Mass-market retailer H&M made the news last weekend when the New York Times reported that the 34th Street H&M store threw away clothing that went unsold. But they don’t just throw it in the trash, which was bad enough; employees were slashing the garments to make them unwearable. Between the massive amounts of waste and the fact that these perfectly good items could be recycled make this entire practice shameful.

As a result of the article, H&M quickly came out and said that they would stop mutilating and throwing away unsold items at the New York store. The store said their policy is to donate the clothing to charity.

affordable sustainability

With all the news about the slashed clothing, not much attention was paid to another bit of H&M news. Last week they announced that with their spring line they would introduce items made from sustainable fabrics. The company’s new eco-friendly Garden Collection will have dresses, shirts, and other offerings made from organic cotton or linen, recycled plastic bottles and Tencel.

Clothing made from sustainable fabrics is often quite expensive, but H&M’s Garden Collection is keeping in line with the store’s “affordable fashion” pricing. The most expensive item are two spring dresses that go for $49.95. Many of the items are under $20.00. For example, the tunic above is only $14.95.

We think this is a great start–a major retailer offering eco-friendly fashion for a great price. Of course, we’d like to see H&M review the entire life cycle of their clothing to ensure they are only making as many garments as will sell, implementing water- and energy-saving processes, and then properly managing unsold inventory to ensure it’s reused or recycled.

While we’re at it, the entire fashion industry should consider their sustainability practices.  And as consumers, we must vote with our checkbook and buy from retailers who are making an effort to create a more sustainable world.

Will you buy any of H&M’s Garden Collection?

photo credit: h&m

As we were checking out this morning’s blog posts, we saw this over at Treehugger: The US Consumes 1500 Plastic Water Bottles Every Second, a fact by Watershed.

We knew American’s were a plastic-loving bunch, but this number really struck home. Not only for its excess, but for the opportunity all those plastic bottles represent. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that only about 20 percent of those bottles make their way into the recycling bin.

In this economy, just think of the new jobs could be created if  we focused on this “resource.” Here’s a sample of what we can make by recycling those 47,335,389,000 plastic bottles used each year:

Clearly, we need to significantly reduce our use of plastic bottles. But there are already billions and billions of them in our landfills. Realistically, we’re not going to end our addition cold turkey either. We’d like to see more businesses use recycled plastic, especially for clothing and carpet.

What would you do with all those discarded plastic water bottles?

While there are seemingly endless choices for sustainable fabrics, from organic cotton to bamboo to hemp, recycled PET is arguably the most sustainable—but may be the most misunderstood as well. Today’s glossary entry is dedicated to giving this rising star its due and clarifying misconceptions about the process from bottle to your closet.

Most plastic bottles we consume are made from a material called PET (polyethylene terephthalate). You likely have several iterations of PET in your home now: from water and soda bottles to detergent containers. In fact, any bottle marked “1” for recycling is PET, making it the most recycled plastic in the world.

Given the abundance and cost effectiveness of raw materials, using recycled PET for clothing is becoming increasingly popular in the green textile industry. But how do old bottles become clothing? The process is relatively simple: Once a PET bottle is recycled, it’s sent to a processing plant where it’s washed and shredded into flakes. The cleaned flakes are melted down and shaped into long, thin fibers. The fiber is then spun into yarn. The end product is 100 percent recycled polyester. By using recycled polyester instead of new petroleum, energy consumption is reduced by 60 percent, without causing additional harm to the environment.

No other fabric in the world is produced with less environmental impact.

Recycled polyester can be manufactured into a myriad of different fabrics, but because of its antimicrobial properties, wicking power, and breathability, recycled PET is most often made into active wear or t-shirts. Patagonia and Nau are leading the charge in recycled PET active wear. Our friends at A Lot to Say proudly adopted recycled PET for their all of t-shirts, and added AirDye to the process to further reduce their environmental impact.

photo credit: holeymoon/flickr

More and more broadly available, recycled PET is a growing trend in eco-friendly fabrics. We’re taking a look at the process and advantages of recycled plastic fiber.

Read part 1: how plastic trash becomes fabric

landfill to retail

Once a drink bottle is collected, it is sent off to a processing facility. There, the bottle is cut into small pieces called flake and then washed. PET flake is then melted into a liquid and shaped into a long, thin fiber. These fibers are spun into yarn in the same manner as materials such as cotton, wool, and other natural products. These yarns are now 100 percent recycled polyester.

By using recycled plastic instead of new petroleum, over 60 percent of the energy is saved without any additional harm to the environment. No other fiber is produced with less impact.

Recycled polyester can also help the environment through the use of AirDye® technology. This process uses no water and much less energy to add color and designs to the fabric. Conventional dye and printing methods pollute over 15 gallons of water for a simple t-shirt in addition to introducing a number of hazardous chemicals and by-products into the environment. AirDye technology makes a great looking product without all those problems and the color lasts as long as the garment.

Manufacturers of apparel and other products are beginning to look at recycled polyester as not just the best alternative to natural fibers, but a better choice. This material is available, easy to work with, affordable, and provides consumers with the better environmental product.

Better for the Planet and Better for You

Another area where recycled polyester can help make a positive change is in the use and care of a garment made from it. A cotton shirt holds water. A lot of it. And if you are wearing it during a workout or caught in the rain, you know what we’re talking about. Polyester sheds the water. This is makes it more comfortable to wear. But consider what happens in the wash. A shirt that holds less water is easier to clean and dry. It takes less than half the energy and water to wash a shirt made from polyester as it does one made of cotton.

Polyester is also tougher than cotton. A polyester shirt lasts longer; up to five times longer. A longer life means buying fewer shirts, which means less resources consumed. Not to mention the money you save.

Lastly, what do you do with your shirt when you can no longer use it? The first and most obvious choice is to pass it on to someone who can. So, a shirt that lasts longer is even more important. But, what then? The ability to recycle that same shirt into yet more RPET and recycled polyester and back into a new garment is key. No products going to landfill.

How many times can a product come back again and again? We honestly don’t know–generations, at the very least. This brings new meaning to the term “hand me down.”

Recycled Polyester and You

Each shirt, bedspread, or handbag we make is one less made from the earth’s very limited resources. We know that not everything a person buys can be made from recycled trash. But for those products that can be, and that not only work as well, but even better; it seems obvious to us what to do. And we think that many of you agree with us.

how plastic trash becomes fabric

In today’s world of limited resources and ever increasing demand for sustainable product alternatives, we are all looking for ways to do our part and to make a positive choice for the environment. Our clothes are often overlooked as a way to make a difference.

When we are shopping, we often look for labels that say “organic” or “renewable,” but what do these mean? Are they the best choice for people who care about their world?

Cotton is the world’s largest non-food crop, estimated at 166 million bales in 2007 alone, according to the National Cotton Council of America. The use of pesticides and fertilizers are usually thought of as it’s only negative effect and that generates the demand for “organic” products. But in reality, the land use, water consumption, and all the energy and chemistry required to turn cotton fiber into fabric are the real problems. Other natural fibers such as hemp and bamboo may not require a lot of irrigation, but need even more processing to make the fibers soft and usable.

Should we be using such enormous amounts of the planet’s limited resources to grow these products if there is a better alternative?

In 2006, the United States sent over 2 million tons of plastic drink bottles to landfill. These bottles, identified by the number “1” in the recycle symbol are made of the plastic called PET. This material is the most recycled plastic on earth and can be processed in almost any location. Recycled PET, also called RPET, has a potential harvest of billions of pounds of material per year and is nearly free. But what can we do with it?

Recent innovations have created processes which allow companies to take discarded PET and turn it into soft, durable, and highly sustainable fabrics for a wide range of uses. You may know this material as polyester, but with uses such as micro-fiber, performance fabrics, even warm fleece, it’s come a long way since the days of disco suits and double-knit slacks. The use of recycled PET is a fast growing industry that has the potential to lessen our dependence on limited natural resources while offering great new products.

Fabric mills today turn the RPET yarns into amazing fabrics. These fabrics have characteristics that not only keep you warm and dry, but can wick away moisture, release stains, eliminate odors, kill germs, and even protect the lives of fire fighters and law enforcement. The ability for polyester to “breath” allowing moisture to escape while keeping you comfortable is revolutionizing the sports apparel industry. But at the same time, they can be softer than silk, or tougher than canvas.

Tomorrow – from landfill to retail.

photo source: MC =) / flickr