RANT-Where have all the natural fabric made clothes gone !!!

[bawabod]

Right on the basis of a few recent threads regarding quality of clothing and the amount of awful polyester viscose and other man made fabrics, lets discuss who is good at supplying clothes made with natural fabrics I am not adverse to cotton with a bit of elastane or is it lycra, god knows it can keep the blobby parts in check, but I am thoroughly fed-up with the amount of clothes lined in polyester and suchlike or made with it. It brings me out in a cold sweat, am old enough to remember crimplene trousers as a child but consider myself a trendy fortyish lady now. So I will start with who I think is good at such clothes Fat Face, Gap some East stuff and welcome ideas of other places to shop.

Ladies wow I am thrilled at the response to this rant, maybe pester power might make retailers starting realising we are not blind to the increasing use of synthetic fibres while prices keep going up WE KNOW OUR STUFF SO START TAKING NOTICE US and this is from a premenopausal lady who is not going to sweat in all that C--p. Well that's out of my system but I am going to keep ranting

I think they are noticing already. See by Chloe was a synth hell a few seasons ago and everything seemed to land in the bargain bin - now I spotted them doing a lovely poppy red pure cotton dress... I've found more cotton-poly mixes at H&M, a while back they seemed to do viscose-poly. And the awful sheer t shirt trend seems to be going away.

When you are in shops, give the checkout people verbal feedback. Some of them (Zara for example) are trained to take customer feedback seriously. I've often told the SAs that I'm buying a specific item because I like the material.

Poly nightwear - urgh!

Oh, and modal and lyocell and bamboo are nicer and more pricey variants of viscose/cellulose fiber. I loathe viscose but have a modal dress that is rather nice and a lyocell blouse that does not crease and bamboo sportswear that is soft and lovely.

All wool itches like hell and brings me up in hives so No More please! I spent my childhood in hell over this every winter so I would rather buy clothes more frequently if they don't last and at least be comfortable!

Oh, thank you Orange for the vaicos ironing explanation. Makes sense. And I agree that it does make you sweat.

I'm not sure I should admit this on this thread, but I do own two Gap polyester ponte dresses [blushes] They are worn only for work but are so easy to use. I'll go

Great thread! Im trying to not buy vaicos/ polyester etc but it's so difficult. I thought modal was something posh too

So what is ponte jersey compared to normal jersey?

Ponte is the modern equivalent of crimpelene . It is a very thick heavy polyester jersey fabric with elastene. However, a lot of silhouettes at the moment are very sculptural or 60s influenced. These are usually the things that are made out of ponte, as they hold the shape. But they could be made out of very heavy cotton jersey, but that would be very very expensive.

All nightwear in the Uk is covered by safety laws, particularly nighties. If a cotton nightie exists it should have a flame proof finish onit, or else it is breaking the law. Hence the reason for no cotton nighties for little girls. If they do exist they will be very expensive because of the finish. Cotton burns like mad, it can group in a minute.

I think the ponte thing means it is knitted in some new and random way. The knitting is very tight and it is a double knit which makes it so heavy. Could still be done in cotton though

The cotton nightie thing is a hangover from when most people had real fires/candles at home. Many children were killed by their flannel nighties catching fire.

Not really so much of an issue now I suppose; like oranges says you can get cotton nighties but they are more expensive as they are treated with flame retardant stuff. Places like white co and cath kidston usually have some.

I imagine you'd have to iron a cotton ponte dress though.

Www.outsiderfashion.com sell clothes made from natural fibres. They are expensive!

Ooh that websites nice. Am itching to buy some stuff from there.

Surprisingly enough, Primark often have 100% cotton things in, you just have to look for them. It's usually t-shirts and vests that they have in 100% cotton but when you find them, they are decent quality and last long enough to be worth buying. I bought ten different coloured cotton vests last summer in there and they still look new now despite constant wear and washing

I thought it was just me obsessed with what my clothes are made of! I shop by touch first, then I look properly, then I inspect the label to tripe check it's not nasty plastic tat. And it goes all static. Electric shocks from your clothes, and sweat patches. Nice.

Laura Ashley usually has something if you really hunt, especially summer stuff.

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Parliamo - I also scrunch clothes when shopping to see how they crease. I have become my mother.

Loving this thread. I was beginning to think I was the only person who hated man-made fibres. I don't like viscose, it creases and tops seem to lose their shape very quickly. My personal bugbear is acrylic jumpers. Nasty horrible things.

I am one of the ones checking labels in shops to check what things are made of.

I'm Also always checking labels.
Why do people say acrylic washes better than wool?! Bollocks. It goes crispy and is not at all effective at keeping you warm as wool. My daughter is always being given acrylic stuff & I refuse to put her in it. I recently spent the day looking for a pure lambs wool cardie for her and ended up with a cashmere cardi from gap. As everywhere only had wool mix for kids: Zara, H&M, Benetton, John lewis, next ... Nothing.

also the man made fibres hold sweat smells even when washed more so tyan natural fibres I think.

Crispy knits are nasty. Wool is far nicer!! My DDs prefer cashmere, too, as it's not itchy for them and is so snugly. Sighing at the cost, though.

Completely agree with you all. The surge of polyester on the high street is an absolute disgrace. It's amazing how much polyester is in some jeans these days (M&S 5 pocket are nearly 40% polyester!)

(Loving the Outsider site that someone linked to above.)

It is hard to find. I suppose that's why if I have say £40 to £60 to spend I'll go to the outnet or sales and spend it there rather than high st.

I don't mind so much about when I have something, but prefer it to be natural fibre - cotton, cashmere.

The problem is not confined to man-made fibres unfortunately. Don't get me started on cheap short-fibre cashmere. I have a 10-year-old M&S pure cashmere cardigan that has never pilled (the odd one I suppose). The style is a bit out of fashion now though.

So I bought another one. It pilled horribly within a couple of wears, and unless I waste hours with a wool comb after every wear it's basically unwearable.

So I asked for suggestions for good quality cashmere on here and was recommended Woolovers. Ha! I am bitterly disappointed with the cashmere-merino mix cardigans I bought. They pilled horribly within ONE wear and now liok shabby and vile, only fit for the garden.

Can't find a plain 100% merino cardi for love nor money.

nothing is as good as it used to be!

I'm just going to have to buy Brora or John Smedley, aren't I...

My Gap and Uniqlo merino have been great. Lambs wool, no, merino, yes.

I like Uniqlo for some bits, tkmaxx for cotton and silk, jack wills for jumpers, gap for cotton shirts, Vince and James Perse for t-shirts. I buy work trousers from Joseph or Stella McCartney (only in the sales!), which are made from a fine wool.

I never go into Zara, as I like some of you am an obsessive label checker, and looking for natural fibers is like looking for a needle in a hay stack.

I broke my own rule recently though, I really wanted a wool peacoat, but the only one that I liked was a 30% wool one from Uniqlo. After the first wear it bobbled like mad and after a month, it looked scruffy and was unwearable. I bought a Hobbs wool one in the sales which is 100 times better.

Agree with others that polyester seems to be taking over the world, I went to Jaeger in the sales to look for work dresses and I was amazed that they sold so much polyester and charge so much for it, ditto Reiss and Whistles

I do think though that for me, as so many clothes are made of polyester I buy much less. Seeing a label saying 100% polyester means I walk away