Question from SVE
Dear Debra,
Just found this website with information about fabric dyes: http://terressentials.com/dplanet.html
Since I’m chemically sensitive, I found it interesting to read. Could you please clarify the subject of textile dyes – petrochemical, low-impact, Foxfibre, natural, organic, vegetable, etc.? It would be difficult to find enough all-organic clothing and most are quite expensive.
Debra’s Answer
First let me say that I read the article at this link and I agree with most of what she is saying. It would be great to live in a world as pure as Diane would like. I certainly do my best to find the purest fibers available and put them on Debra’s List. I would love it if everyone could wear clothing made from fibers grown organically and dyed with beautiful natural dyes.
I admire and appreciate Diane’s constant vigilance for the purest products available and certainly support the move in that direction, but while we are moving there, we all still need to wear clothes. Diane seems to want everyone to take a quantum leap into perfect sustainability–I’m a little more practical in acknowledging the need for transition, both on the manufacturing end and in the marketplace. And so I’m willing to look at and offer more choices.
The vast vast vast majority of dyes used on natural fiber textiles are synthetic dyes made from petrochemicals. Like any other petrochemical product, the mining of petrochemicals, their refining and waste pollute our land, air, and water with toxic chemicals, which eventually end up in our bodies. I personally don’t find it toxic to my own body to wear fibers with synthetic dyes, but I know people who do react. I don’t consider synthetic dyes to be high on the toxicity list for direct contact in clothing, but we do need to remember that their manufacture is causing environmental pollution, which eventually does come around to us.
Low-impact dyes are made from petrochemicals. They are not natural, but claim to have less of an impact on the environment. Why do they dye organically-grown fibers with synthetic dyes? In a way, it doesn’t make sense to put these synthetic dyes on organically grown fibers after they have been so careful with the fibers. But here’s the thing. Consumers want colors. And if these dyes are applied, the organic fiber clothing will sell more, thereby supporting the growth of the organic fiber industry.
Foxfibe is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. It is cotton grown in it’s various natural colors. That cotton grew in colors other than white was discovered in 1982, While trying to breed insect resistance into cotton plants, Sally Fox noticed that occasionally a cotton plant produced a green or brown cotton, just as occasionally a flock of sheep has a few black lambs. The colors deepen with age rather than fade, as dyed fabrics do. Most of the natural-colored cotton is organically grown. There is now a spectrum of greens and browns available and the colors can also be modified according to how they are washed. I have a sweater that was knitted by hand from Foxfibre and I cherish it. It is my favorite sweater–large and warm and soft. It uses brown and white cotton to make a tweed, with a plain brown collar and cuffs.
Natural and vegetable dyes are made from plants. Some plants leave a stain on fabrics, like beet juice, for example. For millenia, the only dyes were dyes from plants and also from some animals and insects. Red was from a beetle. They produce very beautiful colors. You can get naturally dyed fabrics from artisans and also many imported rugs have vegetable dyes (such as these Tibetan Rugs). But they require so much plant material to make the dye, that we probably couldn’t grow enough to clothe all the people of the world today, nor would most be able to afford the cost. Also, even though the dyestuff is natural and may be organically grown, most colors require toxic mordants to fix the color to the fabric. So it isn’t really nontoxic either.
