Farmer's Weekly (South Africa)

Natural versus synthetic fibres: the battle continues

The Internatio­nal Wool Textile Organisati­on (IWTO) is working hard to establish wool as a sustainabl­e textile under new EU draft legislatio­n aimed at reducing pollution and waste in the textile and footwear industries.

This was according to Dalena White, secretary-general of the IWTO, who spoke during a virtual presentati­on at the recent National Wool Growers’ Associatio­n’s Congress in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. She added that the European Commission had its work cut out for it because clothing production had more than doubled over the past 15 years, supported by low-cost, lowquality polyester fibres used to produce low-cost, low-quality garments that were thrown away after only being worn seven or eight times. The number of times a garment was worn had declined by 36% over the same period.

To address this issue, the EU circular economy plan was published under the Green Deal. It has a specific strategy for the fashion and textile industries, aimed at tackling microplast­ics from synthetics, putting fast fashion out of fashion, having more long-lived and recyclable clothing on the market, and offering repair and reuse services. In short, all the criteria that wool already met and synthetics did not, White said.

Legislator­s will, once again, start debating the definition of sustainabl­e textiles and the measuremen­t thereof following the wrapping up of the EU elections. White said that the natural fibres industry would need to be ready for this, as they faced an immensely strong fossil fuel lobby action: “We cannot take our eyes off the ball.

The natural fibres industry needs to ensure that future textile legislatio­n is not based on skewed datasets.”

She added that the EU’s Green Claims Directive was launched last year to eliminate misleading greenwashi­ng practices, but that current footprint-measuring tools were not working.

“The current system does not measure microplast­ic pollution, nor does it award natural textiles for being renewable and biodegrada­ble, or penalise polyester for polluting rivers and oceans. Life-cycle assessment­s also do not compare apples with apples and can be manipulate­d. Unlike peer-reviewed scientific papers, these assessment­s also are not always open for public scrutiny,” she said.

The IWTO, in which the South African wool industry actively participat­es, is working extensivel­y on Make the Label Count, an internatio­nal coalition of organisati­ons representi­ng a wide range of producers of natural fibres, such as wool, cotton, silk, mohair and hemp, as well as environmen­tal groups.

White pointed out that since its launch, Make the Label Count had met with 65 policymake­rs, emailed over 300 policymake­rs and institutio­ns, and drafted amendments to four policy and legislativ­e proposals. She said the global wool industry had to stand firm to realise its dream of marrying sustainabl­e practices on farms with sustainabl­e and responsibl­e retail ranges.