From Fur to Petroleum- How Clothing Has Changed for the Worst
From Fur to Petroleum- How Clothing Has Changed for the Worst
What's really in your clothing and why natural textiles are the way to go
Humans began wearing clothes over 170,000 years ago. I was shocked when I read this, as I would have thought it would be much more recent. I’ve always viewed clothes as fashionable more so than functional. But it turns out, clothing is a huge reason humans were able to migrate out of Africa into other parts of the world.
Clothing was worn in the second ice age in order to keep warm and protect us from the harsh elements. Without this and fire, we probably wouldn’t have survived.
At the time, clothing was made from animal hides, a byproduct of animals killed for meat. Humans would adorn themselves with mammoth, deer, and musk ox fur to keep warm in their harsh ice-age environment. They would also use leaves, grasses, bones, and stones, although these likely didn’t serve as much purpose other than decorative.
How did we go from making use of the by-products of animals, not wasting a single resource, to mass-producing synthetic textiles and producing a ton of waste?
Fashion began as functional and then started to evolve as man developed more technical tools. The first sewing needles were found to be made out of bone around 30,000 years ago. This helped humans make tighter-fitting clothing to keep them warmer rather than the two-piece tunics they were previously wearing.
The use of complex techniques was confirmed when an Iceman from 5,300 years ago was discovered in the Austrian mountains. He wore intricately-built clothing from tight leggings made of animal hides and leather mocassin boots stuffed with grass for extra warmth.
While clothing evolved to express one’s creativity and social status, it began as a need to stay alive. However, our clothing is quite literally beginning to have the opposite effect on our health. What once protected us from the elements is now a large piece of the never-ending toxic load that is detrimentally affecting our well-being.
The Rise of Artificial Fibers
Believe it or not, but up until the 1800s clothing was still made from natural textiles like wool, linen, and cotton. It wasn’t until the 1800s that artificial silk and rayon were first created. Some of the most popular synthetic fabrics like nylon, polyester, and spandex weren’t invented until the mid-1900s.
Just like with most toxic things in today’s society, synthetic fabrics began with the rise of the industrial revolution.
Let’s take a step back for a second. Why are synthetic fabrics bad for us in the first place? We know they didn’t exist hundreds of thousands of years ago, but that doesn’t necessarily make something bad.
How synthetic fabrics are formed
Synthetic fabrics are highly processed and use many chemicals. A common type of synthetic fabric is called polyamides. These are made by heating and pressurizing carbon atoms found in petroleum and coal and mixing them with harmful acids. This chemical reaction forms a large sheet that is then chipped away, melted, and put through a machine to form “fibers”. Whenever you wear fabric in the polyamide family, you are essentially wearing petroleum and coal that has been through the wringer.
Interestingly enough, I wasn’t able to find any photos of this process occurring. Probably because it looks something like this canola oil video.
Polyester, another common synthetic fabric, isn’t any better. This is made by taking ethylene, a known toxin also derived from petroleum, and treating it with more chemicals, heating it, and then molding it into fibers.
Nowadays, companies are trying to market it as “sustainable” because it can be made with recycled plastic water bottles. However, this is far from sustainable as it is releasing tons of microplastics into our water and exposing us to the harmful chemicals (like BPA) that it contains.
These fabrics have all been made popular due to the abundance of petroleum by-products and plastic, making them extremely cheap to produce. With organic textiles, companies need to source physical labor and land.
With synthetic fibers, companies can buy cheap by-products and waste (plastic being sent to landfills) and then use heavy machinery to turn them into textiles. Don’t be fooled into “good-for-the-environment” plastic clothing!
How synthetic fabrics harm our health
Ok, these fabrics are made of lots of artificial chemicals and derived from crude oil. Why is this bad for us? After all, we aren’t eating it!
Our skin is our largest organ, and unfortunately, one that is often neglected. We don’t think of the products we put on our skin as products we are consuming but a study in the American Journal of Public Health found that our skin absorbs 64% of contaminants put onto our skin (such as tap water).
If our skin absorbs toxins in tap water so easily, why do we think the chemicals in our clothes are any different? One study found that 62% of a harmful chemical often found in clothes, called benzothiazole, was absorbed into the skin after only 24 hours. This is why it is also so important to be conscious of the ingredients in body products we are using on our skin on a daily basis.
Not to mention, when we wash these clothes, more than 700,000 microplastic fibers and chemicals are released into the water. The same tap water we use to wash our clothing is then reused and recycled for drinking purposes. Except now it has plastic and chemicals found in our clothing.
Why wear natural fibers?
For one, our ancestors began wearing clothing out of natural fibers. They never had chemical-laden materials made from plastic and petroleum. I guarantee if they were wearing these types of fabrics, we probably wouldn’t be around today. Who can argue that petroleum on our baby-producing parts isn’t disruptive!?
While we don’t have to go around wearing only animal hides and fur, we can embrace other natural materials like linen, cotton, and wool. These are straight from the earth and used by our ancestors for thousands of years, unlike polyester and nylon which have only existed for 100-200 years.
The importance of organic
While natural fibers are a top priority, it’s also important to buy clothing made of organic materials when possible. This means that the plants used to make your clothing weren’t sprayed with harmful chemicals or pesticides. It also means the materials weren’t treated with chemicals after being harvested, during the production process.
Again, the point of wearing natural fibers is to limit your exposure to all of the toxins that exist in the modern world. Organic ones will help you avoid the pesticides that come with large-scale production processes.
However, you can also look for a Oeko-Tex 100 Standard certification on clothing. This doesn’t necessarily mean the fabric used is organic but it does indicate that all of the chemicals have been removed from the cloth during processing. With this certification, every element of the textile is properly tested for harmful chemicals, guaranteeing confidence in its safety.
As for thinking you can wash the chemicals out of your clothing, unfortunately, this hasn’t proven to be true. Washing your clothes definitely helps clean out some of the chemicals used in manufacturing, but it’s not going to get rid of all of them. PUFAs are a particular type of chemical called “forever chemicals” because they can’t be removed from anything, ever. Not your clothes, not your body.
While washing your clothes after buying them, especially with something like EnviroKlenz, is a great precaution to have, I wouldn’t depend on just that.
Our favorite natural fiber brands
I also recommend checking out linen pieces on Etsy. You can find a lot of really well-made, stylish pieces from independent designers at a fraction of the price.
Just because these brands are our favorites, however, doesn’t mean they don’t offer pieces that don’t exactly fit our values. Make sure you are reading the description to see what type of fabric, and what % it comprises, is being used in each product. Again, stick with linen, cotton, wool, and silk.
Even fabrics marketed to be a better alternative, like Tencel and Modal, can be a bit questionable. Because they are made with materials like wood that don’t exactly mimic fabric, there is extensive processing that goes into their production.
If you’re going to start small, start with your underwear. This touches your precious reproducing parts every single day. Your private parts deserve the best clean, organic, natural fiber underwear!
Support with your dollar
While there aren’t yet a lot of brands selling organic, natural-textile clothing, I’ve noticed a massive shift in the last few years. More and more brands are realizing that consumers care about what they are putting on their skin and how their fashion choices are affecting the environment.
Use your dollar wisely, as it determines our future and what becomes more and less accessible to us.
Take action: Look at the fabrics of your favorite brands, taking notice of what they use most. If they have certain pieces with organic natural textiles, buy those. Using your dollar to support these pieces will only cause them to produce more of them!
And go buy some organic underwear.
Enjoy some sunshine ☀️
Madison