Japanese craftsmanship improves fiber quality, as company plans Europe sales:
HighChem, a Tokyo-based chemical trading company, has applied Japanese traditional craftsmanship to improve a Chinese-made biodegradable plastic fiber so it can be used in fashionable apparel and is marketing the fiber and fabrics to European garment makers.
[...] Yuichi Taka said he had gotten the idea of using PLA as an apparel fiber but his father opposed it at first. Major Japanese chemical makers had tried to commercialize PLA fibers but had not had success in dealing with the fibers' technical weaknesses, such as insufficient heat resistance. President Taka, an engineer, knew their unsuccessful attempts well.
He decided to make a business of PLA fibers despite his father's opposition in early 2021, saying he "would like to draw on the wisdom of the Japanese fiber and textile industries." HighChem has hired four apparel and fabric specialists so far and has marketed the fibers to traditional textile producers across Japan, including makers of synthetic fibers in Fukui Prefecture and denim fabrics in Okayama Prefecture.
Fiber and textile craftspeople who did not have preconceptions steadily improved the PLA fibers to the level of apparel quality by mixing them with natural fibers like cotton and plant-derived modifying agents. "The quality fibers have been realized because we are in Japan, where craftspeople propose the ways of improvement. We are in a business environment that is not available in China," Taka said.
[...] The fiber still has problems with heat resistance, requiring restrictions on ironing, and sells at $12 per kilogram, three times the price of polyester fibers. However, Europe's high-quality apparel brands are expanding the use of sustainable materials despite their higher costs. In view of this favorable factor, HighChem targets sales of Highlact of 5 billion yen ($37.7 million) for 2024.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @01:14AM (2 children)
Most of my clothes come from thrift shops -- think Goodwill, but we have "Savers" which has a much better selection than the local Goodwill outlets. Many of the items at Savers appear like new, some even have tags still on. I guess quite a few impulse shoppers don't return their purchases in time, so after a year or two they donate them?
If this degradable fabric catches on, there's going to be less available on the pre-worn market.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @02:20AM (1 child)
PLA requires industrial composting temperatures just to partially breakdown even a ~portion~ of the initial polyester, at room temp degrades no faster than any other plastic around you or swirling in our oceans. Adding 15% cotton fiber for fashion/premium feel isn't going to change that either.
This may provide new options for disposal of unwearable worn out garments, which are currently uneconomical to recycle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @06:16AM
True. https://www.biosphereplastic.com/biodegradableplastic/uncategorized/is-pla-compostable/ [biosphereplastic.com]
Is degradable, not biodegradable
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @01:25AM
I wear cotton because it's biodegradable, durable, and comfy.
These shitty Japanese clothes are a mix of plastic plus cotton (or whatever organic fiber).
Why not cut out the plastic altogether? This is a VERY marginal use of garbage plastic.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @01:31AM (2 children)
Japan is a cargo-cult democracy - the people of Japan do not appreciate democracy because they never fought for it in the first place. Democracy was imposed on them by America, and since then, one single party ruled the country (with a brief interruption in the late 90s) - dominated by the descendants of the WWII war criminals.
As for this particular garbage post, there are many outfits processing the discarded plastic into textile. And there is no such thing as "Chinese plastic" except perhaps because China produces and discard so much plastic products.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @02:36AM (1 child)
Most PLA is made into disposable food packaging or for industrial use, and apparently few or no-one uses it for fabrics... so why would you doubt that quote "Chinese-made biodegradable plastic fiber" is talking about a specific (Chinese) source of fiber material. NatureWorks makes PLA fiber and certainly has offices in Shanghai https://www.echemi.com/cms/114389.html [echemi.com]
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 15 2022, @02:53AM
Do the Chinese have a patent on PLA? Do the Japanese have a patent on processing PLA in textile? What makes it Chinese-Japanese issue? Does plastics have nationality?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by anubi on Wednesday June 15 2022, @02:15AM (5 children)
It bothers me to make anything deliberately designed to deteriorate/fail.
I am all for design from the get-go to reclaim it's components for re-use, but to me it's a sin to deliberately design stuff to fail.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by bussdriver on Wednesday June 15 2022, @07:19AM (1 child)
No; forever chemicals end up inside our cells as micro...nano plastics. The top source for microplastics are fabrics. They may last a long time but they do wear from washing and leave microplastics that is before they are fully worn in which case those fibers spread forever getting smaller and smaller.
Fashion creates more obsolescence from human manipulation than the material science does. We already wreak economies by dumping cheap or free old clothing on them that lasts longer than the owners desire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 16 2022, @09:13PM
Also for many people (probably not well represented here) clothes are out of style, and thus garbage, in a few months (weeks?) anyway.
(Score: 2) by RamiK on Wednesday June 15 2022, @08:36AM (2 children)
A lot of women's wear is seasonal or even single-use disposable so using cheap & degradable materials and construction there is excusable.
compiling...
(Score: 3, Informative) by anubi on Wednesday June 15 2022, @01:34PM (1 child)
No complaint here!
Clothing is not a durable. Especially around fashion and kids.
I just object to mixing plastic fiber in it. I wish they would use just natural fibers. Cotton. Hemp. Possibly some grasses.
What cripes me to see things like cars, washing machines and other major appliances, stuff that could be heirlooms, rendered inoperative due to failure of some cheap little part. A lot of my old stuff was made to last, but all too common, I've seen way too many appliances and cars made in such a way to limit their lifetime.
A lot of stuff is still made very well. What I am fussing about is stuff like that microwave oven made with a little plastic catch on the door that is easily broken.
However, I have found many other things still made to last. I have some of the best gardening tools I've ever had. Good steel and fiberglass handles, and beautiful workmanship, at a Home Depot price
On my van, my woe was a replacement glow plug relay, and the manufacturer used aluminum for contacts. It welded shut and took out my alternator and the whole set of glow plugs. It also caused the starter motor to fail as I tried to start with open glow plugs.
Another thing..."disposable" plastic. Why isn't it all made of the same formula of plastic, so it can all be mixed, heated, liquefied, and re-extruded as building material, such as planks and beams for outdoor decking?
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 3, Informative) by ncc74656 on Friday June 17 2022, @03:16PM
FWIW, the "plastic" in question is PLA, a biopolymer most commonly made from cornstarch. It's not made of petrochemicals. It's probably the most common plastic used with 3D printers because it doesn't produce noxious fumes when printing and is usable at lower temperatures.