Helen Green is delighted to announce that Associate Director and Sustainability Manager, Joanna Benton has featured in Country & Townhouse, with a discussion piece on ‘Why We Need to Choose Our Interiors Fabrics More Carefully’.

The article reads:

One of the issues, Joanna Benton of Helen Green Design (a member of the Positive Luxury-awarded Allect Design Group) says, is that the ‘choice of fabrics is so vast. As a designer you spend a long time looking for the right fabric. And then to look at the sustainability credentials of that fabric, you might have to search another really long time to find something with the same properties.’

To tackle this, Allect is setting up a material database that’s sorted into more sustainable choices, and less. Its team also looks at the accreditation of its suppliers – like Global Organic Textile Standard and the Leather Working Group – and gets them to sign a code of conduct that covers social responsibilities and fair labour conditions, ‘to make sure we’re all singing from the same page’. Other designers prioritising sustainable fabrics are Louise Bradley, who is introducing an eco-friendly range of textured linens, wools, cottons and velvets produced in Europe, and Rose Uniacke, whose in-house line uses natural, ethically sourced and sustainable materials.

However, the processes involved in building and decorating are so many and varied, with numerous supply chains, product journeys and components used, that it’s practically impossible to create a scheme that is 100 percent ‘green’.

‘You can never put the environmentally-friendly label on anything,’ says Joanna. ‘I think that’s where everyone [in the industry] gets tripped up and is scared to talk about it or say the wrong thing, because, at the moment, we’re not there yet.’

Another big challenge is that, at the moment, momentum to encourage more sustainable practices is coming from inside the industry, rather than the customers themselves. ‘I do think that clients are going to appreciate it more and more, and this is the only way forward,’ says Joanna. ‘It’s going to get bigger and better – but I think it’s probably up to us to offer solutions to the clients.’

Another big barrier is the UK’s overly stringent fire regulations, she continues. ‘It really bothers me that we have to flame retard a lot of fabrics that go into residential projects, and the toxicity involved in this.’ Homes in the UK have some of the world’s highest levels of dangerous flame retardants.

Traditional upholsterer Delyth Fetherston-Dilke, who lectures in sustainable practice at KLC, agrees. Her focus is challenging outdated UK regulations that mean home furnishings have to be treated with fire retardant chemicals – which studies have shown are toxic to human health, and the Fire Brigades Union has stated have a ‘negligible’ impact on fire safety. ‘They’re really toxic, they’re bad for the environment and they’re definitely bad for our health,’ Delyth emphasises.

As well as being potentially damaging to humans, the application of fire retardant chemicals also means fabrics and foam used in furnishings can’t then be recycled. Like Joanna, she also notes the lack of customer awareness around this, and thus a lack of demand for change, meaning many brands themselves are not pushing for it.

To read the rest of the discussion, visit Country & Townhouse – here.