APPAREL FABRICS & DRESS MATERIALS

Today's clothing is made from a wide range of different materials. Traditional materials like cotton, linen, and leather are still obtained from plants and animals. But it is more likely that most clothing is made from materials based on fossil fuels and chemicals derived from crude oil. There are many Apparel fabrics & dress materials that are commonly used in clothing today.

Synthetic material The source of synthetic fibres and clothing is fossil fuel crude oil. It is estimated that 62% of all fibres used in the fashion industry are made from synthetic materials, mainly polyester, but also nylon, acrylic, polypropylene, and elastane.

Cotton One of the oldest used fibres and the most important non-food crop in the world is cotton. Cotton currently accounts for around 24% of all fibre used globally (around 26.2 million tonnes), but its market share is declining due to competition from synthetic alternatives. Cotton production is particularly important to farmers in low-income countries, where an estimated 350 million people are involved in its cultivation and processing.

Cellulosic Fiber / Viscose These materials start out as cellulose extracted from a natural resource (such as bamboo or trees), which is then ground, pulped, and made into fibers using a process similar to that used to make polyester. The most common cellulosic fabric is viscose, prized for its silk-like properties (rayon, the first type of viscose fabric to be invented, was made to imitate silk). Every year around 6.5 million tons of man-made cellulosic fibres are produced for the textile market, which represents six per cent of the total volume of fibre production. This share is expected to grow by around 8.1% per year through 2025. The main pulp processing centres are in China, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Taiwan and Indonesia.1

Wool A traditional fibre, especially in cold climates, wool has a small and declining share of the world market (around 1%). A global herd of approximately 1,177 million sheep produces approximately 1,155 million kilograms (kg) of clean raw wool annually. This roughly equates to a single woollen sweater per person per year for everyone on the planet. These figures include woollen textiles used for non-clothing items such as furniture or rugs.

Silk An ancient and highly prized fabric, silk is derived primarily from the thread produced by the domesticated silkworm species Bombyx mori. In 2020, about 0.11 million tons of silk were produced in more than 60 countries, but the bulk of the production is concentrated in China, India, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam3. Compared to other natural fibres, silk is incredibly valuable, costing around $15 per kilo, making the value of production around $3.03 billion a year.