I wouldn’t call what I had this week an “epiphany,” I’d be more likely to call it a harsh realization. After reading the Materials Maze article, I realized that not only are textiles made from “natural” fibers not as great I once thought they were, but synthetics aren’t so great either. I know there are pros and cons to both, and neither is necessarily better than the other, but I just found it frustrating that neither option is “good” for the environment.

Natural materials are usually treated with chemicals that cause the materials to not be completely natural anymore, therefore knocking them out of their biological cycle, and synthetic materials, while able to be kept in a completely looped cycle, still use awful chemicals in their processes.

Overall, I’m just really frustrated with this week, because I feel like there’s no right answer. A lot of things need to be taken into consideration when trying to adhere to these close-loop cycles, making it difficult to accept for me. I guess in the future, I would like to learn about textiles that are less harmful to the environment, although that doesn’t seem very realistic.