At Offset Warehouse, we're always thriving to find the latest fabrics that are both eco-friendly and socially beneficial, but no fabric is 100% "ethical", which is why education is central to our ethos: it is vital to first understand the pros and cons of a fabric and make decisions whether to use them, based on this knowledge.
Recently, we've noticed a little confusion surrounding VISCOSE - so today, we'll hopefully shed a little light and get some facts straight...
Viscose (aka artificial silk) is a synthetic material made with a natural fibre – WOOD PULP. This is one of the pros to Viscose, as the wood pulp is taken from crops of spruce or beech, which are monitored to ensure that trees are replaced.
The cons come with the chemicals used to process the fibre; the pulp is first soaked in caustic soda, and then shredded and allowed to age. Caustic soda is extremely damaging to human tissue, plants and animals, so is vital that the fluids are not let out into rivers and seas. The pulp (which is turning more and more into a liquid cellulose substance throughout this process) is then treated with carbon disulfide – which is BAD for the environment, and is one cause of acid rain, that consequently also leads to acid erosion.
After this, the pulp is treated again with caustic soda. Throughout the process so far, acetate dope is used to ensure the viscose is silky and soft to skin.
During this process, the liquid cellulose is forced through a spinneret, and once in a coagulating bath the cellulose is regenerated and solid cellulose filaments are formed. The physical structure of the filament can be changed by modifying the spinning process, to produce different types of end result.
