Top 5 chemical substances that we find in our clothes

It is by becoming aware of the extreme negative impact of synthetic dyes that we decided to create Fibre Bio and to make natural dye more accessible to everybody.

 

But why?

As said in our previous article, overall, synthetic dyes are devastating: 

• For the environment: reject of hazardous wastes, water pollution, … 
• For the health of workers in direct contact with harmful products.

 

And what about your health?

Well, finally, those harmful products do not disappear like that after the production step. They fill our clothes… that are always in direct contact with our skin…

 

You have to know that only for dyes, we can count at least 2000 “potentially” harmful products. Among those, a bit less than ⅕ were toxicology analysed and almost half of them were declared as very harmful. 

 

 

Despite the fact that some of them are still unknown, we asked ourselves at Fibre Bio what were the consequences on our health. 

Endocrine disruptors, heavy metals and nanomaterials: some of these substances are forbidden, other are controlled. Here is what we found about them! 

 

Number 1: DICHLOROMETHANE is extremely irritating. It is a solvent often present in jeans made in Asia. 

Number 2: DIMETHYL FUMARATE is a carcinogenic antifungal forbidden in Europe but usually present in imported textiles and leathers from countries where its use is not controlled.

 

Number 3: PHTHALATES are used to soften plastic fabrics such as polyester. They are unequivocal endocrine disruptors particularly present on drawings and inscriptions printed on fabrics. 

 

Number 4: FORMALDEHYDE helps to make clothes crease-resistant and water-resistant. But that’s not it! It also increases the risk of developing asthma and allergies and also causes eyes and respiratory tract irritations.

Number 5: PERFLUORINATED COMPOUNDS are surfactants that protect fibres from grease and humidity. Easier to clean, these textiles also cause problems with infertility, cancers, imune and neurological problems.

 

This list is not exhaustive. In our clothes, we can also find: lead, benzide, nonyphenols, pentachlorophenol…

And of course, these harmful products are also present on the labels, which make the use of these dyes extremely complicated to implement. 

And who says lack of control, also says that a lot of abuses can be done!

We know that this article can be a little bit scary. Usually we prefer informing you about the positive solutions we can have but sometimes, we also need to go through a period of understanding and acceptance of the underlying problem to be able to act afterwards.

Ourselves, we also got into this 😉

Sources:
http://www.reponsesbio.com/2012/04/04/textile-industriel-attention-danger/
https://www.bastamag.net/Textile-ces-vetements-qui-nous
http://www.danger-sante.org/toxique-vetements/
https://www.greenpeace.fr/dessous-toxiques-de-mode/
https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/rseau/2011-v24-n3-rseau5004724/1006453ar/