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Indonesia Logging
An Indonesian forest that has been devastated by logging. 30% of the rayon and viscose used in clothing comes from endangered and ancient forests. Photograph: Rainforest Alliance Network
An Indonesian forest that has been devastated by logging. 30% of the rayon and viscose used in clothing comes from endangered and ancient forests. Photograph: Rainforest Alliance Network

Deforestation for fashion: getting unsustainable fabrics out of the closet

This article is more than 9 years old
Stella McCartney, H&M, Zara and others are developing viscose and rayon fabrics that don't endanger forests

Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly listed nylon - instead of rayon - as one of the fabrics made from forests.

Large and globally recognized fashion brands are working to change their supply chain to avoid endangering forests. This month, H&M and Zara, two of the world's largest apparel makers teamed with Canopy, a non-profit, to remove endangered and ancient forests from their dissolvable pulp supply chain for their viscose and rayon fabrics. And, on Friday, Canopy told the Guardian that Stella McCartney will also join in their efforts. All three companies are giving themselves three years to find alternative sources, including straw and recycled fabrics.

H&M's environmental sustainability manager, Henrik Lampa, reasons that consumers will not want clothing in their closets that has that kind of baggage. "I don't know anyone buying a garment would like knowing that the fabric was sourced from an endangered or ancient forest," he says. "The sustainability issue is a big learning curve for fashion companies. Consumers are expecting us to make good choices for them — and yet we can only make good decisions with good awareness of what is going into our products."

This move could have impacts on both ends of the fabric life chain. According to data from the Council for Textile Recycling and the Environmental Protection Agency, textiles constitute 5% of all landfill waste. The average American throws away 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles a year.

Canopy founder and executive director, Nicole Rycroft, says around 30% of the rayon and viscose going into clothing comes from dissolvable pulp sourced from endangered and ancient forests. "Ancient and endangered rainforests are being logged, pulped and turned into T-shirts, dresses and suit linings," she says. "So these man-made cellulosic fabrics like rayon, viscose and lyocell, are created from trees cut down exclusively to feed dissolving pulp mills."

Rycroft, an Australian who previously worked throughout Southeast Asia and Burma documenting the link between human rights abuses and environmental degradation, adds that this phenomenon is widespread. As of 2010, Canada, Indonesia and Brazil — all countries with endangered and ancient forests — provided around two thirds of China's dissolving pulp imports for viscose, 75% of which was then manufactured into viscose fabrics. Forests-based fabrics represent 5% of the total $1.2tn global apparel industry, and that number is poised to grow. "When you factor in that demand for dissolving pulp is projected to double in the next 20 years and is increasing at a 9% rate annually, this becomes very important and urgent," Rycroft says.

Increasing global and fashion awareness

Prior to engaging with Canopy, H&M wasn't aware that the dissolvable pulp going into their viscose and rayon originated from endangered forests, Lampa says. The garment supply chain works as a commodity market and typically comes without any transparency. "All we know is that the pulp on the global market is sourced from Indonesia, Canada and Brazil," he says.

The first step toward stopping the cycle, Lampa says, is engaging with the existing supply chain developers, producers and asking for a guarantee the pulp does not come from endangered forests. Between now and June, the company is also working on a plan with Canopy, engaging with its supply chain to demand more transparency while also finding other (ethical and sustainable) sources for their dissolvable pulp. "There is a lot of forestry in the world not coming from endangered forests," he explains.

While Zara wouldn't respond to interview requests, H&M's Lampa says he hopes his company's stand will inspire other fashion companies to follow suit. Nonprofit organizations such as the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute are working to help manufacturers improve products across five levels of certification, including renewable energy, water stewardship and social fairness. The group is also developing a product registry as a resource to help designers create cradle-to-cradle designed and certified collections, says Lewis Perkins, senior vice president.

The More the Merrier

Meanwhile, Canopy is working to recruit other premium fashion retailers – including Eileen Fisher, Quiksilver and Elite Champions – as well as 40 other leading fashion lines. The group is also working hard to ensure the hotspot/troubled regions offering dissolvable pulp as a product are not winding up in stores. Rycroft points to ancient and endangered rainforests in Indonesia and northern Sumatra, where managers are violating human rights and having a devastating impact on the biodiversity in which they are operating. "Being stylish doesn't have to and shouldn't cost us the earth," she says.

D G McCullough is a writer, PR specialist and owner of Hanging Rock Media in Cary, North Carolina

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