Right. WHAT is with all the POLYESTER everywhere?

[JenniferEight]

Everything I look at is made of polyester this year.

Topshop, Great Plains, John Lewis, Hobbs...everywhere is using the stuff like mad.

Is there a worldwide shortage of cotton?
Or is it the retro trend thing that has also (re)enabled 'Ponte' to become part of everyday wear?

I hate polyester, and if it isn't polyester it's blinking viscose or some other weirdy man made stuff. I feel like I am drowning in a sea of artificial fabric.

On the positive side I've done less shopping because of this.

A lot of the cotton crop got knackered last year so prices are high. Think man made will become more and more common. Cheap cotton has probably has it's day.

Oh that's really sad.

I will have to overcome my prejudice. I grew up with a mother who hated anything manmade and turned me off polyester and nylon for life.

It just feels wrong and it gets all static.
Is it not made from oil by products then? Will we one day have no more clothes? (I probably could last till i die without buying any more tbh, already)

My Mum also made me feel that man made was the devils work, though I have to admit I have quite a lot now, especially modal (though I have just looked modal up and apparently it is made from Beech Trees?).

I noticed this too, all the dresses in oasis were really nyloney and horrid.

I don't mind viscose actually, it breathes okay and one of its main components is wood cellulose.

i adore viscose. it hangs so well and i love to think of all the woodiness. i expect it hasn't really got much in though.

Really? Is it made from wood? That's changed my mind a bit.

Still, nearly everything is just polyester...only a few things are viscose that I've seen.

Even jumpers fgs, they're half poly, half acrylic. It's ubiquitous.

I don't buy polyester - its horrid and I hate the feel of it. I don't mind the viscose thats like jersey but not the stuff that looks like cotton as has a strange feel to me.

Natural fibres are out there but you'll have to look hard.

What I don't get is how much places are charging for polyester - the same as for silk!

MrsCampbellBlack - I don't understand why polyester is so expensive either. Why on earth should I pay the same for polyester as for silk? Although sadly that is probably more a reflection on where the stuff is made/produced than the cost of raw materials.

There has always been a polyester element within most of the high street but it seems like every store is awash with it now. I despair. I can get away with it if I put my hair up out of the way otherwise my hair becomes a static frizz ball. Oh and don't even get me started on the stuffy, sweatiness of the fabrics. Urgh. It is bad enough in winter but the stores were full of polyester over the summer too.

I know - a quick browse on topshop and you have got nearly everything made from crap, and it's also really, really expensive! I'd pay £40 for a woollen cardigan but not a polyester/acrylic mix one. That's just horrid.

It's a bloomin' pain. I hate polyester and won't buy it. Even expensive dresses in 'decent' seem to be made of it now. Grrrr.

And wtf IS, 'ponte?'

'decent' shops

I think ponte is that stretchy, thick, artificial jersey material that we have all avoided for decades.

Think 1970s trousers for children. I had three pairs in this stuff.

Thank you. It sounds lovely!

Oh, damn, I didn't know that was what ponte was and I have ordered stuff in it. I really hope it's not horrible.

I hate polyester - smells horrible as soon as you buy it.

Cotton cloth is still reasonably affordable though it's gone up too, and I really wish I could sew well enough to make anything that looked half decent!

oh god but PONTE dresses are OSSOM

once youve tried one youd get it

Ponte is just SO GRIM. Tried on a ponte blazer from asos and almost vomited with disgust. Likewise a ponte skirt.

So cheap and unpleasant to look at.

gah you old ponce
you just looked shit in it

Gah, cross posts.

I don't look shit in ANYTHING, dahling so blah blah blah to you.

I never look to see what stuff is made from

I either like it or I dont

You see poly/ponte all smacks of crimplene - that fabric beloved of older ladies when I was a child.

Polyester makes me so HOT. I'll have to continue wearing all my old clothes...

silk seems to make me hot
this is not good

I'm sure pon-té has its good points. I hate it like I hate a low cut round neck sweater. Or Boy-pants.

I always look, Cyb. That's because I buy online normally so everything says what it is composed of on the page. It's better to be safe and doubly so this season as EVERYthing seems to have tha little man made element somewhere.

My Katharine Hamnett jumper is 70 cotton, 10 silk and (get this) 20 NYLON
what is she thinking