A recent BBC Countryfile programme featured flax growing in Blackburn and production of linen being spun from this homegrown product.
Unfortunately due to an air of excitement following the success of their project, the makers of this programme failed to discuss what should be done to dispose of clothing replaced by this new linen alternative. A suggestion has been put forward to use an unusual but organic method of disposing of unusable and spoilt clothing material – feed it to the butterfly of the night – our humble clothing moth.
Adult moths themselves don’t actually feed on your gear; they haven’t got mouthparts. It’s Junior, i.e. their larvae who does all the munching – they do have this necessary equipment. They gain nutrients from natural and animal fibres, being particularly attracted to moist and dirty clothes, so should have no difficulty finding plenty of material in lots of households. They also like dark and undisturbed areas, so what better environment could you find than a wardrobe?
This endless battle between humans and moths has been raging for thousands of years. Shakespeare tells us that:
‘All the wool that Penelope spun in Ulysses’ absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths’.
So you can imagine what kind of state his clothing was in Ulysses’ wardrobe when he returned home twenty years after fighting this war in Troy and his subsequent trip home, known as the Odyssey. All for Helen – the face that launched a million moths!
After the Ancient Greeks, it is possible their conquerors and ours too, the Romans, may have brought clothes moths to our shores. Not everything the Romans did for us was beneficial – although we did end up with a textile industry, which might have helped the situation. But clothing moths soon got stuck into King Cotton. This led to a continuing war which continues to this day. Every form of technology, including chemical and biological warfare has been used to outwit our destructive clothing moth enemies.
There are around 2,500 species of moth found in Britain. But only two, the common clothes moth (also known as the webbing clothes moth) and the Case-bearing clothes moth, cause damage to fabrics. Most of us know all about what it’s like to come across moths living in our wardrobes. There is nothing worse than digging out your best suit for some one-off function only to find big holes in its fabric, thanks to moths having made a meal out of it.
Now we have a chance to utilise these moth’s voracious appetite as a natural way of clothing waste disposal. It’s about time these little blighters started earning their keep for a change.