass produced by humans now exceeds by weight that of all living biomass on Earth. So it is crucial that the materials we use can return to nature, completing the cycle. Clothing and textiles are usually sewn with polyester – a non-natural – yarn, fabrics are very often blended with synthetic fibers, sometimes contain other chemicals and are almost always dyed with chemical non-natural dyes. All this ensures that composting or biodegrading our textile waste is currently not possible.
Compostable materials break down into non-toxic natural carbon components that enrich our soil. Natural fiber materials that have not been treated with harmful chemicals can easily circulate through ecosystems just like other organic materials. With compostability as a crucial focus to close the soil-to-soil cycle, all aspects of textile and apparel design and manufacturing must be reconsidered, including the dyeing process. In the current system, chemical dyeing of textiles is one of the most polluting steps. Only natural fiber materials and products free of harmful synthetics and chemicals can be seamlessly integrated into our ecosystems.
Fibershed is a global movement of local communities developing regional fiber systems that build soil and protect the health of our biosphere. Around the world, regional Fibersheds are working to rebuild local textile value networks with the goal of ensuring the compostability of all locally produced and manufactured textiles and clothing.
Fibershed emphasizes that chemical dyeing of textiles is one of the most polluting steps. To show that it can be done differently, based on locally available raw materials that contribute to biodiversity, Fibershed NL has launched the ‘Herb to Color’ project in collaboration with Wilder Land, Roua Atelier and Hul le Kes.
This project aims to develop natural pigments from native herbs that enhance biodiversity. Although large-scale application of natural materials and dyes still presents some challenges, there is a growing demand for them from the public, designers and truly environmentally conscious brands. They want to leave industrial uniformity behind and embrace the distinctive signature that nature can add to their designs.
Also at the mother of all Fibersheds in the U.S., compostability is becoming a lens through which they can understand parameters for healthy textile products, Heather Podoll said:
“Since June 2022, Fibershed has conducted textile compost trials at our learning center in Point Reyes Station, California, USA. Working with Harvest & Mill, a local clothing manufacturer that uses untreated and naturally dyed organic cotton textiles to make their clothing, we incorporated their textile production waste into our compost piles. This is to demonstrate how easily cotton breaks down into compost and how we can also feed the soil of our gardens in this way.”
Heather Podoll, Partnership & Advocacy Coordinator, Fibershed.org
Since textiles will be a new raw material for the compost industry, it is important to establish clear standards for compostable textiles to ensure the quality of the compost. Work is underway to compile these compost textile standards. In 2023 Standards Australia was one of the initiators, under the leadership of Stephanie Devine of ‘A Very Good Bra’ a first important step has been taken. Fibershed will also collaborate on this by developing a two-year textile compost research project with the University of California, Merced, and Bowles Farming Company.
What if clothing is produced locally, nurtured and, after long use, nourishes our soil as compost? Let’s grow a new regenerative and biosphere-based textile system together and create a diverse range of high-quality compostable textiles and clothing!
This article was commissioned Denim Privé for their in-house magazine The Collective, in the context of the launch of the undyed compostable jeans that they developed in collaboration with Simply Suzette. Written by Stijntje Jaspers, Author of the book Goede Gespreksstof and founder of Fibershed Netherlands, in collaboration with Heather Podol Partnership & Advocacy Coordinator, Fibershed.org