Turning trees into textiles is linked to historical atrocities and environmental harm. But any plant-based material can potentially become viscose-rayon
Rayon is a soft, silky fabric that is perhaps the most confusing of all the textiles. It’s sometimes called viscose, modal, lyocell, tencel, acetate or bamboo. It tends to feel denser and more fluid than cotton or linen, but even this depends on how it’s been extracted and spun.
The best way to understand rayon is to consider it an umbrella term for textiles that are made from cellulose, the building block of most plants. It can be extracted from straw, cotton waste and other natural materials, but in the case of rayon, it mostly comes from the wood pulp of pine, eucalyptus or beech.
