The fossil fuels needed to make synthetic fibres such as polyester and nylon are not only killing the environment—they’re running out, and could be gone by 2070.
Unless we’re willing to become a society of nudists, something needs to be done. And that’s why Institute for Frontier Materials (IFM) researchers in collaboration with the Warner Research Institute have developed a roadmap to a more sustainable textile future.
The five major challenge areas identified by IFM’s Dr Abu Naser Md Ahsanul Haque and Associate Professor Maryam Naebe in their latest ‘Future Textiles’ white paper are sustainable materials, dyeing, chemical processes, garment separation and reuse, and circular production.
There has been a major shift in recent decades from natural fibres such as cotton, wool, and silk, to synthetic fibres derived from fossil fuels.
In 2005, global fibre production was split almost equally between natural and synthetic fibres—around 30 million tonnes of each. Today, the amount of natural fibre produced globally each year has barely changed, but synthetic fibre production has more than doubled: we’re now producing almost 80 million tonnes.
Synthetic fibres dominate the market due to their durability, affordability, and versatility, but this shift has caused a spike in greenhouse gas emissions.
It has also saturated the environment with pollutants from the extraction and refinement of crude oil and natural gas to produce petrochemical precursors for synthetic fibres. These fibres shed microplastics into our waterways and—eventually—our bodies. There’s also the problem of textile waste, with landfills overflowing with non-degradable synthetics.
So how can we solve this wicked issue? As fast fashion eventually slows to a halt, some big changes need to occur.
Dr Haque and Assoc Prof Naebe have identified necessary steps in five major areas of textile manufacturing on its path to a more sustainable future.
Step 1. Sustainable materials:
Textile research must focus on sustainable farming, recycling, and developing new, sustainable sources of fibre from alternative materials.
These could include animal and planted-based fibres, and blended fibres that take advantage of the strengths of each component or use specific fibres for specific items of clothing. Hemp, for example, is strong and coarse, making it great for denim. Other emerging sources for fibre production include algae, fungi, and slime moulds.
There also needs to be more research into genetic modification or selective breeding to develop fibre crops with desirable traits, such as increased fibre yield, and improved fineness and strength.
IFM is part of the Mud to Marle project, which focuses on turning low value wool fibre into a high value product with a long-term aim of growing onshore manufacturing capabilities and circular production systems within Australia. Circularity and climate is central to this project, which in addition to using ‘waste’ wool fibres, will support local production and low impact production methods.
Read: Country Road funds IFM fashion fibre project
Step 2. Sustainable colouration:
Traditional dyeing methods are some of the most resource-intensive and polluting aspects of textile production.
One alternative is using the pigments in certain bacteria, which can be grown, purified, and recombined to simulate natural plant colours.
While this is an area that requires much more research, there’s evidence that bacterial colourants are safe to humans, easy to grow, economically viable, and offer extra functionality in terms of medicinal and other uses.
IFM PhD candidate Rangi de Zoysa is focusing her research on how dyes effect the time a garment takes to compost and the toxicity of the chemicals that dyes release during the composting process. Rangi presented her work as a finalist atat the 2024 Deakin University Three Minute Thesis Final.
Watch: 2024 Deakin University – Three Minute Thesis (3MT®): Rangi de Zoysa (Finalist)
Step 3. Green chemical processes:
Another area heavily dependent on chemicals is textile pretreatment, finishing, washing, and bonding. The hazardous chemicals used in these processes pose environmental and health risks, and there’s a need to develop eco-friendly chemical alternatives and update industry standards to mandate greener practices.
Options could include non-toxic bleaching agents for pretreatment, or bio-based chemicals and natural compounds in the finishing process to provide specific properties. For example, chitosan—which is derived from crustacean shells—has antimicrobial and wrinkle resistance properties.
More focus on developing advanced fibres that already have inherent properties would reduce the need for these chemical finishes, and closed-loop water systems during the washing stage would greatly reduce water use and pollution.
IFM has been working with Australia’s largest commercial linen supplier Simba Global to better understand the extent and type of microplastics shed when products are laundered in an attempt to reduce the environmental impact of textiles.
Read: Research begins to reduce shed of microplastics during laundering | Institute for Frontier Material
Step 4. Separation and Reuse:
Currently only one per cent old textiles are being recycled into new textiles. Part of the reason behind this is the difficultly in sorting and separating textile fibres—such as taking a blended cotton/polyester garment and separating it in a way that keeps both fibres intact.
Chemical separation processes exist, but another option is “dry separation”, where fibres can be electrically charged based on their individual properties and separated out. While this is promising, electric separation and other new technologies need further development and infrastructure support in order to scale them up to wider use.
The ‘Perpetual Pigments” exhibition, a collaboration between Deakin’s School for Communication and Creative Arts, Indigenous artists and IFM, featured works of art created from pigments extracted from waste textiles. This exhibition was a result of research conducted by IFM that looked into new ways to use large volumes of recycled textiles. The exhibition also featured screen printed fabric designs using recycled pigments, including a test run of t-shirts produced in collaboration with surf brand Rip Curl.
Read: Textile waste diverted from landfill, pulverised into powder to produce works of art
Step 5. Circular Garment Production:
Imagine a machine in your laundry that could recycle your old clothes and (3D) print new garments for every occasion, creating a perfect loop of sustainability. This is the future of circular garment production, something that’s becoming more and more feasible thanks to emerging technologies.
While it sounds far-fetched, most of the necessary components are already available today—it’s just a matter of bringing all the elements together and upgrading current technologies to fit the specific purpose.
This would require the efforts of stakeholders from textile research, to machine manufacturing, to fashion design, as well as partnerships among research institutions, industry leaders, and governments to plan and finance the speedy development and commercialisation of such new technology.
Taking materials research from “lab to label” is the focus of Deakin Universities Future Fibres Facility. Using the world-class research teams and facilities at IFM the projects undertaken at the Future Fibres Facility look into generating fibres from new and sustainable sources, as well as fibres that can be recovered and reused. This facility allows researchers to take new ideas from inception all the way through the prototype and production stage.
Read: New research facility to help bring sustainable materials to market