Sustainable yarn production.

Have you ever heard the word?

Today we know that textile production is one of the biggest environmental culprits in the world. Consider this; Swedish textile production alone emits greenhouse gases of over four million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents each year. This corresponds to emissions from 850,000 rounds around the globe with the car. And this is just Sweden.

Yet the search for "cheap yarn" tops Google year after year, suggesting that cheap is still the most important attribute for many creators. Why is it like that? Cheap is rarely sustainable in the long run, due to the poor quality of the yarn and the consequences that manufacturing causes for the environment. That is why we chose to discuss the subject of cheap yarn in this week´s blog - to spark some thoughts for everyone who creates with yarn.

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When we started Make Your Own three years ago, we primarily wanted to help beginners enter the world of crafts but quickly realized that there was also another important thing that we wanted to change, and that is the matter of materials. On a quick search for crocheting for beginners, we discovered, for example, that many videos on Youtube (admittedly somewhat older, but still) recommend acrylic yarn for beginners to crochet with. Acrylic? Why would you want to make something in acrylic

Now we´re going to give some information to those of you who have come here because you were looking for cheap acrylic yarn, because here´s what you need to know:

Acrylic consists of a chemical compound very similar to plastic. Compared to the similar fiber polyester, the production of acrylic is more complicated and resource-intensive. Solvents and a lot of chemicals are required, and emissions of these chemicals mean that acrylic production has a large environmental impact. (source: Google).

So when we now talk about the climate threat and the impact of the textile industry, why don´t we talk more about which yarns we create with? And when we spend so much time creating - surely we want these products to last as long as possible?

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Acrylic is of course not the only bad material on the list, there are certainly more. We only took this as an example, also because we see that acrylic yarn in particular often appears in various contexts, e.g. the creator groups on Facebook where instructions and tips on what to crochet are frequently shared.

The big question is; if the entire textile industry should change to something more sustainable, why doesn´t the yarn industry follow? Cheap still seems to be the most important thing, instead of sustainable. Or what properties the yarn has in practical use. Who wants to wear plastic that doesnt´s breathe?

From there, the purpose and vision of MYO developed - we should not only teach beginners to create. We will also try to ensure that as much creation as possible in the future takes place with recycled materials whose origins we know and can thus contribute to a more circular society. We will never be the cheapest yarn shop on the market, but on the other hand the most durable.

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Of course, as a small company, we have the challenge that we cannot do everything at once. We still don´t have the resources to start our own yarn factory that would use the latest methods that have been invented to recycle different kinds of textiles, but we can at least have the ambition to get there eventually. Right now, the closest we can get is to make sure we a) don´t create with plastic and b) use waste materials as much as we can, ie yarn made from leftovers from the clothing industry. In this way, we ensure that every gram of cotton produced is actually used somewhere else. But it is also important that the yarns last in use - the EKO yarns in MYO´s range have 20% polyester in them so that they are easier to handle and last longer.

Cheap yarns are not our thing. Sustainable yarns, on the other hand - we want to make these available to everyone who wants to think about the environment while creating. Please help us spread knowledge about this, and share this blog post where you think it fits.

Together we can create more sustainably! 💚

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