A Fashion Future: Fibre Diet

Klepp, Ingun Grimstad; Haugrønning, Vilde; Laitala, Kirsi; Sigaard, Anna Schytte; Tobiasson, Tone Skårdal

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-88300-3_7

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 21 publications

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“…Synthetic fibers, such as polyester, elastane, acrylic, and polyamide, are not biodegradable and synthetic microfibers and textile waste are increasingly going astray in nature. The textiles contain environmental toxins added during the processing of fiber and fabric and through microfiber shedding synthetic textiles contribute up to 35% of the released microplastics which have been shown to end up in our lungs, oceans, animals, and even placentas [7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. There is increasing knowledge and concern about these microplastics and in particular their negative effects on health and the environment [17,18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing Plastic in Consumer Goods: Opportunities for Coarser Wool

Berg¹,

Klepp²,

Sigaard³

et al. 2023

Fibers

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Production and use of plastic products have drastically increased during the past decades and their environmental impacts are increasingly spotlighted. At the same time, coarse wool, a by-product of meat and dairy production, goes largely unexploited in the EU. This paper asks why more coarse wool is not used in consumer goods, such as acoustic and sound-absorbing products, garden products, and sanitary products. This is answered through a SWOT analysis of results from a desktop study and interviews with producers of these products made from wool, as well as policy documents relating to wool, waste, textiles, and plastic. Findings show that on a product level, the many inherent properties of wool create opportunities for product development and sustainability improvements and that using the coarser wool represents an opportunity for replacing plastics in many applications as well as for innovation. This is, however, dependent on local infrastructure and small-scale enterprises, but as such, it creates opportunities for local value chains, value creation, and safeguarding of local heritage. The shift to small-scale and local resource utilization requires systemic change on several levels: Here the findings show that policy can incentivize material usage transitions, but that these tools are little employed currently.

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