Comments on: Paloma textiles for eco friendly yarns

By: Mrs Green

Mrs Green — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:44:39 +0000

@Mr Eco: Hi Mr Eco - welcome to the site and thanks for sharing your comment. I’m still learning and it’s wonderful to find people who care enough to share their experiences and knowledge. We can all learn from one another to help us make the best consumer choices. Thank you for adding something of value to the conversation

By: Mr Eco

Mr Eco — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 08:39:59 +0000

I don’t agree on “…processed into yarn, bleached, mercerized, and dyed, they are only earth friendly if all steps are carried out according to organic standards…”

The standards are really set by an organization. If we look into the fact that the dyeing process requires heavy use of water that is heat up by water and chemical dyestuff are used, it is not wher close to eco friendly.

There are textiles out there that are dyed without using water. These textiles are truly eco friendly.

By: John De Prendergast

John De Prendergast — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:02:37 +0000

@Mrs Green: My Pleasure Mrs Green, and thank you for your welcome to Littlr Green Blog.

By: Mrs Green

Mrs Green — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 19:54:23 +0000

@John: Hello John, welcome to Little Green Blog. I enjoyed reading your comment very much and you have provided a lot of food for thought.
We all have to be careful of greenwashing and of sorting out fact from fiction; you illustrate some interesting points which should help us all to ask the right questions of manufacturers and suppliers.
Thank you for adding your voice to these issues.

By: John

John — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 13:18:01 +0000

Eco-Friendly Environmental Yarn!
This is a ‘Misleading Myth’ that we increasingly hear being told to us by designers and sellers of fabrics and yarns in the modern fashion industry, so as to be able to entice out more money from the consumer.

At some stage during their make-up all fabrics, fibers, yarns and fabrics are:
• Exposed to washing with detergents and softener so as to give them a clean and soft feel next to the skin.
• Dyeing is carried out to give the fabrics and yarns attractive colors thus making them more pleasing to the eye and easier to sell than they would be in their original state.
• Even a plain white fabric or yarn is not naturally white… the white has been achieved through the process of bleaching.

All Detergents, Softeners, Dyes, and Bleaches as used today in the 21st century treatment of fabrics and yarns are chemically based.
Even the wool that comes from a sheep is washed and dyed prior to being spun into a yarn….
What of the feed that the sheep ate? Was that not also treated with chemicals?
What of the inoculations that the sheep receives to keep it healthy and disease free? Are they not also chemical based and made in a laboratory somewhere?
The closest exception to this rule is silk as it requires no washing or chemicals to be spun and wove into a fabric, however… people tend to like nice colors which are added through the introduction of dyes which are in effect chemical based.

It can be said that some yarns and fabrics are ‘Less Environmentally Damaging’ than others, but not that they are ‘Eco Friendly’ as they to some degree have received some treatment with chemicals.

In this day and age where chemicals are in everything we eat, drink, and wear, people having become “Environmentally Aware” and are trying to save the planet.
Manufacturers and sellers of food, drink, fabrics, and yarns have also been quick to jump on the band wagon trying to cut for them selves a new niche in the market by declaring their goods to be “Environmentally Friendly” so as to make more sales and extract higher profit margins.…
…by right their products should be saying “Less Environmentally Damaging” as this is the only true claim that they can make.
Juris Bruzhuks and John De Prendergast.

By: CARNIVAL OF THE GREEN #184! « The Conservation Report

CARNIVAL OF THE GREEN #184! « The Conservation Report — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 04:11:33 +0000

[...] So you think that cotton, bamboo, soy, and tencel yarns are more earth-friendly than synthetic fibers such as polyester, nylon, and acrylic? Mrs. Green was “fortunate enough to interview Ruth Henriquez Lyon from Paloma textiles, who is passionate about eco ….” [...]

By: Mrs Green

Mrs Green — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:29:36 +0000

@Candle Anne: Hi Candle Anne; welcome to the site and thank you for your comment. Using yarns that you have reclaimed from old clothing is a wonderful eco friendly way of getting yarn.
Do you have a particular favourite? I guess all your yarns have some history that you know a little of!

By: Candle Anne

Candle Anne — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 22:12:53 +0000

Thank you for mentioning that the “natural” fibers may be as bad as others because of the processing. I’m a weaver also, and that’s why I only use the yarns that I’ve reclaimed from old clothing. Thanks for the recommendations on how to find new yarns that really are eco friendly.