Wool textiles and clothing

For textiles and clothing produced from natural fibres from animals, the production system and system boundaries must cover all aspects of the animal production system involved in fibre production, and this stage represents the main difference between wool and production of man-made or plant-derived fibres. An example of a system boundary diagram illustrating the various key contributors over the life cycle of an article of clothing from wool is given in Figure 10.2. 

Expansion of synthetic fiber production is crucial if the textile industry is to supply more and better clothing to consumers. Synthetics will substitute for natural homegrown cotton, wool or silk in the production of textiles and thus release land previously devoted to cotton, for food production. Cotton cloth production at the 1980 level of 12 billion square meters is insufficient to meet domestic demand, and is still rationed. 

Clothes-moth [13,175,269,270] larvae attack wool with a mixture of enzymes that catalyze the reduction of cystine residue disulfide cross-links and the hydrolysis of peptide bonds. Wool is usually moth-proofed by treatment with insecticides that are absorbed like dyes and show similar fastness. The wool textile industry applies insect-resistant agents mainly to carpet wools, which account for about 85% of the treated wool. Insect-resistant agents are of two classes those which have been developed specifically for use on wool, and those which consist of agricultural insecticides that have been specially formulated for use with wool. The former group is usually polychlorinated aromatic compounds, and the latter group is based on synthetic pyrethroid insecticides. 

Flame retardant finish for technical wool fabrics. Within the technical textile sector, wool textiles requiring high levels of heat and flame resistance are limited in the main to the contract and transport furnishing fabric and protective clothing markets. The non-thermoplastic and char-forming characteristics of wool, coupled with an inherently quite high level of low flanunabiUty, make it an ideal fibre when handle, comfort, and aesthetics are also required. 

Figure 13.10 shows the product flow of a sorting plant for textiles. The collected material is used clothes, 15-40% cloths, 20-40% secondary textiles and used wool, 15-20% rags, 10-15% and trash for waste incineration, 5-10%. The given percentages are based on surveys. 

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