No choice, winter is just around the corner and the falling temperatures force us to dress warmly. How can we reconcile cocooning materials, even technical materials, and eco-responsibility? Which clothes, which materials should we choose?
Recycled wool
It is the natural material par excellence of winter, the one that protects best from the cold. Biodegradable, insulating, thermoregulating, cocooning, we love it.
Wool, a catastrophic assessment
However, whether it is sheep's wool, alpaca or cashmere from goats raised in Tibet, the environmental impact is catastrophic. Sheep's wool is one of the 5 most polluting materials to manufacture.
Sheep are the largest producers of methane, even more than cows. In New Zealand, the third largest producer of wool after China and Australia, 90% of greenhouse gas emissions are due to sheep farming. Raising sheep and goats impoverishes the soil, when it does not cause deforestation. The animals are often raised in poor conditions, to meet the growing demand. Finally, the processing of wool is highly polluting, between washing, bleaching, dyeing and spinning. Sustainably managed sectors exist, but remain rare.
Recycled wool, under development
Recycled wool sweaters are starting to appear. However, the feel is still different – the fiber is generally stiffer and less soft. Even if they are sorted by color, recycled wools mix different tones, which gives the finished product a mottled look. It is often found in sweaters and coats, mixed with virgin wool or other fibers – silk, recycled PET – to give it better resistance and a more pleasant appearance.
Recycled plastic fleece: warm, eco-friendly and cozy
This pioneer has become the classic for clothing that is both technical, warm and ecological. Made from recycled plastic bottles – 27 1.5-litre water bottles make a fleece sweater and a tonne of recycled plastic saves between 700 and 800 litres of oil – it is often associated with skiing or hiking. A little less so since many pyjamas, overpyjamas, blankets and jumpsuits have also adopted this warm and cosy material, even regressive because it is so soft.
Recycled polyester and PET
The other basic winter garment is the coat, the down jacket, the parka, in short the outerwear that protects us outdoors. But let's be honest, none of them are ecologically satisfactory, whether it's the polluting wool or cashmere of the coat, the down of the down jacket – hello animal welfare – and even less the Gore-tex of the parka and ski pants, made of stretched Teflon, rich in perfluorocarbons, extremely volatile and contaminating endocrine disruptors. So what to do?
Not a lot of choice at the moment, it must be admitted, except for recycled materials. You should favor jackets and coats that include a maximum of recycled materials. Very often polyester for down jackets and parkas (we have already produced so much that it is better to reuse it rather than produce new ones). But you can also find some technical jackets in PET made from recycled plastic bottles. And even a ski jacket whose membrane is made from bioplastic from castor oil and the rest of the garment partly with recycled polyester.
Another use for these recycled synthetic materials is warm underwear. To replace the famous Thermolactyl or technical materials such as Uniqlo's Heattech – the brand is making efforts in sustainable development but not yet on these warm underwear –, effective but polluting, the alternatives are limited. Some brands (notably in New Zealand, one of the leading countries in sheep farming) use natural materials such as Merino wool, arguing on the naturalness and respect for animals. Others (notably Odlo, one of the leaders in this segment) offer one or more models in recycled materials, combining Merino wool and Tencel (a sustainable alternative to viscose).
Fur, vintage or recycled PET
Some people still dream of a warm fur coat, despite years of fur-bashing and PETA campaigns? In order to avoid killing animals exclusively bred for this purpose, we look in our grandmother's closet, at flea markets or at garage sales for a vintage coat that is not too moth-eaten/shabby and that will not cost too much. In this case, with a mink, fox or astrakhan on our back, we are sure to be warm. But we still have to accept it.
The alternative? Synthetic fur . Yes, but as its name suggests, it is mostly made with petrochemical products (polyester, acrylic). Some manufacturers are starting to develop furs based on natural fibers obtained from hemp, corn or nettle. Others are making them, again, from recycled plastic, or even collected from the oceans. An offer that is still limited but which could gain ground.
It is therefore not easy to reconcile warm and eco-friendly clothing in winter. Natural materials – mainly wool – remain very polluting, and synthetic, warm and technical materials are even more so. The alternatives? Second-hand , once again. And as for raw materials, there is only one solution: favor recycled raw materials, natural or synthetic. But there is still a lot of progress to be made.
