Top Tips: Eco-friendly fabrics
You can probably trust your linen supplier to know which of his or her products are environmentally friendly. But if you know what you’re looking for at the start, you can make the processes easier for them—and you. Here are some tips for choosing an eco-friendly fabric for your table linens, décor and draperies.
TIP 1: Know what shade of green you want. A fabric can be made from natural organic materials grown without pesticides or chemicals. Or, the raw materials could come from a farm with sustainable growing practices. A fabric may also be called eco-friendly if its production adheres to fair trade practices. And fabric can even be made from things such as recycled water bottles, clothing scraps and spider webs. You’ll need to decide what shade of green is most desirable for your event.
TIP 2: Be willing to experiment. Hessian cloth is a coarse woven fabric made from jute or hemp. FORTREL EcoSpun uses fiber made from plastic containers. Organic linen is made with flax fiber and comes in a natural cream or light tan. Soy silk is made with the waste from the tofu manufacturing process. It’s softer than cotton, much more durable, warm, absorbent and lightweight.
TIP 3:Don’t forget to clean up. Organic or eco-friendly dry cleaning has come a long way in recent years, and many linen suppliers now have updated cleaning processes that are kinder to the environment. Check with your supplier to see how they clean their products. Ask for a tour of the facility to get a better understanding how chemicals are used. The more you know, the more authoritative you’ll be in case your client wants to know all the nitty-gritty “green” details.