Being inundated with everything POLYESTER/man made fabrics! Even luxury/designer brands are using polyester/man made fabrics

[floatinglili]

Well said! This is a great conversation to have!

Viscose is my special ‘pet hate’ fibre. It is so sensitive to heat and water. It can present beautifully on the rack yet once home it wears terribly, to me it’s a cheap fibre that’s more high maintenance than silk. This ‘bait and switch’ fibre seems everywhere these days and I’m sick of paying silk prices for it!

 

[BittyMonkey]

Well said! This is a great conversation to have!

Viscose is my special ‘pet hate’ fibre. It is so sensitive to heat and water. It can present beautifully on the rack yet once home it wears terribly, to me it’s a cheap fibre that’s more high maintenance than silk. This ‘bait and switch’ fibre seems everywhere these days and I’m sick of paying silk prices for it!

I hate acrylic. I especially hate it when I forget to look at a sweater's fabric content online and I end up with an acrylic-y piece of garbage. I'm not a fabric maven though, is there any real reason to use acrylic?

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

I used to be a purist with preferring 100% natural fabrics, but after a conversation with a coat-maker I realized a small percentage of nylon or polyester in wool for example for help retain the shape, color and hardiness. So I agree with you ceruleanblue.

Having said that, I think that's the exception and I'm amazed at how many high-end brands are cheaping out with 100% polyester (and the like) clothing. Where's the silk and cotton??

There are various qualities of synthetics.

I’m ok with polyesters & other quality synthetics. Quality long lasting elite sportswear has been made from synthetics particularly polyester for a very long time.

Also the better synthetics are hypoallergenic.

Permanent surgical clips are frequently variations of polyester, certainly they are less invasive than metal titanium clips.

Sadly the world is getting smaller and the true global cost of traditional farming textile materials can be be quite high.

It’s a very difficult balance.

 

[Cheddar Cheese]

Very true, isn't it? Vintage is totally different. They don't make 'em like they used to!

Yes! Different breeds of animals, different feeds, different growth processes, different variety of seeds, climate change. And on and on.

 

[floatinglili]

I hate acrylic. I especially hate it when I forget to look at a sweater's fabric content online and I end up with an acrylic-y piece of garbage. I'm not a fabric maven though, is there any real reason to use acrylic?

I don’t hate all synthetics necessarily. One good thing about acrylics in knits is that moths don’t eat them!
i also find the addition of some synthetic fibres can help clothing survive a careful home cleaning routine better than say delicate wool or silk. (With the exception of that darned viscose!).

I used ro love buying silk garments - but I got soo sick of the hand washing.I look for hardier fabrics now which can be put through a delicate front loader wash.

 

[papertiger]

There are various qualities of synthetics.

I’m ok with polyesters & other quality synthetics. Quality long lasting elite sportswear has been made from synthetics particularly polyester for a very long time.

Also the better synthetics are hypoallergenic.

Permanent surgical clips are frequently variations of polyester, certainly they are less invasive than metal titanium clips.

Sadly the world is getting smaller and the true global cost of traditional farming textile materials can be be quite high.

It’s a very difficult balance.

It's not a question of balance at all because wool is 100% recyclable.

Sheep can also live where no other farming can be done like on hills and rocky places and there's plenty of that. It's also self-sustaining as sheep renew on their fleeces every year and self-procreate. They keep vegetation down where needed and can act as lawn mowers.

Apart from people who are allergic to wool (usually self-diagnosed and overstated) there is no reason not to prefer woo ecologically. Manmade fibres usually leave people in a hot, sweaty mess which bring out prickly-heat and spots.

 

[Bagatha Christie]

This is such an interesting conversation.
As I was reading this last night I was struck as I was wearing some ethically-made modal sweats which probably have another year of wear in them if I’m lucky and an acrylic jumper from the early 80s! This just seems crazy but it seems to happen all the time now.

It seems like cost per wear and lifespan wise there’s something to be said for some synthetic materials even over natural ones but that’s not exactly an exact science. I do routinely see wool and cotton items that old but You rarely see 30-40 year old cashmere IMHO.

The real problem is that the environmental and ethical balance of these things is a pretty contentious issue. I’m reading Fashionopolis atm (and although I think it’s actually a pretty shallow read on the subject) it does have some interesting interviews that illustrate the problem.
On the one hand you have designers like Stella McCartney who argue using animal products is the most environmentally destructive thing you can do and wants to move to modern synthetics for the sake of the environment. Then there’s ethical furriers and leather workers who say you can’t compete with the longevity of animal products, then there’s eco cotton vs modal etc etc.

Then to me there’s the whole issue of whether we should even have several collections of clothing coming out in one year and maybe we should just switch to a capsule wardrobe model- (but how would that work for the industry?)

Long story short the environmental impact and ethics of sourcing fabrics is very complicated and I do agree a lot of what is produced now even at high price points is built to crumble.

 

[papertiger]

Yes! Different breeds of animals, different feeds, different growth processes, different variety of seeds, climate change. And on and on.

That's intensive farming for us.

We are now being spun ( ) this idea of a better world without animals at all, meat grown in labs (I don't eat meat anyway) and foodstuffs grown under industrial covers to regulate climates.

Actually, it wold be better if we had smaller, organic mixed farms and preserve what's left of the countryside.

 

[blacktigergoose]

I don’t hate all synthetics necessarily. One good thing about acrylics in knits is that moths don’t eat them!
i also find the addition of some synthetic fibres can help clothing survive a careful home cleaning routine better than say delicate wool or silk. (With the exception of that darned viscose!).

I used ro love buying silk garments - but I got soo sick of the hand washing.I look for hardier fabrics now which can be put through a delicate front loader wash.

Moths will eat the fibres they can eat, leaving behind a ghostly acrylic patch I've seen this in both a mixed fibre coat and dress I had.

Also perhaps this is sacrilege but I put silk and cashmere in the washing machine - to surprisingly great results!! It is a gamble because it relies on excellent quality fibres and you won't know if this is the case till after the wash... Low quality cashmere will shrink. I use Woolite. They are put in a pillowcase and I wash on the coolest setting with the fastest spin setting. I don't recommend this with anything precious like a Hermes scarf but for my workhorse silks it's fine.

 

[papertiger]

Moths will eat the fibres they can eat, leaving behind a ghostly acrylic patch I've seen this in both a mixed fibre coat and dress I had.

Also perhaps this is sacrilege but I put silk and cashmere in the washing machine - to surprisingly great results!! It is a gamble because it relies on excellent quality fibres and you won't know if this is the case till after the wash... Low quality cashmere will shrink. I use Woolite. They are put in a pillowcase and I wash on the coolest setting with the fastest spin setting. I don't recommend this with anything precious like a Hermes scarf but for my workhorse silks it's fine.

It depends what type of silk it is, but you can on very cool. It's only the spin cycle that will muck them up. Had a light dip-dye Hermes scarf I just couldn't get clean so used the machine (these scarves are basically washed silk anyway). No silk chiffon though.

It's the 'technical' fabrics that have to be dry-cleaned you have to worry about more. I have a Gucci dress from 2016 bought in the sale, there's def been a slight 'bleeding' of black going into the pale pink from dry cleaning.

I've even put last resort, vintage, pure wool jackets and coats in the machine and shaped them still damp. We're talking 1940s in some cases. That's 80 years of wear in that garment. Older than a lot of humans get to be.

 

[blacktigergoose]

It depends what type of silk it is, but you can on very cool. It's only the spin cycle that will muck them up. Had a light dip-dye Hermes scarf I just couldn't get clean so used the machine (these scarves are basically washed silk anyway). No silk chiffon though.

It's the 'technical' fabrics that have to be dry-cleaned you have to worry about more. I have a Gucci dress from 2016 bought in the sale, there's def been a slight 'bleeding' of black going into the pale pink from dry cleaning.

I've even put last resort, vintage, pure wool jackets and coats in the machine and shaped them still damp. We're talking 1940s in some cases. That's 80 years of wear in that garment. Older than a lot of humans get to be.

Good to know Hermes won't shrink! Silk just absorbs sweat so well, it can get really musty and handwashing just doesn't cut the mustard.

 

[floatinglili]

Moths will eat the fibres they can eat, leaving behind a ghostly acrylic patch I've seen this in both a mixed fibre coat and dress I had.

Also perhaps this is sacrilege but I put silk and cashmere in the washing machine - to surprisingly great results!! It is a gamble because it relies on excellent quality fibres and you won't know if this is the case till after the wash... Low quality cashmere will shrink. I use Woolite. They are put in a pillowcase and I wash on the coolest setting with the fastest spin setting. I don't recommend this with anything precious like a Hermes scarf but for my workhorse silks it's fine.

You are giving me hope. I have had mixed results with washing silks and have never dared to machine wash. Perhaps all I’m missing is a pillow slip!!

 

[floatinglili]

Good to know Hermes won't shrink! Silk just absorbs sweat so well, it can get really musty and handwashing just doesn't cut the mustard.

Exactly! Sooner or later I need a little more oomph in my wash. Whenever I dry clean I am happy with the results but I can’t stand the effort - I have so many errands already - and also the expense of dry cleaning many commonly worn items on the regular gives me pause.

 

[papertiger]

You are giving me hope. I have had mixed results with washing silks and have never dared to machine wash. Perhaps all I’m missing is a pillow slip!!

Yes, I put them in a pillow slip, tie a knot or use a hair elastic, set on delicate/silk/wool cycle at 20C (whatever that is in F). Dry flat, hanger or roll in a white cotton towel, let the wind or sun do the rest, and voila!

 

[floatinglili]

Yes, I put them in a pillow slip, tie a knot or use a hair elastic, set on delicate/silk/wool cycle at 20C (whatever that is in F). Dry flat, hanger or roll in a white cotton towel, let the wind or sun do the rest, and voila!

Now the multi million dollar question - how does your pillow slip techniques work with the dreaded viscose?? Have you ever tried?