My take on sustainable fabrics

When I was a baby my favourite comfort toy was my ‘raggy’, a piece of muslin cloth. As a toddler I fondly remember my rag books, books made of cloth that use the texture of the cloth to describe the story.

As a kid my dressing up box consisted of yards and yards of silky nightie fabric, rejects from my mum's handmade lingerie making business. So, I’ve been surrounded and inspired by textiles from day one.

My first stitches were at the age of 7 using my mothers’ scraps to make pin cushions and clothes for my Pippa dolls. My most favourite doll was my rag doll, which of course, my mum made.

A combination of a love of cloth and making and creating has led to me to where I am now. A dressmaker, sustainable fashion activist, the ‘local alterations lady’ and teacher (at local schools and my own DOLLY shop). My focus is on the production of textiles to feed the fast fashion industry, which is a huge part of our climate crisis.

Why choose sustainable fabrics

Most conventional textiles are produced by untrained, underpaid, overworked people in unsafe surroundings. Highly toxic chemicals are required to produce textiles from crop to production before the cloth even becomes clothes. Not to mention the water that is used in the production process.

So, choosing sustainable fabrics is important for many reasons. But it’s complex, to say the least!

Types of sustainable fabrics

You can buy fair trade textiles, responsibly made by workers who are paid a fair wage in a safe working environment. Organic cloth, produced without poisoning the earth. Recycled fabric, biodegradable textiles, cloth made in the UK or even more locally.

Personally, I decided that while I find cleaner, safer, more ethical fabric options, I’ll start by using up what we’ve already got.

The DOLLY approach

I use post-production cloth (AKA deadstock, overstock, end of rolls). This is unwanted fabric from the fashion industry, leftovers from over-ordering (brands order 3-10% more than necessary, and some luxury brands destroy their overstock to protect their brand).

Staggeringly only 1% of textiles are recycled back to textiles at the moment due to blended fibres, technical limitations and economic barriers.

So, whilst the industry catch up with the landfill crisis and as there is enough textiles in existence already to sustain our demands let’s use up what we’ve got and enjoy the ride.