Clothes
Cloth, a fabric which comes in various shapes, sizes and textures is used to protect us, cover us and most of all make us feel good. When we buy clothes we choose based on types of materials such as cotton, linen, hemp, silk or denim and choosing one is easy and simple as going to the store, trying on the best fit and bringing it home at a certain price. However, we almost never pay any attention to the number of chemicals which are embedded in our clothes because like packaged food, they never come with a list of ingredients. Apart from the main fabric material like cotton for example, a cloth is helped by a range of chemicals to maintain it’s looks and its ‘special’ features. The features of wrinkle-free, shrink resistant, fire resistant and fade resistant all are due to treatment with chemicals. Below is the list of some features and the chemicals used in clothes
Chemicals
Wrinkle-free feature: There are 2 reasons why clothes especially fabrics such as cotton, linen etc wrinkle, firstly due to water/moisture and secondly heat. When cellulose present in clothes comes in contact with water, they swell and become soft hence can change shape easily which appears in the form of wrinkles. Polymers hold cloth fibres together thus giving stability, these become weak when exposed to heat from washing in hot water, dryers, drying in the sun. Formaldehyde resins are used in clothes to make it wrinkle resistant. Below are the fabrics which most likely have resins added to them
Rayon
Blended cotton
Corduroy
Wrinkle-resistant 100% cotton
Shrink-proof wool
Any synthetic blended polymer (Eg rayon, polyester-cotton)
Heavy stiff fabrics
Materials/fabrics treated with textile formaldehyde resins are also used for upholstery, craft work and manchester.
Formaldehyde can cause skin irritation and other allergic reactions. So, if your shirt is getting easily wrinkled after a wash, just remember to be thankful for that as it is chemical free!
Shrink resistant feature: Polymers of clothes naturally have short length. They are usually stretched when woven and when these polymers are exposed to heat they relax hence the shrinkage. Cotton fabrics are usually treated with fluorocarbon resin which makes cotton less attracted to water thus preventing any shrinks
Flame retardant features: Usually these retardants are added to ensure that there is very little oxygen between skin and the cloth which will prevent the fire from spreading. Chemicals such as Proban CC are generally used for treatment of cotton fabrics. However, there are several other retardants used as well. They became popular in use from the 1970s mainly among consumer products such as sofas, curtains, bed linens etc. to prevent such products from catching fire.
Water pollution
Use of such chemicals not only has a potential impact on one’s health, but it also has significant environmental impact as these chemicals do not disintegrate quickly and lead to polluting the environment. Government agencies have put certain regulations in place to reduce the chemical burden on both an individual health and the environment, but there is still a lot more effort required both from agencies and the fashion industry. As a consumer we can certainly contribute to decreasing harmful impacts of these chemicals by asking a simple question when tempted to buy a new piece of cloth, ‘do I really need this or do I want it?’.
