Wool’s Role in Sustainable Fashion
Sustainable fashion has recently been thrust into the spotlight with the media reporting on sustainability across various industries. Companies are being forced to reconsider everything from raw materials to production and labour practices. The fashion industry is moving towards the reusing and recycling of fashion items as opposed to utilizing more and more resources. Mindsets are shifting towards sustainable materials and labour practices.
Governments around the world are rethinking how products, including clothing, are made and disposed of. The EU, for example, has ambitious plans for collecting used textiles and ensuring that products are easier to reuse, repair and recycle.
What is Sustainable Fashion?
Sustainable fashion is a movement and process of fostering change to fashion products and the fashion system. There is a shift toward greater environmental integrity and social justice. Sustainable fashion involves more than tackling textiles or products solely, it involves addressing the system of fashion as a whole.
IWTO and its members are dedicated to making wool’s environmental qualities more understandable and quantifiable, representing the collective interest of the global wool trade, as well as the people it affects.
Learn more about wool’s sustainability.
Wool is a Wonderful Option
Being the natural fibre that it is, wool plays an important role in driving fashion towards better sustainability. Here are some facts you may not know about wool:
- Wool products have long lifespans, meaning they are used or worn longer than other textile fibre products
- Wool textile products tend to be washed less frequently at lower temperatures which has a lower impact on the environment
- Wool is readily recyclable: with a market share of 1.3% of all textile fibres, wool claims 5% within the recycled fibres market share!
- Wool biodegrades readily on land and in water – as a protein-based fibre, wool does not contribute to microplastic pollution. You can read about a study on wool fibre biodegrading in marine environments in this blog post.
From Sheep to Shop, Choose Wool for Fashion
IWTO continues to promote a sustainable future for wool. Our members come from all stages of the wool textile pipeline, from farm to retail. We strive to educate through scientific research, wool textile education and knowledge sharing. Have a question about wool? Feel free to contact us.