Am I being too harsh on synthetic fabrics?

[CountessVonBoobs]

In the last year or so, I've been focusing on buying fewer, nicer pieces of clothing and predominantly looking for well-cut, more minimalist, interestingly shaped pieces of clothing in natural fabrics. It's going OK, I guess, but I can't help but notice a lot of expensive clothing is still synthetic. I associate synthetic fabrics with shiny/sweaty/smelly on the whole.

Example: I like this top at Wolf & Badger, but it's acetate/viscose: www.wolfandbadger.com/uk/clarice-white-flute-sleeve-blouse/

Am I being too restrictive in shying away from synthetics? I do 95% of my clothes shopping online so can't see how it feels in real life. Should I give this top a try? Any tips for what to look out for to prevent the nasty-synthetics feeling?

Increasingly, I believe, companies are trying to improve profit margins as every sale now counts for more than it did 10 years ago, I'm aiming to buy less new, so now I select what to look at via my fingertips and only look when my fingers drift across lovely texture or feel. If it's bright purple when I open my eyes, I move on.

No, I don't think you're being too harsh. Your instincts are right.

I think generally if you stick to non-synthetic fibres you'll avoid most of the crap on the high street. That said, I've seen some poor natural fabrics in shops too (very thin merino wool jumpers for example). I try and avoid 100% polyester but have a few blends as it's really hard to stick to fully natural fibres.
Btw aren't viscose and acetate both natural fibres?

£140 for a blouse likely to leave you a sweaty mess? Not a chance.

I agree with all of the above. It’s all about cutting costs. I remember even five years ago, for example, Uniqlo used to have some nice silk shirts. Now the same types of shirts are in polyester.

Technically I think viscose is a semi synthetic and not really sweaty. All fibres and clothes have an environmental impact, just different.

If this is important you might want to research synthetic fibres as polyester/acrylic/nylon are all chemically different. For example a lot of sports technical clothing is polyester microfibre and specifically developed not to be sweaty, where a cheap polyester top might be.

I'm sick to the back teeth of coming home empty handed after a look around the shops. I'm actually beginning to run out of clothes now because I refuse to replace my now almost completely worn out clothes with badly cut, badly manufactured, synthetic fibre clothes. Everything looks so cheap. Whistles dresses costing the best part of £200 made from thin, cheap polyester. It's a joke. I really must get my sewing machine out - I think it's the only way forward.

I keep getting ads for that bloody blouse now!

What a gorgeous blouse! I note it says ‘professional care’ in the care instructions so presumably you’d need to have it dry cleaned pretty frequently. I’d be too scared to wear the thing. I can’t comment on the fabric unfortunately. There was a fabric chemist on AIBU the other day, I wonder if she’s ever on the S&B board? I can’t remember her user name or the thread unfortunately or I’d tag her.

Also meant to say I’m sick of cheap and nasty fabrics. Most things just look so cheap and awful nowadays.

I only buy clothes from natural fabrics and which are made in Europe. My choice is very limited even though I am prepared to pay the top dollar. Even my sister noticed that I didn't have that many clothes.
I am not paying for polyester.

I noticed this too a lot last year, OP. My OH wanted to switch to wearing only natural fibers and he had no trouble at all buying inexpensive clothes for men including good work shirts. Me on the other hand? No way. Really nice blouses for €80 - €120 and were synthetic just like you’re finding. It’s ridiculous. Ironically enough, the main place I was able to find cotton t-shirts or nice tops was H & M! That took me by surprise, but even their nicer tops were synthetic as well.

I totally agree with you with one exception. I love Issey Miyake Pleats Please. They are insanely expensive but the designs are beautiful and great for travelling in hot countries can just handwash and leave to dry no ironing required.

Viscose is a semi-man made fibre. It's chemically extracted tree cellulose and should be more breathable than other man made fibres and is therefore not generally too sweaty. It isn't as strong as cotton though.

Acetate is a spun cellulose fibre from tree pulp and is used to add strength to other fibres.

However I would not pay high prices for something made of mainly/ completely manmade / semi-man made fibres.

Give the top a try, it ticks a lot of boxes for you. You can always send it back. I don't think it would look the same in cotton anyway - those fluid sleeves would be crisper, for example. I have a
dress from W&B which is polyester, but such thick fabric and looks like satin. I like it a lot, and no sweat here! That is no reflection on your top because W&B is an umbrella for lots of different brands, but presumably they choose those brands carefully.

I would want a top like that to be in viscose or similar. Holds its shape, no ironing. In cotton it would look like a crumpled hanky on me by the end of the day. So I don’t get the antipathy to viscose etc. I’m not very sweaty though and sometimes people refer to that as an issue so maybe it’s just a fabric that suits my skin and not others.

It shouldn’t be that price though. And I know there are issues about plastic microfibres in the ocean from polyester but then cotton is terrible for water consumption so something’s gotta give - until we revert to goatskins and all march round looking like Robinson Crusoe

Perhaps being a little harsh. I have a mix of clothes in synthetics and naturals. I’m also decribed by some as a “washaholic”. I travel for work a lot with nights away, where synthetics certainly do have their place.

There is also a lot of poor quality cotton around which has no “give” and washes badly.

Interestingly, with on line purchases, l recently bought a skirt. I put it in my “basket”, had second thoughts and left it there for a week. They emailed me asking had I forgotten to check out, they then emailed again offering me 25% off.

I would want a top like that to be in viscose or similar. Holds its shape, no ironing. In cotton it would look like a crumpled hanky on me by the end of the day.

But if it was natural fabric it should really be a heavy silk satin though for that fluid drape, not cotton.

Would silk satin be a natural fabric?

There are some really poor natural fabrics around. Merino that bobbles and shrinks after the first (cold) wash. Cottons and denim that are coated with more chemicals than any polester ever was. Linen and cotton etc that honestly looks so rumpled and horrible after 30 minutes' wear that no professional would want to be seen dead in them.

So I don't know. I look and cut and quality over the material itself.

I went round the shops yesterday. I always look carefully at fabrics. I found:

• &other stories , some good cotton, wool etc but very pricey

-Cos , as above but more rigid stuff and not good for petites -Whistles mostly polyester and very overpriced -Anthropologie barely any natural fibres, but nicer quality viscose etc -Zara awful thin polyester and viscose, everything looked terrible on -M&S just awful -Topshop some decent cotton shirts and skirts actually, but very 90s style atm which doesn't suit me (or my age)

Thanks all. So some vindication of my instincts/prejudices, but also some challenge...!

It is indeed impressively hard to find decent cotton, silk, wool, cashmere etc even when you are prepared to put your hand in your pocket. (I rule out linen as I simply can't be doing with the creasing.) I've also got used to coming home completely empty-handed on the rare occasion I get a physical crack at the shops. I've found it very liberating to rule out most of the high street altogether as too cheap and nasty. But (f'rinstance) I haven't found that price necessarily marks out synthetics that wear well. I found a Vivienne Westwood dress in TK Maxx that fitted me like a glove and that I agonised over, but eventually took back because I could tell that the fabric would be too sweaty and icky next the skin.

I might try this top and see how it feels, I guess...? But I feel there's such a gap in the market for good quality natural fibres which are sharply and interestingly cut. I have the money! I wish to spend it!

And yes, obviously cotton wouldn't work for this top as it's designed to be fluid. But would something similar in silk or silk-mix really be too much to ask?!

Online you can search for material type and clothes type, eg. type in 'cotton dress' on the website. Quick timesaver, even retailers like H&M and Dorothy Perkins have suitable items.

@CountessVonBoobs I saw quite a few silk tops in both &other stories and Cos yesterday

Thanks tiddle, I am a Cos fan, although I find the fact that I always have to go in as everything looks so utterly terrible on their website annoying. I need to get to an &otherstories shop as well.

Tbh, I buy cotton basics from H&M but otherwise I really don't want to shop on most of the high street even for natural fibres - the clothes are just too cheap, they invariably don't wash or last well and I dread to think of what was done to turn them out at £15 each.