Viscose is often called out as one of the most problematic fabrics in fashion because its production combines three separate issues: destruction of old-growth forests for raw material, toxic chemical processing that harms factory workers and surrounding communities, and a finished product that doesn’t hold up well over time. It looks and feels like a natural, eco-friendly fabric, which makes the gap between perception and reality especially wide.
The Chemical at the Center of the Problem
Viscose starts as wood pulp, which sounds harmless enough. But turning solid wood into silky fiber requires dissolving that pulp in carbon disulfide, a volatile, toxic chemical. Carbon disulfide use exploded in the early 20th century alongside the rise of viscose rayon, and more than a century later, it remains central to the process. The chemical is released as a gas during manufacturing, exposing workers and leaking into the air and waterways near production facilities.
Carbon disulfide is a neurotoxin. Studies of workers in rayon spinning and refining facilities have found measurable nerve damage: motor nerve signals traveled nearly 2 meters per second slower than in unexposed people, and sensory nerve speeds dropped as well. Workers also reported higher rates of depression, tremor, light-headedness, reduced grip strength, skin sensitivity in the hands and feet, and decreased sexual desire. Beyond the nervous system, exposed workers showed signs of disrupted blood sugar regulation, a marker that links long-term carbon disulfide exposure to increased diabetes risk.
These aren’t effects from catastrophic chemical spills. They’re subclinical changes found in workers during routine manufacturing, the kind of damage that accumulates quietly over years on the job. Most viscose production has shifted to countries like China, India, and Indonesia, where workplace protections are often weaker and monitoring is less consistent.
Forests Torn Down for Fabric
Because viscose is made from wood, its supply chain starts in forests. The concern isn’t just that trees are cut down (timber is a renewable resource when managed well) but which trees, and where. Environmental audits have repeatedly flagged the viscose industry for sourcing wood pulp from ancient and endangered forests, including high-biodiversity tropical rainforests and old-growth boreal forests in Canada and Indonesia.
The conservation group Canopy, which tracks the industry through its Hot Button Report, found that roughly 70% of producers have now earned ratings indicating a genuine commitment to avoiding ancient and endangered forest sourcing. That’s real progress. But it also means nearly a third of the industry still falls short, and some producers remain at high risk of sourcing from these irreplaceable ecosystems. An estimated 150 million trees are logged each year to make fabric, and viscose accounts for the majority of that demand.
Even when wood is sourced from managed plantations, those plantations often replace natural forest. Monoculture tree farms support a fraction of the biodiversity that native ecosystems do, and converting land for pulpwood plantations can displace local communities and degrade soil over time.
A Fabric That Falls Apart When Wet
Setting aside the production issues, viscose also has a practical problem that frustrates consumers: it’s fragile. Viscose absorbs a lot of moisture, and when it does, it loses a significant portion of its structural strength. Testing on untreated viscose fabric shows wet strength dropping to roughly 57% to 60% of its dry strength. That means a viscose blouse that feels sturdy on a dry day becomes weak and prone to tearing or stretching the moment it gets wet, whether from rain, sweat, or a washing machine.
This weakness translates directly into shorter garment lifespans. Viscose clothing tends to shrink, pill, lose its shape, and wear through faster than cotton, linen, or polyester. Many viscose garments require hand washing or dry cleaning to survive more than a few wears, which adds cost and inconvenience. In practice, a lot of viscose clothing ends up in landfills quickly, undermining any claim that it’s a sustainable alternative to synthetic fabrics.
Higher-quality variants like modal and lyocell (sometimes marketed under the brand name Tencel) are engineered to resist this wet-strength loss and can be machine washed without severe shrinkage. But standard viscose rayon, the type found in most fast fashion, doesn’t offer those improvements.
The Greenwashing Problem
Viscose occupies a confusing middle ground for shoppers trying to make better choices. It’s derived from plants, it’s biodegradable, and it’s not a fossil-fuel-based plastic like polyester or nylon. Brands frequently label it “natural” or “plant-based” on hangtags. All of that is technically true, but it obscures the chemical-intensive manufacturing, the deforestation, and the poor durability that define the fabric in practice.
This framing leads many consumers to believe they’re choosing an eco-friendly option when the full lifecycle tells a different story. A viscose garment that falls apart after five washes and was made using a process that released neurotoxic chemicals into factory communities is not meaningfully greener than a polyester shirt that lasts years, even though polyester carries its own environmental baggage.
Alternatives Worth Knowing About
If you like the drape and softness of viscose but want to avoid its worst impacts, lyocell is the closest substitute. It uses a closed-loop chemical process that recovers and reuses over 99% of the solvent, eliminating the carbon disulfide problem entirely. It’s also stronger when wet and lasts longer. The tradeoff is cost: lyocell garments typically run more expensive.
Organic cotton and linen offer plant-based alternatives without the chemical processing step. They lack viscose’s silky drape but are durable, breathable, and widely available. For budget-conscious shoppers, even conventional cotton tends to outlast viscose by a wide margin, making it a better value per wear despite a higher upfront price on some garments.
When buying viscose is unavoidable, checking whether the brand sources from producers rated by Canopy’s Hot Button Report can help you identify companies making genuine efforts to protect forests and improve factory conditions.