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Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers with amide backbones, usually linking aliphatic or semi-aromatic groups.
Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the only manufacturing method, and many other methods were later developed to form textile structures based on their intended use. Knitting and non-woven are other popular types of fabric manufacturing. In the contemporary world, textiles satisfy the material needs for versatile applications, from simple daily clothing to bulletproof jackets, spacesuits, and doctor's gowns.
Synthetic fibers or synthetic fibres are fibers made by humans through chemical synthesis, as opposed to natural fibers that are directly derived from living organisms, such as plants or fur from animals. They are the result of extensive research by scientists to replicate naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by extruding fiber-forming materials through spinnerets, forming a fiber. These are called synthetic or artificial fibers. The word polymer comes from a Greek prefix "poly" which means "many" and suffix "mer" which means "single units"..
Although PET is used in several applications, as of 2022 only bottles are collected at a substantial scale. The main motivations have been either cost reduction or recycle content of retail goods. An increasing amount is recycled back into bottles, the rest goes into fibres, film, thermoformed packaging and strapping. After sorting, cleaning and grinding, 'bottle flake' is obtained, which is then processed by either:
Fibre-reinforced plastic is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass, carbon, aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, boron, or asbestos have been used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, though phenol formaldehyde resins are still in use.
The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. The raw material may be natural, or synthetic using products of the chemical industry.
Acrylic fibers are synthetic fibers made from a polymer (polyacrylonitrile) with an average molecular weight of ~100,000, about 1900 monomer units. For a fiber to be called "acrylic" in the US, the polymer must contain at least 85% acrylonitrile monomer. Typical comonomers are vinyl acetate or methyl acrylate. DuPont created the first acrylic fibers in 1941 and trademarked them under the name Orlon. It was first developed in the mid-1940s but was not produced in large quantities until the 1950s. Strong and warm, acrylic fiber is often used for sweaters and tracksuits and as linings for boots and gloves, as well as in furnishing fabrics and carpets. It is manufactured as a filament, then cut into short staple lengths similar to wool hairs, and spun into yarn.
Fiber-reinforced concrete or fibre-reinforced concrete (FRC) is concrete containing fibrous material which increases its structural integrity. It contains short discrete fibers that are uniformly distributed and randomly oriented. Fibers include steel fibers, glass fibers, synthetic fibers and natural fibers – each of which lend varying properties to the concrete. In addition, the character of fiber-reinforced concrete changes with varying concretes, fiber materials, geometries, distribution, orientation, and densities.
"Technical textile" refers to a category of textiles specifically engineered and manufactured to serve functional purposes beyond traditional apparel and home furnishing applications. These textiles are designed with specific performance characteristics and properties, making them suitable for various industrial, medical, automotive, aerospace, and other technical applications. Unlike conventional textiles used for clothing or decoration, technical textiles are optimized to offer qualities such as strength, durability, flame resistance, chemical resistance, moisture management, and other specialized functionalities to meet the specific needs of diverse industries and sectors.
Textile recycling is the process of recovering fiber, yarn, or fabric and reprocessing the material into new, useful products. Textile waste is split into pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and is sorted into five different categories derived from a pyramid model. Textiles can be either reused or mechanically/chemically recycled.
Biotextiles are specialized materials engineered from natural or synthetic fibers. These textiles are designed to interact with biological systems, offering properties such as biocompatibility, porosity, and mechanical strength or are designed to be environmentally friendly for typical household applications. There are several uses for biotextiles since they are a broad category. The most common uses are for medical or household use. However, this term may also refer to textiles constructed from biological waste product. These biotextiles are not typically used for industrial purposes.
Sustainable fashion is a term describing efforts within the fashion industry to reduce its environmental impacts, protect workers producing garments, and uphold animal welfare. Sustainability in fashion encompasses a wide range of factors, including cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions.
Tree-free paper, also known as no tree paper, offers an alternative to traditional wood-pulp paper due to its unique raw material composition. This type of paper is considered more eco-friendly especially when evaluating its entire life cycle.
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be molded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptability, plus a wide range of other properties, such as being lightweight, durable, flexible, and inexpensive to produce, has led to their widespread use. Plastics typically are made through human industrial systems. Most modern plastics are derived from fossil fuel-based chemicals like natural gas or petroleum; however, recent industrial methods use variants made from renewable materials, such as corn or cotton derivatives.
Products made from a variety of materials can be recycled using a number of processes.
Zero-waste fashion refers to a fashion design strategy, that generates little or no textile waste during the production process, particularly focusing on the pattern making and cutting stages. It is a reaction to the high amount of discarded clothing items going into landfills around the world.
Green textiles are fabrics or fibres produced to replace environmentally harmful textiles and minimise the ecological impact. Green textiles are part of the sustainable fashion and eco-friendly trends, providing alternatives to the otherwise pollution-heavy products of conventional textile industry, which is deemed the most ecologically damaging industry.
AMSilk is an industrial supplier of synthetic silk biopolymers. The polymers are biocompatible and breathable. The company was founded in 2008 and has its headquarters at Campus Neuried in Munich. AMSilk is an industrial biotechnology company with a proprietary production process for their silk materials.
Adidas Parley is a collection of clothing and footwear originated from the collaboration of German multinational company Adidas and Parley for the Oceans, an organization that addresses environmental threats towards the oceans, through plastic pollution.
The fashion industry, particularly manufacture and use of apparel and footwear, is a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution. The rapid growth of fast fashion has led to around 80 billion items of clothing being consumed annually, with about 85% of clothes consumed in United States being sent to landfill.
References
- 1 2 Ankeny, Jason (December 2015). "From Shredding to Recycling". Entrepreneur (Cover story). Vol. 43, no. 12. Irvine, California: Entrepreneur Media, Inc. pp. 52–3. Retrieved 26 June 2020– via Internet Archive.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Thomas, Dana (2019). Fashionopolis. New York: Penguin Random House (Penguin Press). pp. 200–2. ISBN 9780735224018.
- ↑ Sangode PB, Metre SG (April 2019). "Green supply chain practices for environmental sustainability: A proposed framework for manufacturing firms". International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development. 9 (2). Trans Stellar: 294 – via Internet Archive.
Adidas has also created Parley swimwear, using recycled fishing nets up-cycled into a technical yarn fiber named Econyl, which offers the same properties as the regular nylon used to make swimwear.
- 1 2 Karthik T, Rathinamoorthy R (2017). "Sustainable synthetic fibre production". In Muthu SS (ed.). Sustainable Fibres and Textiles. The Textile Institute Book Series. Elsevier (Woodhead). p. 221. ISBN 978-0-08-102041-8 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Taylor, Meggen (May 26, 2021). "Three Sustainable One-Piece Swimsuits That Seamlessly Go From The Beach To The Streets". Forbes .
- ↑ "The Process". Econyl. 2018-03-12. Retrieved 2020-04-19.
