100% cotton clothing

[Besidemyselfwithworry]

So as the title says really
I’ve been at work today in my office in the hospital and it’s been absolutely sweltering.

i try to buy clothing that is 100% cotton for these hot days (no viscose or polyester) and I’m wondering mumsnetters - is this an generation thing??? I have always done this even when I was younger.

So my colleagues in their 40’s plus seem to do this and have cool breathable fabric outfits, but the younger staff today - some of them had one what they’d wear in the winter (think trousers or skirts and tights and long tops!) and even some of their summery outfits they were moaning they were boiled because they’re almost all made of man made fibres!

surely this isn’t rocket science??

But it’s almost impossible to find these days, you must have noticed? And young people often wouldn’t prioritise spending a lot of money on the sort of clothing brands that do make 100 percent cotton. Where I work the younger ones (and increasingly many older people too) all seem to use Shein or other fast fashion brands despite claiming to care about the environment which I find a bit mad.

Agree - on websites it’s hard to find cotton clothes too as not many filter by fabric or include 10% cotton in the cotton filter even though they’re 90% polyester!

the John Lewis website is good for this as you can filter on material. I always select cotton, organic cotton, linen or linen blend when looking for tops etc

100% cotton clothing is pretty easy to come by, but it’s not usually cheap, or fashion driven . Your colleagues may have other priorities when buying clothes.

A lot of mine is from Sainsbury's, TKMaxx and M&S. I suspect it's not where younger people regularly shop for clothes. Although cotton t-shirts are surely available pretty much everywhere?

I am, and always have been really fussy about the fabrics I wear, and other than things like swimming costumes, it's pretty much all natural fibres. Plus I mend things, so clothes aren't usually throwout until they're literally falling apart. Today's shorts are probably 15 years old.

Viscose is not equatable with polyester .
Just like linen there are different grades but the viscose I have is like lawn cotton .
Honestly.

I cannot see that this is a matter of difficulty in sourcing, at all. Surely it’s that younger people’s point of reference is athleisure, which is almost inevitably made from synthetic fabrics - so they just haven’t grown up with much understanding of natural fibre clothes?

But cotton and linen aren’t that hard to find. Zara, Stories, Mango, etc all offer them if people can be bothered to read website details carefully. Uniqlo is more difficult - but then, it specialises in technical fabrics that claim to do all sorts of wonderful things.

Have to say, having dealt with synthetic school uniform clothes, I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a room with overheated adults in synthetic fabrics. 🥴

Yes I'm 40s and only wear natural fabrics. The stink alone from polyester at the end of an office day from some of my colleagues is unbearable. I have one polyester maxi skirt and it is very thin and seems like it would be cool. But in reality it's like wearing a black bin bag.

I buy lots of cotton clothes from a French one woman business called Funkydeliss.
Originally bought a dress from her market stall in Vannes, France. And have bought a few since in France at the couple of markets she does.
Couldn't find her this year so checked on Instagram and found her. Have now ordered more dresses.
The owner speaks good English so you can message here and she responds quickly.
https://www.funkydeliss.com/

One of the good things about Vinted is the ability to filter searches for cotton/linen!

Try YesFriends. Organic cotton, workers paid fairly and less than £20 a t shirt. Or M&S do pure cotton for £5.50.

I’m sat here in long sleeved linen. You won’t see my shoulders or legs out in heat like this.

Lovely discovery @lilaccamille,like Aspiga but affordable! I'm off to Brittany in September and will be sure to check her market stall out.

I think as you get older you become more obsessed with reading clothing labels, when you are younger you just buy stuff you like without so much thought.
Plus the sweatier you are in general the more you care about natural fabrics!

Doesnt have to be expensive either, you can find 100% cotton stuff everywhere. All my £3 Primark t shirts are 100% cotton and so are the pj bottoms Im currently wearing as trousers!

I recently bought cotton short sleeved shirts and cotton culottes from Primark. They have all washed well without shrinkage.

Yep I wore a linen blend midi shirt dress to the office yesterday and I was fine. People in the UK seem to struggle with the idea that covering up is better in very hot weather.

She’s called Emmanuelle. Yes, like Aspiga!

H&M and La Redoute allow you to filter by material, and it’s pretty accurate.

Aspiga does lovely cotton, it is pricey but they have an outlet section and a preloved section on their site with better prices.

Agree viscose is not bad.

River Island often stock all cotton shirts and dresses amongst the synthetic horror. Their cotton seems to come from commonwealth countries and not China too.

Viscose is a natural fibre I think, made of wood pulp or something? At least - that’s what I used to tell customers in Monsoon 😊

Viscose can be very cool. I prefer it to linen which I find scratchy and hot. I thought it was a natural fibre too!

Uniqlo is so helpful here. Their technical ‘keep cool’ fabrics do their job brilliantly, and their linen shirts are wearable without ironing (if you shake them out after washing).

Ah someone else who finds linen hot! I thought it was just me as it gets recommended so often for hot weather wear.

I was going to say the same. Viscose is breathable.

Yes! It gives me prickly heat - only thing that ever has. And I look like a bag lady in it. A linen cotton blend - fine - but more than 50 per cent linen and I’m a no.