Why is it that when polyester and viscose is used in more expensive dresses it becomes dry clean only?

[ElderAve]

I have been trying to create a capsule wardrobe from good quality pieces that will last, aiming to buy fewer but better clothes. There are some lovely things in the sales of retailers I couldn't usually afford. People like Joseph, Jigsaw, Whistles.

But I have noticed that if you buy a viscose dress that costs £50 it will be machine washable. If the ticket price is £200 it will be dry clean only. Why is that? Do they really mean it or is it just to cover themselves?

Same with polyester, although I do try to avoid it because it's like wearing a plastic bag, but surely nothing polyester needs to be dry cleaned?

Do you dry clean your everyday work dresses? How often?

Plus many companies now use fewer pesticides and no longer use the harmful bleaches or dyes they used to due to new environmental laws that have come into effect. Maybe have a look into cotton production, Stacey Dooley did an excellent documentary on it. If you are concerned about the environment then buy less - most of us have too many clothes anyway!

Midwintermoring

I have looked into cotton production myself? It is much improved since the 2000s. Yes, there are some bad companies using child labour and such but with the Sustainable Cotton Project, Organic Cotton, and others there are many sources of cotton that do not wreck the environment. Even US cotton is now produced sustainably and they are hardly the lead on environmental action!
Don’t forget too that all the water going into cotton is going into a living, breathing plant that sucks CO2 out of the atmosphere. So that is water well spent unlike water used to turn the fossil fuel oil into plastic fibres.

I agree on buy less. I try and buy second hand before new. I follow the Reduce (only buy what I need), Reuse (buy secondhand clothes first), Recycle (always recycle excess clothing...recycling of cotton is very common now).

I don’t have a minimalist wardrobe but it is not large. My DH and I share one wardrobe and he takes up 75% of it (work suits mostly)! He also owns more shoes than I do. I own six pairs including boots/flip flops.

I know it takes time (or people think it does) but I handwash anything like delicates\tights and manmade fibres and even silk. ( I have always ignored the dry clean only labels). I SOAK them overnight in softened warm water with half a cup of white vinegar and half a cap full of ecological friendly detergent. It' s great the colours are kept very clear and they don't need scrubbing. The woollens do very well too. They just need drip drying flat in the bath .

On a dryer of course .

Midwinter, do watch the Stacey Dooley fashion programme that was made about cotton. Cotton production is a lot worse for the environment than you think

Thinking about my ephinany; I remember going into a Bond Street, high class fashion shop in the 80s (before Primark) and the stink of the 'finish' used on the clothes had me dashing out of the place with my eyes streaming. Apparently it's a cyanide based chemical. So I began looking for organic clothes then . Or at least 2nd hand which have had the muck washed out of them .

I have always been cynical about huge manafacturers anyway. They seem to go out of their way to benefit their shareholders and bugger the consumers.

Silly me That post was meant for the "I'm not buying new this year" thread.