Why are there so many polyester clothes around? Looking for dresses in nice breathable materials.

[Gointothesun]

Why are so many dresses and other clothes made of polyester these days?

Any recommendations for shops where I can find clothes that are made of decent materials?

I have recently come across dresses around the £100 price-mark that are made of polyester, from Whistles and Hush and other shops. When I first saw them I thought they looked nice, but when I looked at the label I saw they were made of 100% polyester!

These are dresses with sleeves. Surely that's a recipe for becoming hot, sticky and sweaty as soon as you start moving, given polyester isn't breathable and traps in sweat.

I have even come across beach dresses (not even cheap ones) made of polyester. Surely that's the most unpleasant thing ever and it would just stick to you.

What is happening?! Why?? All my mum's old dresses were made of nice breathable materials and I'm sure that several decades ago the quality of high street clothes was better.

I saw a lovely pair of pyjamas in M&S and fortunately checked label to find they were 100% polyester....would be like sleeping in a plastic bag!

It seems to be in almost everything (even with retailers boasting on labels about 'eco' credentials - how??) I can't bear it and it's putting me off buying anything much these days.

There's not a lot of choice out there: Toast, Brora & Poetry do dresses in natural fabrics - I've been searching for a shirt dress recently in flannel/cotton (not polyester/viscose) and ended up by a Toast one on eBay. Uniqlo might be worth a try.

I totally agree. The clothes also have swing tags on them proudly stating that they are made from 60% recycled plastic bottles. I don’t want that.

There is an advert I’ve seen a few times on Instagram by Woolmark which is along the lines of
’It’s not Silky
It’s not Mesh
Its not Fleece
Its Plastic
and it will be around for the next 200 years’
The marketing of these crappy products as eco friendly is a con, as well as nasty to wear.

It's the fact that the likes of Hobbs/Jigsaw are charging £160 for polyester that bugs me. I'm prepared to pay for a good quality item and just buy fewer, but not that price for something that's cheap to produce and looks like a sweaty rag after I've been wearing it for an hour!

If you're happy to buy second hand, you can filter for 'Material' on eBay. I do this and only buy natural fibres.

I totally agree with you, synthetic fibres are grim.

A little while ago a helpful poster offered this list of excellent dress brands. (Tap for full list) From memory they all or mostly use wonderful natural fabrics - and for that reason they are more expensive than the High St brands that don’t.

Worth adding would be

A Perfect Nomad
Colenimo
Community Clothing
Eat Dust Clothing
Justine Tabak

Variety of price points again, though not luxury designers. Community Clothing is rigorous about fair mark ups and ethical local production - so essentially what they charge is the baseline for decent natural fibre clothes.

And the influencers pushing the 'jumper from recycled materials is so much better' angle. No it bloody isn't. I want something made from proper wool that will keep me warm while wfh in a cold house, and will LAST for years, not something that will be consigned to the charity shop after a couple of wears because it looks like shit.

Agree with what you say and with other recommendations. I also like to get things from Cos (though you need to read the labels - their clothes are about 50/50 natural/artificial).

Well if everyone stopped buying plastic stuff there would be less for them to use

This is the main reason why I increasingly make my own clothes as I can both knit and sew though I totally understand that’s not an option for everyone.
Dd buys second hand almost entirely.

It's to do with climate change, and capitalism.

Cotton is very water intensive and uses a load of pesticides. Consequently water shortages as a result of climate change impact production, and also cotton very often isn't an eco option.

This is a good article about issues around farming cotton.

https://www.fashionrevolution.org/standing-up-for-the-farmers-who-grow-our-cotton/

Agree OP. It’s sad that just 20 or 30 years ago the average person could buy mostly decent quality, natural materials from the high street. Now it’s majority plastics everywhere you go.

I have to say, I don't recognise this golden age of natural fabrics. 'Drip dry' synthetics were massively popular when they were introduced because they didn't need ironing and because without central heating, cotton and wool took all week to dry. Even my pyjamas were brushed nylon - I liked them because they were warm.

I agree the British high street was amazing 20-odd years ago but it was mostly fuelled by credit and totally unsustainable.

Anyway my top recommendation, as usual, is Community Clothing,

John Lewis, H&M and La Redoute all let you filter by material.

@Floisme Ive never ordered anything from Community Clothing before. I like their ethos though very much. Is there anything you have ordered from them that you love to wear?

Not high fashion but Patra silk use all natural fabrics plus they're quality for the price

I have ordered night dresses from Patra and the quality is fantastic. They still look good after over a year of regular wearing and washing. No twisted seams on the jersey. (Sorry for sounding like your mum). Many of the designs look a bit dated but not as off putting as wearing Disney character nightwear imho.

I've got straight legged jeans, the denim trousers (which are a wide-but-not-ridiculously-wide leg) and I've just bought the combat trousers which are my favourite. (Sorry I can't do links right now,) I've seen the knitwear once in a pop-up-shop and it looked good, although I've never ordered any.

Sorry I hit 'post' too soon. I was going to say that I particularly like the CC combat trousers because of the fabric - it's a cotton twill that feels very robust but still quite soft to the touch, and the weight means they hang really nicely.

Love the irony of this ad appearing on a thread bemoaning the ubiquity of polyester clothing!

Anyway, I came on to suggest Woolovers. Despite the name, they don't just do wool (but also cotton, linen, silk etc). Almost all of their clothes are made of natural materials (they've recently introduced some items in recycled nylon) and the quality is usually good, I find.

I have a couple of dresses from Seasalt that are 100% organic cotton. Bought them in Marks and Spencer.

You normally need to check labels, but Sainsbury’s, sea salt, joules, Joanie etc all have some clothes that are natural fibres .

I don't mind paying more for natural materials but these days it's more for synthetics!

I remember buying a lot of clothes from oasis 15 years ago and it was easy to get leather wool etc on the High St.

Monsoon are guilty of the recycled polyester bs I bought a winter dress in the summer sale for about £15 and its OK, original price tag says £80 😱

I spotted a Karen Millen dress yesterday that I really loved. £300 (reduced from £400)... 100% polyester! No thanks.

Thanks for the recommendations @Floisme 😊