How rainforest destruction hides in our clothes - beware of rayon

http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-fashion/how-rainforest-destruction-hides-our-clothes.html

Rayon is an extremely popular fabric, and is used by most major clothing brands. It’s made by a complex chemical process, but at the beginning it starts with wood chips, which are turned into a product called dissolving pulp. Like all products that come from trees, this wood may be obtained by sustainable forestry practices. But in some cases, deforestation is weaved into its very fibers.

The rainforests of Indonesia have been experiencing large-scale deforestation over the course of the past decade. According to Global Forest Watch, the country lost over 15 million hectares (60,000 square miles) of tree cover between 2001 and 2013. On the island of Sumatra, one of the major contributors to deforestation is the expansion of wood pulping giant Toba Pulp Lestari, whose products are used to make both paper goods and textiles.

Over the past five to ten years, the demand for paper products has diminished as technology allows offices and communications to go digital. “So, the paper companies are looking for alternative markets,” said Ruth Nogueron, a researcher for World Resources Institute’s forest program. “Because setting up a pulp and paper mill is a big investment and you need to have a long-term financial strategy. The emergence of markets for new pulp products like textiles has been growing over the past couple of years.” According to one industry report, demand for dissolving pulp is growing, and wood-based fabrics are gaining market share against cotton and synthetic textiles.