Mottainai Furoshiki:

Eco-friendly Fabrics of

by Pat Maeda

ne of the things that lured me to Japan was bottles to create these lovely cloths. A Japanese cabinet Omy love of fabric. On one of my very fi rst minister, Yuriko Koike, initiated a nationwide campaign forays into early morning Tokyo subway riding, I was to return to the use of furoshiki and these new eco- in awe of the beautifully wrapped packages that most friendly cloths. They are called the mottainai furoshiki. commuters were carrying. I just knew it had to be a Yuriko has created the mottainai design as a symbol for special holiday and everyone was toting a present. We the Japanese to reduce waste. Roughly translated, mot- later found out that in fact all these interesting packages tainai means “don’t waste” or “what a waste.” contained lunches or books being taken to work. My Japanese youth use plastic bags and are not yet love affair with furoshiki was born. aware of the benefi ts of furoshiki. But this campaign has Furoshiki are wonderfully versatile traditional wrap- had a great response and made the Japanese public ping cloths used as gift wrap or for carrying almost aware of this century’s three Rs: Reduce, reuse, and anything. Simplistic in design, they are attractive, utili- recycle. There are even free workshops where partici- tarian, and earth friendly. They are available in a wide pants can learn some of the many ways to tie furoshiki. variety of fabrics, including , , , Displays of recycled water bottle furoshiki are featured and . in these classes. Happily, plastic bags are becoming a Now, even more environmentally-friendly furoshiki thing of the past in Japan. Stores are now charging for are available. The Japanese are recycling plastic water them or not furnishing them at all.

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51-66_march09.indd 56 12/26/08 1:20:39 PM Furoshiki, or Japanese wrapping cloths, are easily tied to create an elegant way to present spe- cial gifts or simply carry books or a box lunch when commuting. AQS members can access this and other furoshiki projects from the Fall 2007 issue of American Quilter magazine at www.AmericanQuilter.com.

The plastic water bottle recycling process involves fi rst sorting the bot- tles by color. They are then ground up and washed. Next, they are melted down and spun into fi bers that are woven into fabric. These fi bers have the same warmth and durability of any regular yarn, but have a matte fi nish. Unlike glass, plastic water bottles can only be recycled once, so the hand sorting of the bottles is a critical step. It is also the most time consuming and costly part of the process. If even one colored bottle gets in with the clear ones, an entire batch will be ruined and must be discarded. Plastic bottles have a recycle code on the bottom, and only bot- tles with the codes 1 or 2 can be recycled. I have not yet found a company in the United States that is recycling water bottles into fabric, nor have I found other retail sources for this recycled fabric outside Japan. Today, many major high-end Japanese fashion designers use recycled water bottle fabric for their clothing. The fabrics are lovely and easy to sew. The hand is similar to that of chirimen or polyester crepe. In addition to helping the environment, the fabric is also water repellent. When we ask our customers to feel the fabric and tell us what they think it is, they usually guess silk. We have quilted with some of these fabrics and were delighted with the results. Recycled fabrics are still expensive because of the high cost of sorting the bottles by hand, though research is underway to develop a machine that can do this labor-intensive job. At present, the fabric starts around $28 for 27 inches, but this promising solution for reusing some of the refuse fi lling up our landfi lls makes it worth every penny. For more information on recycled water bottle fabric and other Japanese fabrics, please visit www.MaedaImporting.com.

March 2009 AMERICAN QUILTER 57

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