Is Rayon Sustainable?

RAYON

Kim and I have been debating whether or not rayon is an acceptable and suitable fabric for us as environmentally and socially conscious fashion designers. We want to stay within our personal and professional guidelines but it can be difficult as new designers, taking the next leap and creating a collection. With all the beautiful silks and cottons and silk/cotton blends taunting us, they are not always the right fit. Our experience has been that they are not only expensive but many of them (especially linen) are super wrinkly, and when we are creating a women's wear collection for summer that needs to be work appropriate they do not always "work" (wrinkly clothes look straight up sloppy). We also want to keep our price points down which means finding amazing fabrics that work within our needs. This is where the debate of RAYON comes in. 

Rayon is made from cellulose fibres, such as wood (usually pine, spruce, or hemlock trees) or cotton pulp; however it is created, making it synthetic. Rayon is usually classified as a manufactured fiber and considered to be “regenerated cellulose”. Therefore, the question is, how manufactured is it?  Does the fact that it is based from natural fibres weigh out all the chemicals that go into forming it?

When rayon was first created it was known as the "artificial silk" and today it is used in multiple textiles. We like it because it has a great drape that is hard to find in cottons and linens, and it is cheaper than silk or other draping fabrics such as tencel. Plus, with all our dyeing we like to do rayon is an absorbent fabric that takes well to dyes. Finding a fabric that has the right feel and drape is important and as an eco-designer, straight up challenging, so rayon is an amazing alternative, in that respect.  

We don't like it because, like bamboo (which is another article for another day), it needs the help of chemicals to form it into the soft drape of a fabric it is. The below diagram gives you a brief run down on the processes used to manufacture rayon.

These processes use harmful chemicals that make this a challenging dilemma. Perhaps the answer is to find re-purposed rayon but when it comes to creating clothes instead of accessories the yardage is hard to come by. We have not yet solved our fabric issues, but we are always up for a challenge!

What do you think? Is rayon an acceptable sustainable fabric?

-Alex