Silk is a luxurious fabric, coveted for its softness and sheen, and is often marketed as a sustainable product. However, the silk industry is fraught with controversy. The process of making silk involves harvesting the cocoons of silkworms, which are then killed in various ways. This makes it one of the most environmentally damaging textiles.
Bioengineered vegan silk
Bioengineered vegan silk has a few advantages over traditional silk. Not only does it have better performance, but it’s also better for the environment. But it’s still more expensive than natural silk, and its production process is hush-hush. One of the biggest environmental issues is that it uses sugar, which consumes a large portion of arable farmland. In contrast, natural silk production relies on trees that store carbon and provide shade and moisture to the plant.
Bioengineered silk uses a process called fermentation to produce silk from yeast. It mimics the properties of spider silk, but without involving animals. It’s so similar to natural silk that it has been tested and adopted by many fashion designers, including Stella McCartney.
Alternatives to silk
Fortunately, there are now several ethical alternatives to silk. The first is lotus silk, which is a rare thread made from the stems of the lotus flower. This material is soft, breathable and comes in many colors. Another option is spider silk, which is made from the golden orb-weaving spider. Cupro is another option, but it contains a lot of chemicals and is considered a dangerous fabric.
Another sustainable alternative to silk is rayon, which is an organic, eco-friendly textile. It has a similar drape and texture to silk. It is also very resistant to stains and is easy to wash and dry. Moreover, it can be recycled.
Environmental impact
The silk industry needs to improve its environmental performance. This requires evaluating the whole life cycle of the product, including its production, sericulture, design, use, and re-use. The assessment system should be transparent, objective, and traceable. The silk industry must improve its evaluation system to promote market-oriented green technological innovation. In addition, it should standardize its LCA research and development, and formulate sustainability indexes and rules.
Compared to other fibres, silk has the largest carbon footprint. Its production also uses high amounts of energy, including fossil fuels. The energy required for the process of producing silk includes the energy used to regulate the air temperature on silk farms and harvest cocoons. In addition, mulberry trees can be used to produce bioenergy. These trees are not treated with pesticides, herbicides, or fertiliser.
Cost
Vegans should choose fabrics that are free of animal products. One example is silk. It costs more than conventional silk because the production process requires 10 days of larvae to grow and 15 minutes of hatching moths. Additionally, damaged cocoons yield six times less filament. These factors make it twice as expensive as conventional silk.
There are many alternatives to traditional silk. There are textiles made from natural resources and new technologies that mimic spider webs. One of these is microsilk. Microsilk uses much less energy than traditional textile manufacturing methods and still retains the strength and flexibility of spider silk.
