The materials used and the production of textiles are often not very sustainable. With the aim of making sustainable fashion accessible and affordable for all, we work every day to find and implement sustainable alternatives to conventional materials for our products.
It is becoming increasingly clear to us that the thoughtless consumption of textiles causes problems for the environment and people. Customers increasingly want to actively contribute to conserving the planet's resources and improving working conditions in production countries through their consumer behavior. The alternatives that seem to be on offer are organic cotton and recycled versions of artificial materials such as polyester. What can eco-fabrics do - and what can't they do?
Organic cotton: why it is good for the environment
Cotton is a greedy crop. Cotton cultivation devours vast amounts of water, and not only that: herbicides and pesticides are used to make high yields possible. These not only poison the soil and groundwater, but also the people who work in the textile industry and, ultimately, the consumers.
In the cultivation of organic cotton, on the other hand, harmful factors are consistently avoided. It already starts with the seeds. The cotton seeds must not be genetically modified. Artificial fertilisers are not used in cultivation, nor are herbicides or pesticides, although manual weeding is extremely time-consuming. The result is impressive: if you buy just one T-shirt made of organic cotton, you get 7m² of soil free of chemical pollutants! Water consumption is also lower with organic cotton. While a kilogram of cotton in "normal" cultivation devours more than 10,000 litres (!) of water, only a little more than half of this amount is needed in organic cultivation through targeted drip irrigation. An equally important factor is that the people who work in cotton cultivation and in the textile processing industry must not be exploited so that the finished fabric really deserves its organic label. All this has its price. Accordingly, a garment made from the soft, breathable fabric is more expensive than "fast fashion" made from conventional cotton.
What is recycled polyester?
Around half of the clothing produced worldwide is made of polyester - and the trend is rising, especially in sports and leisure fashion. However, these hard-wearing, elastic fabrics are not sustainable, as they are made from PET plastic, a by-product of the oil industry. However, polyester can be recycled. The material obtained in this way, known as rPET for short, is produced by melting down polyester and spinning it into new fibers. The yield is good, five plastic bottles can be turned into fibers for a T-shirt! This naturally reduces the consumption of new synthetic fibers and helps to ensure that less plastic waste ends up in the environment. However, PET cannot be reused indefinitely. With every recycling process, the molecules are broken down and become partially unusable. As a result, the "yield" of recycling becomes smaller and smaller. In addition, the recycling process itself consumes energy and chemicals and releases microplastics.
Not perfect - but better
There is - as yet - no "perfect" solution for textile production. Both the increasingly popular organic cotton and rPET-based garments cannot be produced in a completely environmentally and pollutant-neutral way. Nevertheless, they are of course preferable to conventionally produced textiles because they significantly reduce the impact on people and the environment. Consumers can make a significant contribution to reducing the environmental impact by adopting conscious consumer behavior, i.e. by buying a few high-quality items instead of constantly renewing their "fast fashion" wardrobe! Because here too, it's not just the quality that matters, but also the quantity!
How NIKIN gets involved
At NIKIN , we want our range of sustainable products at fair prices to help consumers make conscious choices for clothing that is less harmful to the environment. We are therefore always on the lookout for suitable sustainable alternatives to conventional materials. We have long been using GOTS-certified organic cotton and recycled polyester for our textile products instead of conventional textiles. Of course, we are aware that we are not yet perfect, but we are heading in the right direction! Our aim: We want sustainable materials to become the standard and not just a luxury for the few. We want to make sustainable and fair fashion accessible and affordable for everyone.
