Tagua

Vegetable ivory, From nuts grown in Ecuador. Used for buttons, fastenings, and beads in place of ivory. < www.oneworldprojects.com > 5.5.07 [online]

Take back

Where a manufacturer has responsibility for products which are returned at the end of life. This should lead to systematic product recycling. Products could be products of service.

Tanning

The process which stops animal skins from rotting. Can be a vegetable or mineral process. Chromium compounds are often used in dyes which is toxic. Chromium is used in mineral tanning because it is faster than vegetable tanning. Vegetable tanning uses barks such as oak, tanoak, hemlock, etc. (encarta, 2003) Terra Plana use an eco alternative called White Line tanning.

Technical metabolism

(www.greenblue.org) human systems that perpetually reuse valuable synthetics and minerals materials in closed loops, modelled on natures systems.

Technical nutrients

(cradle to cradle)

Materials which could and should circulate infinitely as pure and valuable materials within closed-loop industrial cycles, rather than being “re-cycled” into low-grade materials and uses. Often these materials are non-renewables. If non-renewables are mixed with other materials they become contaminated and cannot easily be reclaimed. Because they are usually valuable, irreplaceable and sometimes toxic (but essential for their purpose) new respect for their use is essential in the new industrial revolution. Their use needs to be within the context of design for disassembly, where they will be up-cycled . In short: a product which can be broken down and circulated infinitely in industrial cycles, made and remade.

Textile Environmental Design (TED)

Set up in 1996 by Beccy Early, to develope research into issues relating to
ecological textile textile and fashion lifecycles.

Teflon finish

A chemical that is bonded to fibres to make clothes weatherproof, windproof and able to resist stains. It was originally used for non stick frying pans.

Textile Environmental Network (TEN)

Set up by Dr Jo Heeley in 1883 to discuss ecological textile issues. Academic chat room for debate at jiscmail.com. Archives still intact and interesting.

Tencel

Nano-technology makes this man-made cellulose fibre as fine as silk, as strong as polyester, as easy to care for as acrylic, cool and pleasant like linen, as warm as wool , whilst the regular structure of the hydrophilic nano-fibrils absorb 50% more moisture than cotton.’(www.lenzing.com) quote from a customer) Tencel is biodegradable. It comes from wood pulp which is more slow growing that its new rival, Ingeo. Also known as Lyocell.

Thiourea dioxide (spectralite)
Used to make an indigo dye vat. According to the national toxicology programme 11th report it can be reasonable be expected to be a carcenegen ammong humans. It replaces the more poinsonous alternative hydro sulphate

Three dimensional knitting

Requires no seams, economic to make and easy to recycle becuase there is no contamination from other materials (eg sewing thread) Lends itself to design for dissassembly. Which means it can be easily designed as a product of service

Toxic

Poisonous to life forms and to ecosystems which support life (as)

Trade-offs

Mitigating circumstances balance harmful effects if they enable good effects elsewhere. For example ‘carbon trading’

Transfer printing

To transfer an image onto textiles using paper and ink. (ridgewell)

Transition

The period in which a farmer may be developing and changing over all practises to organic. The food or materials being produced may still be considered to have residues of pesticides, herbicides an treatments from pre-organic status, but in quantifiably less amounts according to how far the farm is through transition towards full organic status.


Transitional strategies

Realistic steps taken from an informed perspective which are “less bad” (CC) Sensible systems based on an intellegent understanding of the unacceptable chains of production, processing, use and disposal of products. The use of existing market forces and and infrastructure to implement gradual change towards best practises. The mixing of old and new practise to enable the practical marketing of any given product to continue, and in so doing, fund the renovation of the processes involved in its production, use and disposal. Gradual movement towards the new industrial revolution. (as)


Treetap

An alternative leather, vegetal leather, couro vegetal or Treetap and it comes from rubber trees in the Amazon. Indigenous tree trappers ‘milk‘ wild plants in the jungle. The sap from these Hevea brasiliensis is a natural latex and after being
sustainably harvested (trees are rotated every two years) it is filtered and layered onto a cotton backing. This is smoke cured, half a dozen times or so, and sun dried to vulcanise or ‘set’ the latex. The resulting Treetap can be used to make shoulder bags, day packs, briefcases, purses and even footwear. Developed from a traditional handicraft, the Treetap program ensures native peoples can afford to keep living in their rainforest, without needing to sell chunks to the voracious chain-sawers .

< www.treehugger.com/files/2005/02/treetap > 7.5.07 [online]