Natural Fiber In Fashion: Ways To Grow Your Clothing Line

We’re all looking to be more eco-friendly these days. Whether it’s our diets, purchasing options, or sustainable clothing design, it’s essential to consider the environment around us. When working with a Los Angeles clothing manufacturer like The Evans Group (TEG), you’ll likely familiarize yourself with natural fiber.

Just don’t get us started on fast fashion!

But what is a ‘natural fiber,’ exactly? And how can these eco-friendly materials improve an already ambitious fashion design?

What Are Natural Fibers?

As the name suggests, natural fibers are the opposite of man-made, synthetic fibers like nylon, rayon, and polyester. When launching a fashion collection, these two categories play a massive role in how your finished product looks and feels.

Natural Fiber vs. Synthetic Fiber

There’s an important distinction between synthetic and natural fiber. With natural fiber, emerging independent fashion designers with cleaner, eco-friendly methods of developing clothing lines.

However, that doesn’t automatically mean that synthetic material isn’t sustainable in its own way.

Is Natural Fiber ‘Better’ Than Synthetic Fiber?

It depends on what you’re looking to get out of your clothing line.

Are you focused on lessening the environmental impact of the fashion industry? Then you’ll want to seriously consider natural fibers over synthetic.

However, a few synthetic fibers are helping us make valuable progress toward lowering carbon footprints everywhere. One such fiber is Tencel.

The Unique Case Of Tencel

For example, the development of Tencel, an offshoot of lyocell, is an excellent stride toward eco-friendly synthetic fabric. Tencel is a unique synthetic fabric in that it’s made from wood chips and is biodegradable. Think of something like polyester. Polyester requires so much more in terms of environmental cost.

Fashion blogger Summer Edwards writes about polyester:

“[Polyester] requires more than double the energy of conventional cotton to produce. The production of polyester uses harmful chemicals, including carcinogens, and if emitted to water and air untreated, can cause significant environmental damage.”

Edwards also notes that, along with harmful chemicals, polyester production also presents a grim prospect for local residents around factories with lower ethical standards.

“Most polyester is produced in countries such as China, Indonesia, and Bangladesh where environmental regulations are lax, and air and water pollution is often discharged untreated, resulting in significant pollution and harm to communities in the vicinity of (as well as downstream and downwind of) manufacturing plants.”

And it’s a shame, too, since polyester is such a versatile fabric.

But enough about polyester! We’re talking about the helpful synthetic fibers in the fashion industry.

Should You Use Tencel?

Is Tencel sustainable? Yes. Tencel is biodegradable and derives from wood.

Is Tencel better than natural fibers like cotton and linen? No. It still requires considerable chemical treatment in its production process.

However, Tencel is a fantastic alternative to other synthetic fabrics. Its use helps the entire textile industry move in a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly way.

If you include Tencel and other similar materials in your fashion designs, you’re well on your way to developing a stunning product using cellulose plant material. If you want versatility with garment strength and weave, Tencel is a great alternative.

So when you’re considering a sustainable clothing line, don’t immediately count out some newer, more eco-friendly synthetic options. You may be surprised as to what you can create.

Natural Fiber Examples

There are classic examples of natural fibers that can enhance any bespoke clothing line.

Cotton

Cotton is a beloved and iconic natural fiber. Naturally, cotton comes from the cotton plant.

You skip all the harmful chemicals and contaminants in standard cotton with organic cotton. With fewer chemicals, the production of organic cotton, and subsequent products, produces much fewer carbon emissions.

Aside from being an iconic natural fiber, cotton is always comfortable and soft! At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with cotton.

Linen

Are you looking to stay comfortable in the heat? Linen is the natural fiber for you. A great natural fiber, linen is strong, absorbent, and helps wearers stay cool, even in the hottest summer months.

However, linen tends to wrinkle easily. If this caveat affects how your clothing samples will fall on a model, you may want to consider opting for a different fabric.

Silk

What’s smoother than silk? Silk is a fantastic natural fiber deriving from silkworms. There are even vegan silk options, too, if you’re particularly interested.

Silk is smooth and defines any luxury clothing brand. However, silk maintenance can be difficult to handle if you’re not adequately prepared. Silk needs dry cleaning, even men’s neckties!

This maintenance can be a bitter pill to swallow, so choose your natural fiber carefully.

Natural Fiber For Clothing: Creating Clothing With The Evans Group

As far back as your expert fashion sketches, you should consider which natural fiber you will use for your clothing samples.

The Evans Group’s creative experts help veteran and rookie indie fashion designers think of, plan out, and produce clothing lines. As such, an indie fashion designer can pick the fibers and materials to use in their clothing line with the TEG fabric sourcing expert.

After you square away all the materials, it’s time to start the planning process. It’s time to break out the all-important fashion mood board, your launching pad into serious fashion design.

After consulting with Los Angeles pattern makers and textile workers, an indie fashion designer puts their clothing line into production. Depending on how quickly you need it, the clothing collection can be ready in a matter of weeks.

In short, you’re in excellent hands with our team of local textile designers, world-class seamstresses, and production managers.

Using Natural Fiber To Launch Your Own Clothing Line

We’re an American clothing manufacturer based in Los Angeles. As such, we focus on community and helping to prop up independent clothing designers. Whether it’s cotton, hemp, jute, or even Tencel, using these sustainable materials during production is a great way to promote environmentally-friendly products.

Unfortunately, the fashion industry is no stranger to harmful chemical dyes, landfills, and low-quality clothing flooding the markets. That’s why it’s imperative that ambitious indie fashion designers carefully and thoughtfully plan out their dream clothing line.

Whether it’s an out-of-the-box avant-garde dress line or a 1970s-inspired line of fashion accessories, The Evans Group has always been a strong advocate for creativity, growth, and sustainable fashion in Los Angeles.

Contact TEG

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