The eco textiles industry is the world’s number one industrial water polluter. It uses millions of gallons of water to dissolve chemicals, dyes and detergents, which are then poured into the local water system where they can damage plant life, wildlife and seep into the groundwater.

Consequently, textile manufacturers are now being pressured to adopt more environmentally friendly manufacturing practices, such as being more energy efficient and recycling water. A lot of this pressure is being applied by the clothing industry, because eco textiles are becoming more popular all the time, both for use in fashion and in eco homes.

The growing popularity of eco textiles in fashion

The fashion industry has a bad reputation for designing throw away clothes at the lowest cost to producers, whilst at a high cost to the environment. But now the trend towards sustainability is influencing the clothes people buy on the high street.

Now trendy labels, top designers and catwalk models all want to be associated with a more sustainable way of manufacturing textiles. This means a greater availability of eco textiles for your eco home.

Ethical fashion encompasses reducing child labour, improving wages for workers in third world countries and making textiles from sustainable materials.

Eco textiles are more sustainable

Synthetic textiles, such as polyester, acrylic and nylon, are all made from petroleum, which is very energy intensive and polluting to manufacture. However, there are greener materials available though for use in your eco house.

Eco textiles are made from natural materials. This includes animal wool and plant fibres, such as organic cotton, hemp, jute, bamboo or linen. Eco textiles can be harvested over and over again and are more energy efficient to produce than synthetics.

Cotton, for example, is the most widely grown textile material in the world, but is also the most chemically intensive to harvest. It’s estimated that cotton crops use a quarter of the world’s insecticides and 10% of its pesticides.

But organic cotton is far more environmentally friendly. The greener harvesting methods used to grow organic cotton means it’s free of toxic chemical fertilizer and pesticides.

So when buying textiles materials for your eco home, make sure they’re eco textiles. This will help keep pressure on the textile industry to be more environmentally friendly in how it operates.

Creating an eco home can seem at odds with luxury. For too long, the eco movement has been associated with the anti-consumerist ‘woolly jumper brigade’, and eco homes seen as ugly prefabricated buildings which put function ahead of aesthetics.

But the perception of the eco home is changing.

Recently, the ‘Apple Hayes’ eco house was nominated in both the Best Eco Build and Best Luxury New Build categories at the Northern Design Awards. While at the high end of the scale, ‘Barnsley Hill Farm‘, with a £4m valuation, features a 25 seater home cinema, indoor pool and steam room but with the carbon footprint of an average two-bed flat.

These eco homes show that luxury and being environmentally friendly can go together. And the rise of an educated eco-conscious generation is leading to developers creating luxurious eco house developments all over Europe.

In the UK, ‘The Lakes’ features 160 luxury villas (starting at £870k) built with eco materials (e.g. sustainable timber) and with energy saving features, such as rainwater harvesting, wind turbines and solar panels.

In Switzerland one developer is pouring £1b into transforming the village of Andermatt into a car free community with 500 luxury apartments, which are to receive 50 percent of their energy from geothermal heating.

Eco furniture can be aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and green

As these examples show, eco homes can be aesthetically pleasing and luxurious. This extends to the eco furniture, eco appliances and other environmentally friendly features you furnish your eco house with.

Eco furniture is made from sustainably sourced materials, including textiles as well as timber, which are produced with the minimum environmental impact. The range of eco products available also includes eco wallpaper and non-toxic eco paints.

The growth of an eco conscious generation means there is a growing market for luxurious eco homes, along with eco beds, eco chairs and other items of eco furniture which are attractive, comfortable and environmentally friendly.