Which incontinence product is more environmentally sustainable – cloth or disposable?   While cloth might seem like the obvious choice, the answer is a bit complicated.  I discovered just how complicated when I started doing a little research. I was sure a few hours of internet searching, a phone call to my local recycling center and an online sustainability seminar or two would make this an easy blog to write.  I’d confirm my own bias and declare cloth victorious.  Not so fast. 

Let’s take a look at sustainability in the fashion industry (“fashion” includes cloth incontinence underwear).   Here are some sobering stats from a 2019 United Nations report (1).  The fashion industry is the second most polluting industry in the world (behind fuel) producing 20% of global wastewater and 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.  What’s more:

·       2,000 gallons of water are needed to make one pair of jeans

·       93 billion cubic meters of water, enough for 5 million people to survive, is used by the fashion industry every year

·       Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned

·       Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014

·       The average person is buying 60% more items of clothing than they did 15 years ago but keeping them half as long. 

Not only are consumers in the US buying more than we used to, we tend to toss our unwanted clothing directly into the trash where it ends up clogging landfills to the tune of 8.9 million tons, or 80 pounds per person, per year (2).  Clothing takes about 20 – 200 years to decompose depending on landfill conditions and fabric composition.  Clothing made from a higher percentage of petroleum-based fibers takes longer than, say, organic cotton.  To top it off, decomposing clothes produce methane – a significant contributor to greenhouse gasses. 

8.9 million tons of clothing/footwear plus 3.3 million tons of disposable incontinence products/diapers are tossed in USA landfills each year. Yuck.

Okay, what about the environmental impact of disposable products?  It’s hard to find apples-to-apples comparisons of adult incontinence products since most studies have been done on infant diapers.  That said, according to the EPA, 3.3 million tons of disposable diapers and incontinence products end up in landfills each year.  Most are made from wood pulp, plastic and gel.  It takes 250 – 500 years for them to decompose – about twice as long as cloth. 

The arguments in favor of disposable products center on relatively lower energy and water resource utilization because, obviously, you don’t use hot water to wash disposables when you’re done wearing them like you do with cloth.  Other arguments point to newer products made from sustainably sourced raw materials offering fewer harsh chemicals and other improvements designed to make disposables more attractive.  The jury is still out in terms of how well these products decompose in landfill, which is where they are all heading, green or not.   

We’ve all seen the TV ads advising us to reduce, reuse and recycle.  When it comes to disposables, our best option is to reduce consumption.  Although it is technologically possible to recycle disposables, it is not yet commercially feasible.  Reuse, of course, is out of the question.   

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Here’s the good news.  When it comes to clothing, we can do all three.  Reduce means buying fewer clothes and wearing them longer.  Did you know that by doubling the time we use each item of clothing, we halve the industry’s greenhouse gas emissions?  Reuse means donating unwanted clothes rather than tossing them.  Recycle can mean upcycling, donating or taking our old clothes to a local textile recycling center.  

Next time you clean out your closet, find a used clothing drop off location for your unwanted clothes.     Your donated clothing will find a second life on the shelf of a local thrift store.  According to the Savers website (3), most items that don’t sell in their stores are not doomed to landfill.  They might be donated to local charity (60%), upcycled or downcycled into reusable products (20%), turned into post-consumer textile fibers (15%) or, finally, landfill (5%).  That’s making a difference!  

Wait – what about underwear?  Clothing recycling centers and donation drop boxes don’t accept them, right?  We asked EcoCycle, our local recycling center, if they will accept Prickly Pear products, explaining that urine absorption is part of garment functionality.  To our great joy, they will.  The only caveat is that our used products must be washed before they’re donated.  When Prickly Pear is up and running, we plan to have a take-back policy so you can send your used Pricklys back to us if you can’t find a local donation box.  We will coordinate with EcoCycle to take it from there. 

A box of used clothing, heading to a thrift store near you!

Increasingly, the fashion industry is embracing the notion of sustainability.  Go to any fashion or sourcing Expo these days and you will have your choice of seminars to attend.  A virtual session on Sustainability in Textiles (4) recently offered by Outdoor Retailer talked about sustainability across the entire spectrum from the manufacture of fibers to fabric construction, materials added (zippers, buttons), ease of garment deconstruction (to facilitate recycling of components), coloration and dyes.  Then there are packaging, power source, transportation and ethical workplace considerations.  It all matters.  

Some companies are in the early stages of regulatory compliance and risk management, others are moving toward carbon footprint management, green messaging and marketing through product innovation tied to sustainability (this is where Prickly Pear sits right now).  The most advanced aim to transform the industry, viewing business decisions through a sustainability lens (think Patagonia and Unifi.)  Finally, claims of sustainability must be authentic and traceable.  It’s one thing to say a product is “green”, it’s another to show exactly what that means. 

In the end, cloth is the greener choice, but only if we buy less, wear longer, and give our clothes an extended life through donation.  We encourage you to go forth, wear Prickly Pear, and donate or send em’ back when you’re done.       

(1)   https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035161

(2)  https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/nondurable-goods-product-specific-data#ClothingandFootwear

(2)  https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/nondurable-goods-product-specific-data#DisposableDiapers

(3)  https://www.savers.com/sites/default/files/community_impact_report_2018-savers.pdf

(4)  https://event.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1328261&tp_key=5572f6208e

Images by Zorb Fabrics

Before launching Prickly Pear, I searched high and low for an incontinence product that would allow me to run without fear of leakage.  The product had to conceal leaks, be comfortable, and discreet.  I tried lots of products—washable underwear, snap-in padding, leggings with cotton terry gussets, and a disposal option wonderfully named Justgogirl.  Nothing held up except for Justgogirl, but I wanted something more environmentally sustainable.  (Disposables and fabric both accumulate in landfills and some experts disagree about which is worse—more about this in a future blog.)

The market is fairly saturated with washable incontinence underwear, some of it perfectly okay for everyday wear, none of it adequate for athletic use—at least not for women like me who leak more than the 8 or fewer teaspoons (that’s 1.33333 ounces) many promise to absorb.  So I decided to take a look at how the products currently on the market are constructed. Here’s what I learned: Incontinence underwear gussets are typically made of synthetic blends.  Polyester is popular because it is hydrophobic, meaning it wicks moisture away from the skin and distributes it evenly as it absorbs rather than letting it pool.  A layer of breathable moisture barrier keeps urine from leaking through onto clothes.  What an improvement over disposable plastic liners, right?

Hold on! What about women who have been advised to wear only cotton underwear because of a history of frequent UTI or vaginal infections?  Wouldn’t polyester compound the problem?  It certainly can.  While today’s synthetics mimic many of the desirable properties of natural fibers, they simply aren’t as breathable.  Bacteria that cause yeast and other forms of vaginitis thrive in warm, moist environments – like that created by exercising in tight-fitting clothing.  The last thing we want to do is solve one problem and create another.  

I was beginning to understand why the industry hasn’t produced a super absorbent, thin, comfortable, breathable, moisture-wicking, leak-concealing incontinence product for active women.  One fabric can’t possibly meet all those specs, right?  The solution was there all along; it just took us a while to find.  

We came upon it during the renaming phase of Prickly Pear Sports.  After weeks of rejecting ideas as soon as we thought them up, my husband said, “Why don’t you name it SHEZORB”?  “Uh, what?”  I replied.  I Googled it anyway just to see what would come up.  What came up was Zorb fabrics, made by a company called Wazoodle.  Wazoodle produces fabric for the washable diaper, incontinence and medical application markets.  It is a family-owned company that provides a refreshing level of customer support.  They helped us identify the right combinations of synthetic and natural fibers, explaining the benefits and tradeoffs of each one.  We chose a mix of polyester and bamboo and ran it by our prototype testers.  It passed the test.  

Twelve prototype testers engaged in their favorite activities including running, cross fit, aerial aerobics, climbing and walking.  By our third iteration (we’re serious about design modification based on feedback), ten were completely happy with the level of leak protection and none experienced a UTI or vaginitis.  All liked the feel of bamboo next to sensitive skin.  

So, while my husband didn’t get to name our company, he gets full credit finding our fabric supplier—and for his sense of humor.  Next up:  textiles, disposables, and sustainability.  

Welcome to part one of our fabric story! It all started in February of 2019, when I attended the Sourcing at MAGIC trade show in Las Vegas. Here I was, two weeks into my new business venture, sourcing fabrics before I had any real idea what I was getting myself into. I knew next to nothing about the fashion industry, but I was passionate about my idea and found lots of knowledgeable people to talk to. Some of the initial reactions were priceless. “You are designing what?” (Athletic wear for women with stress urinary incontinence). “What’s that?” (We pee when we run.) “Is that a thing?” (Yep.) I came away with armloads of fabric samples and expert opinion. 

Here’s what I learned: most athletic wear is made of a blend of synthetic fibers, typically polyester and spandex.  Does this conjure up visions of your cousin’s disco shirt or your mom’s “foundation garments”?   Me too.  Fortunately, technology has transformed these fibers into high-performing fabrics well-suited to athletic wear applications.  Today’s polyester is strong, doesn’t shrink, stretch or wrinkle much, is abrasion resistant and easily washable. It is non-absorbent so that moisture from your skin evaporates instead of being soaked up into the material.  

Spandex, invented in 1958 as a substitute for rubber in garments, is the generic term for Lycra (and an anagram of “expands” – who knew?)  It is a lightweight, flexible fiber that adds compression and stretch. The ratio of spandex to polyester can be tweaked in seemingly endless combinations to achieve a desired result. Want more compression? Go with a higher spandex content. Want less? Back it off.  

What about natural fibers like cotton—where do they fit in? Cotton is comfortable, soft, and breathable. It gives off less odor post-workout. But there’s a downside—rather than wicking moisture away and allowing it to evaporate, cotton absorbs and retains it. Wet cotton sags and loses its shape. It feels damp and clammy after a hard workout. This is a non-starter, especially for those of us who have SUI.

Learning this led us to choose a blend of polyester and spandex for Prickly Pear shorts and leggings. Next up is part two of our fabric story: choosing the specialty fabric for our unique gusset. Stay tuned!