In the first volume, I introduced organic cotton.
This time, I would like to introduce skin-friendly and sustainable materials that I paid attention to.
Organic cotton is a kind material to both skin and environment, but I mentioned last time that it is necessary for producers to improve the working environment. Then, if there is a material that can greatly contribute to the SDGs and allows us to spend a comfortable winter, that is not the case.
From here, I will introduce a little chemical parts from my standpoint because I am a science student at University.
Due to the current remarkable progress in chemistry, I could find out about a carbon-neutral material with excellent heat retention that does not use carbon, which is a problem of environmental destruction in the production process.That is Cupro. Asahikasei produces a material called “Bemberg” that uses cupro fibers. This is mainly used for inner wears and linings, and it is listed as a material with heat retention and heat generation by the Japan Chemical Fibers Association.
Also, the good point of this material is that it is difficult to get static electricity and skin-friendly. It is a biodegradable fibers. In other words, even if it is incinerated, the generation rate of produced gas is low.
In this way, there seems to be lots of remarkable developments behind the scenes where our lives are getting better every day.
According to my research, cupro can be said to be sustainable because it also uses cotton linters, which are the hair-growth part of cotton seeds. However, it seems difficult to establish a synthetic method because the method is to dissolve cellulose once using a cuprammonium solution in the synthetic process and then regenerate it. From this point, I feel like clothes using cupro seems to be expensive nowadays.
In addition, chemical fibers such as nylon and polyester are often used for heat-retaining and heat-generating fibers, so it seems difficult to consider the burden on the skin.
In anticipation of the future development of chemistry, why don’t you check the features of the clothes written on the inside of the clothes?