Low Toxicity and organics

All the production processes utilised in textile production can involve the use of harsh chemicals – the growing and harvesting, the extraction and extrusion, the spinning, weaving and knitting and the finishing, dyeing and printing of textiles. The textile industry continues to be one of the most damaging industries in the world, second only to the chemical industry.

At the growing and harvesting stage, the development of alternative types of fibre production such as organic cotton and hemp is one solution to these negative environmental impacts.

At the processing and finishing stage, there has been some developments in the cleaning up of industrial processes, such as an electrochemical process which re-uses dye chemicals, rather than discarding them with the waste water at the end of the process. Another solution is the development of natural and low-impact dyes.

The printing of textiles is another part of the production process that is extremely harmful. There have been some 

recent developments into printing inks which are solvent-free, but there is still much research to be done. One solution is digital printing, which is being promoted as having less environmental impacts then conventional printing.

Certification is an important issue within low toxicity and organics. There are now several organisations which are certifying textile products that have been grown or produced under organic or low-impact conditions.