Japan | Basking in the catwalk spotlight of a Tokyo fashion show alongside a Yen 5 million (US$ 50 000) sable coat from Russia, a cape made from polyester is being billed as ‘ecological’. The cape, a bolero and several other creations of Japanese designer Chie Imai use real chinchilla and mink from fur farms but the fabric is recycled polyester produced by Japanese plastics and pharmaceutical specialist Teijin Ltd.
‘We have not compromised quality - and tying in ecology with fur is such a fascinating concept,’ Ms Imai told The Associated Press. She is the latest designer to use synthetic materials with fur despite complaints from animal rights activists that the term ‘ecological’ is a ploy to distract people from the mistreatment of animals. But Ms Imai argues that fur itself is ecological because it can be worn for generations and ‘returns to the earth’ as organic material which causes no pollution. This knowledge allows her clientele - including the Japanese royal family and movie stars like Sarah Jessica Parker - to feel green, she said.
The mink bolero is selling for Yen 1.2 million (US$ 12 000) while the chinchilla cape has a Yen 8.4 million (US$ 84 000) price tag.
Annually, Teijin produces some 7000 tonnes of recycled polyester from used polyester clothing, according to company spokesman Yoshihito Usami. Old clothing is first broken down into fragments as small as a grain of rice prior to treatment with chemicals and heat to remove colouring, buttons, zips and other foreign objects to produce the basic ingredient for polyester, dimethyl terephthalate, or DMT, he explains. This is then made into thread that gets spun into polyester fabric.
Applying this approach to the recycling of 3000 T-shirts cuts carbon dioxide emissions by 77% and energy consumption by 84% when compared to making them from scratch, according to Teijin. However, most of the recycled fabric is used for work clothes and uniforms rather than for exclusive fashion garments.
