Fibers

Friday, March 04, 2011



Get your daily dose of fiber.  Fiber is the raw material of every piece of cloth and clothing around you; so if you are wearing clothes, you’ve got fiber on right now.  There are four main types of fiber: animal, plant, natural based synthetic, and petrochemical based synthetic.  There is a mineral fiber – asbestos- but we don’t wear that nowadays.  All types of fiber have positive aspects to their use as well as negative aspects.  The world of fiber is a worldwide marketplace that is more open today than at any other time in history.


The range of animal fiber sources is astounding!  We readily think of warm wool from sheep and soft, luscious alpaca fiber, but we also get textile (cloth) fiber from bison, rabbits, goats, dogs, silkworms, and spiders, among others.  These fibers come from the hairs or fur that cover animals, or spun from by insects as cocoons or webs.  Animal fiber is warm and beautiful, and allows the body to breathe.  However, it can be delicate and a little particular about washing.  Let’s talk about two of the animal fibers we encounter often.

Sheep’s wool is the most common animal fiber that we find.  Historically, it is the oldest cloth fiber that we find, with examples of wool felt being 40,000 years old!  Native to Asia, sheep were domesticated 9,000-11,000 years ago, among the oldest of domesticated animals.  There are at least 200 breeds of sheep, growing a wide range of wools from coarse carpet wool to the finest wool for clothes that are worn next to baby’s skin.  Peruvian Highland Sheep are crossbred from two different breeds of sheep for wool that has both softness and strength.  Wool is an incredible insulator, staying warm even when wet.  The best part about wool is that it is incredibly sustainable; it grows back every year!  

Alpaca is the second most common animal fiber we find in warm clothing.  It is even warmer than wool.  Alpacas come from the same family as llamas and camels, and are native to the Andes mountain range in South America.  Domesticated for thousands of years, alpacas have always been used for their incredibly soft, warm, and lustrous hair.  While increasingly common in the United States, most alpacas are raised in South America.  They are calm, gentle herd animals that are sheared once a year like sheep – so the fiber is likewise very sustainable.  They do have the added benefit of being extremely cute.


Plant fibers come in two main varieties – fluff from seedpods, or long, stringy fibers from stems.  We find plant fibers in most of our clothing, as it is cool and comfy.  Cotton is by far the most common clothing fiber in the world, with other plant fibers coming from flax (linen), nettles, and hemp.  Seed fiber is soft and fluffy – think your favorite cotton T-shirt.  Stem fiber is strong and lustrous, but lacks some of the softness of cotton.  

Think about what you are wearing right now.  T-shirt- cotton.  Jeans – cotton.  Socks – most likely cotton.  Crisp, clean chinos – cotton.  The sheets you put on the bed – cotton.  Grandma’s quilt- cotton.  Cotton is the king of modern clothing. It is soft, washable, and easy to care for.  Native to the Americas, Africa, India and Pakistan, cotton comes in several species that all have different properties.  The oldest cultivation of cotton is dated to 8000 years ago in Mexico, with the next oldest being in the Indus Valley one thousand years later.  Cotton fibers come from the seedpod of the plant and are used by it to disperse seeds.  The biggest problem with cotton, besides the fact that it can shrink up to 10% when washed incorrectly, is that it is a heavy water and pesticide consumer.  Luckily, there are varieties that are a little more eco-friendly.  Tangüis cotton is one of these and happens to make up 75% of cotton grown in Peru – requiring much less water than other cotton varieties.

All natural based synthetic fibers start with material found in nature.  There are fibers that are created from chemically treating the cellulose from plants – rayon, lyocell, modal.   There are fibers that come from chemically treating the proteins from animal products – casein from milk, chitin from crab and shrimp shells, soysilk is a byproduct of tofu manufacturing.  There is also one fiber that uses the carbon atoms found in the sugar of corn.  Most of these fibers mimic natural ones, and can be less expensive than their natural counterparts, or can blend the properties of natural fibers.  They are also older than we realize – manufacturing these fibers started in 1891.



All of these synthetics start with petroleum as a raw material.  With a variety of complex refining and manufacturing methods come a variety of fibers – acrylic, polyester and nylon being the most familiar.  Most of these come from chemical experimentation that started at the beginning of World War I, and are basically fine threads of plastic.  This group of synthetics has the benefits of strength, durability, color retention, and water resistance.  They are often blended with natural fibers to make garments stronger, more colorfast, and easier to wash.  Acrylic particularly can mimic wool, and when blended with animal fibers, makes those garments less fragile and more washable.  Though they have the stigma of crunchy 1970’s pantsuits, these synthetics can make natural fiber garments far more wearable.  Their obvious drawback is their petrochemical origins.  Luckily, more of these fabrics are being made with recycled plastics, saving landfill space.

Fiber and You
We live in a time when the greatest variety in history of fabric and fiber choices is a click away. Now, armed with some basic fiber knowledge, we can go out and make clothing choices that make sense in our lives.  We can choose garments for warmth, looks, quality, and best of all, we can support companies that make these choices easier and more ethical.  Use your power wisely!

Click on this post's title to leave us a comment!



1