According to an international study on consumer attitudes towards textile materials and sustainability, 86% of consumers consider wood a sustainable textile raw material, more so than cotton. Still, only one third is familiar with wood-based apparel. Consumers think brand sustainability image is the single most important sign of a conscious buying decision.
The study was made in Finland, Sweden, Germany, France and the US in the spring of 2020. Wood was found the most sustainable out of currently available textile raw materials. The highest sustainability rating over wood was given to emerging, waste-based raw materials. Nordic respondents were most pro wood; 90% of Finns and 91% of Swedes consider wood a sustainable textile raw material. Reasons for not finding wood-based textiles appealing were related to both environmental reasons and qualities of the textile material.
When the Spinnova fibre, a Finnish wood based textile fibre, is made of farmed wood, the raw material value chain is CO2 positive. This means the trees are a larger carbon sink than the lumbering, pulping and logistics combined emit. Therefore concerns over excessive lumbering and native forest use are mostly unnecessary, says Spinnova’s CEO and co-founder Janne Poranen.
According to the study, harmful chemicals are seen as the worst environmental problem of the textile industry; 64% considering this an issue. 60% also associated excessive water use a problem of the industry, followed by ocean microplastics, waste and CO2 emissions.
When asked what factors make up a sustainable image of a product, brand sustainability image got the most replies, 54%. Only 29% of respondents thought high price is a sign of sustainability. Environmental certificates were considered a indicator of sustainability by 48%.
This supports the idea that brand owners should be as transparent as possible about their sustainability efforts and even the environmental impacts of individual products, Poranen suggests.
Despite the positive take on wood, only a third of all respondents had experience of wood-based textiles, although man-made cellulosic fibres have been around for decades. However, 55% did consider the idea of wood-based apparel appealing. When asked the same question regarding apparel made of plant-based waste, as much as 76% said they would find it an appealing choice. Surprisingly, only a third of respondents said textile materials affect their buying decisions.
There was a lot of country variance in the attitudes, for example towards crude oil as a textile raw material. Whereas 1% of Finns thought it’s a sustainable raw material, the corresponding proportion of Americans was 26%. Also, 65% of French respondents think cotton is a sustainable raw material, whereas only 29% of Finns think so.
The Study
The study, ”Consumer perceptions of the sustainability of the clothing industry and textile fibres”, was made as thesis work for the University of Jyväskylä by environmental management student Fia Husu. It was run as a digital survey by Norstat in Finland, Sweden, Germany, France and the United States. The sampling was over 300 responses per country, a total of 1,572 responses. The age sampling of the study was 15-40 years.
Annually, some 185 million tonnes of wood pulp is produced globally (Confederation of European Paper Industries, CEPI). Some 60% of that goes to packaging, 30% for printing and writing paper, and the rest on tissue paper and smaller volume, added value products like textile fibre.
The volume of wood-based textile fibres is 6.7 million tonnes per annum (Textile Exchange), equaling the amount of chemically dissolved pulp, the raw material of all man-made cellulosic fibres. These don’t include our fibre, as our feedstock is mechanically ground pulp called micro fibrillated cellulose, an even more sustainable choice.
Now here’s the beef: the 6.7 million tonnes equals 3.6% of the 185 million tonnes of pulp produced globally. I bet you would have guessed more than that. Even if this number grew – which is desirable, as wood-based textiles help mitigate climate change the most – this is likely to be compensated by the declining use of print paper (-9% in 2019 compared to 2018).
Even if paper volumes grew (unlikely) or stagnated, we would still be on the safe side. You see, a misconception we also see is that, to supply for the cellulosic textile fibre market, we need to take down native forest. This is partly true, but the most responsible choice for textile raw material supply is farmed wood, such as fast growing eucalyptus, that is harvested for pulping purposes only. A big proportion of man-made cellulosics, such as lyocell, is made of this. Micro fibrillated eucalyptus will also be the raw material of Spinnova’s commercial fibre production.
Even if we were to farm more wood, it’s not bad news for the Planet, if the wood is sourced from a responsibly managed forest like ours. These come with an FSC and/or PEFC certification, which is likely to be shown on the end product. A professionally managed, planted forest is built on depleted pastureland, around native forest areas in a mosaic fashion, respecting biodiversity. Plantations are often also CO2 positive, which means that they capture more carbon dioxide than the harvesting, pulping and logistics of the pulp production combined emit.
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