Grantee Research Project Results
Final Report: Twenty-mile clothing: localized production of apparel and accessories from agriculture-based materials
EPA Grant Number: SU835096Title: Twenty-mile clothing: localized production of apparel and accessories from agriculture-based materials
Investigators: Cao, Huantian , Frett, John J. , Howard, Christine , Piro, Karen , Tattersall, Hillary
Institution: University of Delaware
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Phase: I
Project Period: August 15, 2011 through August 14, 2012
Project Amount: $15,000
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2011) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Sustainable and Healthy Communities , P3 Challenge Area - Chemical Safety , P3 Awards , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Textile and apparel is one of the most globalized industries. Large global apparel companies often have supply chains all over the world, always seeking places with low labor cost for production. According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association (AAFA), by 2008, the percentage of imported apparel in the U.S. market had amounted to 97%. A study by Davis and Caldeira (2010) found that in 2004, 23% of global CO2 emissions, or 6.2 gigatonnes CO2, were emitted during the production of goods that were ultimately consumed in a different country. Carbon emissions imported to the United States exceeded those of any other country or region, and wearing apparel imported to the U.S. accounted for 42 megatonnes embodied CO2. Unfortunately, carbon emissions are not the only substance polluting our surroundings. Toxic chemicals used during fiber, fabric, and garment production, dyeing, and finishing are equally to blame.
According to McDonough and Braungart (2002) all sustainability is local. Local materials have less effect on soil and water and often provide the most feasible solutions to local problems; local business bolsters local economies and promotes citizen awareness (McDonough and Braungart, 2002). The goal of this project is to use natural, renewable, locally grown raw materials to develop textile garments and accessories and demonstrate a strategy to reduce the apparel industry’s uses of toxic chemicals, and dependence on global sourcing and nonrenewable petroleum derived materials. Since local production is a key element in this project, the target market will be UD students. More specifically, we design and develop a line of garments and accessories for UD students using fibers and dyes harvested from UD College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR) and ranches within a 20-mile radius of UD campus. Our objectives include: (a) growing sheep and shearing wool fibers (b) growing plants and extracting natural dyes from plants; (c) designing and producing a fashionable line of garments and accessories that would attract UD students; (d) evaluating the comfort, consumers’ acceptance, and cost of our design and product; (e) developing educational tools.
Summary/Accomplishments (Outputs/Outcomes):
Natural fibers and other materials used in our design include wool from UD CANR and mohair from a local ranch. These raw wool and mohair fibers were scoured with EcoScour and were further cleaned by a wool picker to remove the plant impurities. Figure 1 shows the wool and mohair fibers after scouring and picking.
Figure 1. Wool (left) and mohair (right) fibers after scouring and picking Goldenrod flowers, Japanese indigo leaves, and black walnut drupes were used to dye the wool. Japanese indigo was used to dye the mohair fibers. Japanese indigo was planted in the Botanic Garden at the UD CANR during the spring of 2011. Goldenrod is planted in the Botanic Garden each year and was available for harvesting in early Fall 2011. The indigo and goldenrod were harvested before each dye pot was prepared. Figure 2 shows the indigo and goldenrod plants in UD Botanic Garden in early Fall 2011. The black walnut drupes had been collected over the summer of 2011 by Dr. John Frett and stored until use in dyeing.
Figure 2. Natural dye plants in UD Botanic Garden
For dyeing with goldenrod, flowers were clipped from goldenrod plants in the Botanic Garden at the UD’s CANR. The flowers were removed from the stems, put in mesh bags, and left to soak in boiling water until the water turned yellow. While the dye was extracted from the plant’s flowers, alum in warm water was used to mordant the wool to make the dye colorfast. The wool was put in laundry bags and soaked in the dye pot until the yellow hue remained constant. From this dye process, yellow colored wool was obtained. For dyeing with black walnut drupes, the drupes were beat into pieces with a hammer. The pits were removed. Several of the drupes were infested with maggots and were discarded. The remaining pieces were added to a dye pot with water and heated. The wool was dipped into the dye pot until orange-brown color was achieved. For dyeing with Japanese indigo, the leaves were stripped from their stems and cut into small pieces. The dye pot was filled with leaves and then water was added. The leaves were covered in water and heated to between 140 and 160°F for 1-2 hours. Washing soda (Na2CO3) was used to adjust pH, an aquarium bubbler was used to aerate the dyeing liquid, and thiox was used remove the oxygen from the solution. The fibers turned yellow in the pot, and then turned blue in the presence of atmospheric oxygen. Figure 3 shows the dyed wool fibers.
Figure 3. Wool fibers dyed with indigo (blue, after carding), walnut (brown, before carding) and goldenrod (yellow, before carding)
After the fiber was dyed, it was carded to align the fibers. Mohair and wool were mixed together in this step to create a blend. This fiber blend was removed from the carder in rectangular pieces. These pieces were divided into pieces lengthwise. Pieces were spun into yarn using a Schacht Ladybug Spinning Wheel by color until each bobbin was full. Figure 4 shows the indigo dyed wool yarn.
Figure 4. Indigo dyed wool yarn
Our line of fashionable spirit wear for UD students will include a sweater, a headband, a scarf, and mittens. These designs will all be made of the hand spun wool and knitted on a knitting machine. First, a knitted swatch will be produced to test the properties of the textile, including its strength. Then, the garment and accessories prototypes will be made using the knitting machine.
For yarns, and fabrics, tensile strength, thermal resistance (Rct) and evaporative resistance (RetM/sub>) will be measured in accordance with standard test methods to assure appropriate durability and comfort properties. For garment and accessories prototypes, we will evaluate the comfort, consumers’ acceptance using survey and wear test and estimate the cost.
Fashion faculty advisor discussed the project and demonstrated the raw fibers, naturally dyed fibers, picking, carding, and spinning processes in two textiles classes for fashion merchandising and apparel design majors. Fashion faculty advisor also presented this project to about 15 Middle School (7th Grade) students from Kent County, Delaware on UD Middle School Visitation day. For regional and local community dissemination, plant and soil sciences faculty advisor wrote a news article on this project in the Director’s Column of UDBG Friends, the newsletter of UD Botanic Garden. We will continue to seek university, region/community and national dissemination opportunities, so the project will have a bigger impact.
Conclusions:
Textile products made from natural fibers and dyed with plants are not new. This technology has been used for thousands of year before the invention of synthetic fibers and dyes. Localized production was the way human beings made products before the development of modern transportation and the trends in globalization. However, this project uses the ancient technology in an innovative approach and design to development apparel and accessories that meet the comfort, color and style needs for the local community ― UD students, while solve many environmental and social problems associated with globalization.
Our project successfully balanced the three elements of people, prosperity, and the planet. The needs of the people were addressed through the comfort, color and style of our clothing. The comfortable aspect of our garments is addressed by using wool and wool/mohair blends what make the clothing warm and durable. We also dyed our garments the University of Delaware school colors, which meet the demand of the students’ school spirit.
The range of materials we used throughout this project and the different way we use them contribute to our project’s prosperity. We use the wool from the sheep that is usually used for meat, meaning that their wool was a waste or low price by-product. By eliminating the waste and putting the wool to better use, it creates a sustainable alternative.
We carefully selected materials in our university’s botanical garden that were known natural dyes, and used them to dye our fibers that would eliminate harmful waste that synthetic dyes would otherwise cause. Our project was successful in its endeavors of utilizing localized production to produce a sustainable garment. We have successfully obtained and produced all the materials necessary for the apparel and accessories design and development from a 20-mile radius region surrounding UD campus.
References:
Davis, S.J., Caldeira, K. (2010).Consumption-based accounting of CO2 emissions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(12) 5687-5692.
McDonough, W., Braungart, M. (2002). Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the way we make things. New York: North Point Press.
Supplemental Keywords:
environmentally benign substitute, waste to value, toxic use reduction, agriculture byproductsThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.