National
Clothesline
Drycleaning benefits the environment
While competing interests often debate
the relative environmental benefits of various drycleaning and
wetcleaning systems, the same comparison is rarely made with
the biggest competitor to professional cleaning, namely the
home washer and dryer. Now to the debate table comes the
International Committee of Textile Care (CINET), a European
association that represents the drycleaning industry. A CINET
study that compares professional wetcleaning and drycleaning to
domestic washing was presented during a conference at Expo
Detergo in Milan, Italy, last month.
The CINET study calculated the amount of
resources consumed in drycleaning a kilogram (approximately 2.2
pounds) of clothes and compared that to cleaning the same
weight in a home washer and dryer. If you guessed that the
professionally cleaned clothes used fewer resources —
electricity, water, and detergent — you guessed right.
You would also not be surprised to know that the drycleaning
process produced a small fraction of the amount of wastewater
per kilogram. CO2 emissions were also less in the drycleaning
process. The only area in which drycleaning out-consumed home
laundering was in the use of solvent — none is used in
the home processes, of course.
In what might be considered more of an
apples-to-apples comparison, CINET also calculated the
resources used in professional wetcleaning and home washing.
Here again the professional process came out on top, using half
as much water, about one-fifth as much detergent and a bit less
electricity.
CINET concluded, “an expansion of
the apparel volume cleaned by a professional drycleaning
instead of domestic washing and drying will have an
advantageous effect on the total consumption of scarce natural
resources.” Thus, professional cleaning is not only
better for clothes, it’s better for the environment.
Environmentalists, government regulators and garment makers
should be encouraging professional cleaning if for no other
reason than to benefit the environment.
Will green be the next fashion rage?
If we are what we eat, and clothes make
the man, then what should we make of the fact that clothing
designers are turning sweet potatoes and pineapples into
environmentally-friendly fashions? Recently, the third edition
of The Ethical Fashion Show was hosted in Paris, the fashion
capital of the world. The idea behind the show is to gather
together forward-thinking designers who are willing to merge
fashion with environmental awareness in order to make the world
cleaner and more tastefully-attired — all at the same
time.
At the latest show, Les Racines du Ciel,
a small clothing manufacturer out of France, adapted ideas from
traditional Chinese practices where silk is lacquered with a
sweet potato paste and buried in the ground. According to
Natalie Goyette, the company’s development director, the
silk is then rinsed 30 times and comes out with a beautiful
soft off-black color. The sweet potato dye also makes the silk
water repellent and able to absorb perspiration well. The silk
is eventually sent to a company in Brittany where it is used to
make gowns that are soft to the touch, yet resemble leather.
Also on display by Les Racines du Ciel were silk scarves that
had been dyed with kakishibu, a Japanese fruit. At another
exhibit, Grace Trance Designs from San Francisco unveiled
yellowish skirts make of pineapple fibers called pina cloth.
The color comes from pina leaves, inspired by a Philippines
tradition where they are used to make barong shirts.
Other fashions were made by less edible,
but still unusual, materials including bamboo. Such practices
seem odd now, but that might change, according to Eric Olsen,
the head of a San Francisco-based consultancy group for
clothing majors. He said to the Agence France-Presse:
“Twenty years ago, organic food was made by small
alternative companies. Today, health food in America is
mainstream. Everyone is reading labels. More health food is
made by agro giants than by niche market producers. This is the
question for the ethical fashion business: who will be able to
reach the mass public?”
Of course, it could be a while before
such garments enter the mainstream of American department
stores and drycleaning plants, but environmentalists continue
to make inroads in the country’s conscience. For now,
drycleaning solvents are the target of many green groups, but
tomorrow, it may be the clothes being cleaned by those
solvents, as well.