N ° 3 0   M A R C H   2 0 2 4

BIOSOURCED

Herewear

Long fibers help minimize the release of micro-plastics.

It is therefore preferable to favor them. They can come from two sources, natural fibers or biosourced fibers, formed from pulp resulting from the transformation of biomass, preferably secondary. Reducing these releases of micro-plastics is an important area for improving the environmental footprint of the textile-clothing sector.

The Herewear community website

BIOMIMETISM

B-Fiber (code name) is a fiber born from observing the structure of polar bear hair by the École des Mines (France) and the University of Zhejiang (China). It is made up of polymer gel cores, which provide protection against the cold, surrounded by thin layers of rubber, to allow the elasticity of the fiber. READ

(DE)POLYMERIZATION

Hyosung (Korea) produces textiles made from 80% fishing nets recovered from the bottom of the oceans and combined with 20% Spandex. Recycling discarded fishing nets requires significant prep work of cleaning, removing algae or animal debris, and selecting fibers not entirely attacked by salt. To do this, Hyosung uses depolymerization techniques before repolymerization. READ

SECTOR

Waiting for new figures. For the textile industry to reduce its production and thus significantly reduce its environmental impact, it is necessary to better understand the annual production of clothing in the world, today estimated at 60-150 billion items of clothing produced each year. By pooling their figures, the very large manufacturers could reason on common bases, but their classic business models (high volumes = low prices) would require them to declare the very large quantities voluntarily produced (= future unsold items to be destroyed or to recycle). READ

ADVOCACY

The En Mode Climat Association brings together actors who wish to promote a new ecological mentality in the sector, initiate collective initiatives, inform on practices and resist economic lobbies in order to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement. An initiative that we applaud at TCBL, because it is based on the observations, dreams and energies of new entrepreneurs in the sector. READ

SUSTAINABILITY

The wardrobe of versatile basics? Since our economic systems are usage oriented, it is preferable to compare the cost to carry of clothes between them, than to compare the purchase price. This cost also implies quality, know-how, durability and the emotional connection with the garment... while the price is the accounting result of linear production (excluding induced effects, because not counted, on ecology, society and the economy).

CLIMATE CHANGE

A new study on sclerosponges (underwater sponges) shows that warming began in 1860. It leads to bringing forward the reference period by 50 years (1800-1850 instead of 1850-1900), and thus increases the global average temperature change by 0.5°C compared to that of the IPCC reports. READ