What is Lyocell Fabric and is it a Sustainable Material?
Lyocell fabric is a semi-synthetic fiber known for being comfortable and sustainable. It’s an increasingly popular choice of fabric for delicate clothing and is also great for active wear.
While the highly artificial manufacturing process lyocell goes through might make you hesitate, it really is a sustainable fabric and is great to wear too.
What is Lyocell Fabric?
Lyocell fabric isn’t quite natural and isn’t quite synthetic. Unlike synthetic fibers like polyester or nylon, it’s made from natural materials, but unlike natural fibers like cotton or hemp, it’s highly processed using synthetic substances.
Lyocell fabric has a smooth, silky texture and has a good stretch to it, all while being fairly durable. It’s known for its comfort and softness, which makes it a popular choice for more delicate clothing.
And because it’s made entirely from wood through a fairly environmentally friendly process, it’s a pretty sustainable choice of fabric.
What exactly Lyocell fabric is and what makes it special is actually a bit of a complicated question to answer, but by understanding where it came from, it’s much easier to understand.
One of the most sought-after fabrics in history was silk, which is well known for its delicate texture and beautiful shimmer. However, silk is very costly and extremely intensive to produce, so scientists came up with a way to artificially imitate it.
The product of this was rayon fabric, which continues to be popular to this day. Rayon, also called viscose, can be made to imitate everything from silk to wool and linen.
The rayon fabric you get at the end of the manufacturing process is made entirely of wood, meaning the fabric itself is an entirely natural material. The problem with rayon is that you need to use extremely harsh chemicals to make it, which are harmful to both humans and the environment.
Different Types of Lyocell
Lyocell is often compared to rayon, but it is actually a special type of rayon, not an entirely different fabric. It was invented in 1972 by American Enka, who was trying to find a less environmentally damaging way of producing rayon.
The process for making lyocell is almost the same as making rayon. The main difference is that the chemicals are less harsh, and they can be reused almost indefinitely. That means you only need a small amount of chemicals to make lots of fabric.
Lyocell has a reputation as an environmentally friendly fiber, and it lives up to it. Its manufacturing process was specifically designed with sustainability in mind, and TENCEL™ lyocell, which is the most common kind of lyocell, is harvested from sustainably managed forests.
What is Lyocell Fabric Made From?
Image Credit: Galyna_Andrushko via Envato Elements
Short answer, lyocell fabric is made from wood! It’s as simple as that. You cut down a tree, process it, and out comes soft, high-quality fabric.
The specifics aren’t quite as simple. First off, lyocell can be made of any kind of wood. That means how sustainable your lyocell is, depends on where the wood was harvested from. Luckily, most lyocell fabric is TENCEL™ lyocell, which uses wood exclusively harvested from eucalyptus trees in sustainably managed forests.
The wood from these trees is chipped down to pieces roughly the size of postage stamps. These pieces are dissolved in a solvent and then pushed through a bunch of small holes, kind of like water through a showerhead.
Long, continuous strands come out of the holes, which are then washed in water to remove the solvent, and dried. The strands come out of this process ready to be weaved together into the fabric and turned into clothing.
Is Lyocell Better Than Rayon?
Lyocell is often compared to rayon, but really, they’re the same kind of fabric made through different methods. Lyocell is made more sustainably and also uses a more advanced process that gives it some improved properties over normal rayon.
The biggest difference between lyocell and rayon is how they’re made. They both start out as wood and end up as fabric made from that wood, but it’s what happens in between that makes all the difference.
When lyocell is made, it’s dissolved in relatively safe chemicals, which are then reused for the next batch of fabric. This is a big improvement over rayon, which is dissolved in highly toxic chemicals that can’t be reused, and so pose a big threat to the environment.
So when considering sustainability, it’s no contest. Lyocell is just better than rayon.
And because of other improvements in the production process, lyocell is also just a better fabric than rayon. It’s moisture-wicking, is generally considered more comfortable, and is a much stronger fabric.
The only place rayon has lyocell beat is price, which is the reason rayon is still a widely popular fabric. Lyocell is a newer fabric that takes some expensive technology to produce, so it’s not available in as high a quantity or as low a price as rayon is.
But if you can manage the price, lyocell has rayon beat in every other way.
Is Lyocell Fabric Sustainable?
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Your first instinct when looking for a sustainable fabric might leave you skeptical of lyocell’s highly artificial production process. But lyocell really is one of the most sustainable fabrics out there.
Assuming you’re buying TENCEL™ lyocell, all the wood going into the fabric is harvested from FSC-certified sustainably managed forests, so you can be confident your clothing choices aren’t contributing to deforestation.
The wood in TENCEL™ lyocell comes from eucalyptus trees, which grow quickly, don’t need pesticides, and don’t use a lot of water. In fact, fabric made from eucalyptus trees uses less than half as much water as cotton does.
And while processing, the wood does use some highly artificial chemicals, but these aren’t highly toxic, unlike normal rayon. They’re also almost entirely reused over each batch of lyocell. That means these chemicals aren’t being released into the environment and only need to be produced in small quantities.
And at the end of the process, you’re left with a fabric made of natural, decomposable material.
The only downside is that the process does take a significant amount of energy, and if that’s coming from fossil fuels, that means a lot of CO2 going into the atmosphere. But considering all the benefits, lyocell is still a very sustainable fabric.
Pros and Cons of Lyocell Fabric
Pros
- Lyocell fabric is undeniably one of the most sustainable choices of fabric available.
- Lyocell is known for its smooth and delicate texture, making it great for high-quality clothing.
- Lyocell is breathable and moisture-wicking, which makes it perfect for active wear.
- It’s also a fairly strong fabric despite its delicate texture, which means it makes clothing that lasts.
Cons
- Lyocell’s main downside is its high price. It’s a fairly new material made through a complicated process using expensive technology, so it comes at a higher price point than similar fabrics.
- Although lyocell is durable as far as delicate fibers go, it does require some special care when you’re washing it.
Final Thoughts on Lyocell Fabric
Lyocell fabric isn’t as natural a fiber as cotton or hemp, but don’t let that turn you off. It is a very sustainable fabric that happens to be super comfortable and durable too.
While the high price point might scare some people off, if you can afford it, lyocell is absolutely one of the best options out there, both in terms of sustainability and comfort.
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