Plastic clothes? Acrylic and the like..

dvdman1

Acrylic, polyamide, polyester...do you buy clothes with this stuff in them? I notice xmas jumpers are nearly all 100% acrylic
Are stores getting away with producing fancy designs but not giving us real clothes.
every time you wash these... they produce micro plastics that get washed away ending up in our seas and oceans.

meeeeh

Just because the clothes are made out of plastic it doesn't mean they are not real clothing. Everyone can check the composition and decide if they want to buy it or not.

Majority of my jumpers are wool, there are some cotton and very few acrylic ones (possibly one). I don't buy Christmas jumpers, I absolutely despise them because they are worst type of mindless consumption. If a thick fluffy jumper with design costs 20 Euro or whatever they sell for it's not hard to do the maths behind it and realise it's completely unsustainable. There is no need to blame the shops for it.

Other items of my clothing can be made from polyester, some are recycled polyester but that was not the reason why they were bought. I buy stuff that I like and will wear a lot. Buying something that's 100% cotton and dumping it after two wears is not sustainable either.

dee_mc

I just spent 30 minutes replying to this thread and all the text has disappeared!
Maybe a reminder not to be so long-winded!
I stopped wearing synthetic and high % synthetic fabrics several years ago because when I do, I get awful static shocks all day long.
When I heard about the issue of microplastics, I started examining clothing labels more closely and found I could buy very little on "the high street" or in chainstores, because fabrics are becoming more synthetic every year.
For example, last year I bought a jumper in Dunnes for €24. It was 70% viscose and 30% cotton, and it still looks great now so I decided to buy a new one in a different colour. I noticed the new one felt a bit thinner than the one I was wearing, so I checked the label and found that the "same" sweater was now made from 30% polyester (in place of the cotton) and is now €20. I'd rather spend the extra €4 but I guess Dunnes are back on the "pile em high and sell em cheap" train.
I mostly buy from Thought, Toast, Cos, White Stuff, Esprit, Fat Face etc because they use natural and recycled natural fibres and seem to make the effort with Fair Trade and organic practises etc. I try not to think about the carbon footprint involved considering most of that stuff is still produced somewhere in Asia.
For me, buying less, buying well and washing things as infrequently as I can while still smelling fabulous is key. I consider that "doing my bit".
Christmas jumpers are a whole other ballgame. They're part of a stupid, fairly new trend that will hopefully die a death in the next little while. I read a couple of years ago that a quarter of all Christmas jumpers bought that year were worn once, then ended up in landfill. I fear the true statistic there is far worse tbh.

YFlyer

dee_mc wrote: »

I just spent 30 minutes replying to this thread and all the text has disappeared!
Maybe a reminder not to be so long-winded!
I stopped wearing synthetic and high % synthetic fabrics several years ago because when I do, I get awful static shocks all day long.
When I heard about the issue of microplastics, I started examining clothing labels more closely and found I could buy very little on "the high street" or in chainstores, because fabrics are becoming more synthetic every year.
For example, last year I bought a jumper in Dunnes for €24. It was 70% viscose and 30% cotton, and it still looks great now so I decided to buy a new one in a different colour. I noticed the new one felt a bit thinner than the one I was wearing, so I checked the label and found that the "same" sweater was now made from 30% polyester (in place of the cotton) and is now €20. I'd rather spend the extra €4 but I guess Dunnes are back on the "pile em high and sell em cheap" train.
I mostly buy from Thought, Toast, Cos, White Stuff, Esprit, Fat Face etc because they use natural and recycled natural fibres and seem to make the effort with Fair Trade and organic practises etc. I try not to think about the carbon footprint involved considering most of that stuff is still produced somewhere in Asia.
For me, buying less, buying well and washing things as infrequently as I can while still smelling fabulous is key. I consider that "doing my bit".
Christmas jumpers are a whole other ballgame. They're part of a stupid, fairly new trend that will hopefully die a death in the next little while. I read a couple of years ago that a quarter of all Christmas jumpers bought that year were worn once, then ended up in landfill. I fear the true statistic there is far worse tbh.

Type in a Word document.

dee_mc

dee_mc wrote: »

I read a couple of years ago that a quarter of all Christmas jumpers bought that year were worn once, then ended up in landfill. I fear the true statistic there is far worse tbh.

Keep in mind though there are people like me out there, too. I have 1 christmas jumper, that has been worn about a dozen times, but it's been owned by me for about 4 years.


It's not a lot of wear, but it's not exactly 'single-use' either. I imagine I will still own it in another 4 years, too.

dvdman1

Should we the customer be not insisting on a culture change here.
Pressure needs to be applied to ban the usage of some of these items being produced in the first place.
Wether you used an item once or twice or even fifty times, the fact it was made in the 1st place means oir environment will suffer.
The pennys trow away clothes are ending up on our plate, literally in our food.

meeeeh

dvdman1 wrote: »

Should we the customer be not insisting on a culture change here.
Pressure needs to be applied to ban the usage of some of these items being produced in the first place.
Wether you used an item once or twice or even fifty times, the fact it was made in the 1st place means oir environment will suffer.
The pennys trow away clothes are ending up on our plate, literally in our food.

Yes we should insist on culture change. Our own. They say you should wear something at least 30 times before you throw it out and don't buy stuff just because it's cheap or because you are bored. I'm far from perfect and I'm not going to suggest my approach is particularly sustainable but it's our own behaviour we should examine not blame everything on evil stores selling us stuff. If clothes are not sold less will be produced in future.

Day Lewin

Agreeing. When I look around any crowded room, all I see is literally people wrapped in plastic. It's really quite difficult to find - or afford - clothing or footwear in natural materials.
I've started making a lot of mine out of cotton and linen, but I can't knit. So I'm trying to source woollen clothing from charity shops.
I think runners and sports clothing are a lost cause.

But what a good discovery, that linen lasts so well and feels so comfortable! Cotton is so washable and wool is so warm!
Silk is really expensive so I can't comment on that.

dvdman1

meeeeh wrote: »

Yes we should insist on culture change. Our own. They say you should wear something at least 30 times before you throw it out and don't buy stuff just because it's cheap or because you are bored. I'm far from perfect and I'm not going to suggest my approach is particularly sustainable but it's our own behaviour we should examine not blame everything on evil stores selling us stuff. If clothes are not sold less will be produced in future.

Can our governments not set a fibre tax on clothes with these composites? Can some of that common agricultural money not be used to incentivise home produced fibers...our personal consumer choices cant really change things unless the alternatives are incentivised by government putting pressure on industry and retail...its unrealistic to expect cash strapped families to buy non acrylic hats n scarfs for their kids this winter..the alternatve natural fibers can be over double in price.

meeeeh

dvdman1 wrote: »

Can our governments not set a fibre tax on clothes with these composites? Can some of that common agricultural money not be used to incentivise home produced fibers...our personal consumer choices cant really change things unless the alternatives are incentivised by government putting pressure on industry and retail...its unrealistic to expect cash strapped families to buy non acrylic hats n scarfs for their kids this winter..the alternatve natural fibers can be over double in price.

Cotton is very thirsty plant and uses loads of water as far as I know and a lot of people find wool itchy. There are issues with different types of material, less wasteful approach is better than government incentives to buy more.

dvdman1

meeeeh wrote: »

Cotton is very thirsty plant and uses loads of water as far as I know and a lot of people find wool itchy. There are issues with different types of material, less wasteful approach is better than government incentives to buy more.

Yes it is thirsty plant but it doesnt necessarily need clean water to grow, I didnt mean buy more.. i meant incentivise better choices.
As i said wether u wear an acrylic top once or 50 times doesnt really matter, once it gets produced its a problem for the environment. "Less wasteful" isnt really an approach or a culture change making this stuff in the first place is a disaster for our planet. Recyling and being less wasteful is all very well but doesnt change anything when u take world demographics and quick fashion trends into account.

meeeeh

No offense but that is complete nonsense. There is huge problem with the amount of clothing that ends in landfill. And how many times you wear something is hugely relevant. Think of resources used per wear. Your logic is a bit like Lewis Hamilton becoming vegan to save the planet and still flying in his private jet.

dvdman1

meeeeh wrote: »

No offense but that is complete nonsense. There is huge problem with the amount of clothing that ends in landfill. And how many times you wear something is hugely relevant. Think of resources used per wear. Your logic is a bit like Lewis Hamilton becoming vegan to save the planet and still flying in his private jet.

What precisely is complete nonsense?
The fact something gets created in the 1st place is hugely important...let me give you an example:

A consumer buys an acrylic top and wears the item 50 times wasing it ever 2nd wear...everytime that garment is washed it produces micro plastics, so it produced this 25 times and as the item got more wear the tiny fibres falling become more and more.

Sombody who buys the same top and only wore it twice and never washed it produced no microplastics into the water system. When it finally is trown away in a landfill at least it was in a designated place not the sea. Not ideal at all but better than the slow wear... producing lots of tiny particles.

simply minimising our waste isnt a solution...as in my example what u thought was better actually turned out to be worse for the environment.....these shouldn't be produced in the 1st place, the cultural change is the approach we need to pursue.

meeeeh

There are a lot more problems with disposable clothing than just micro plastics. As for designated areas in land fill. Come on? You think your acrylic jumper stops shedding when it's in the landfill. Not to mention that huge amounts of material is dumped because they were not used up in the collections.

https://7billionfor7seas.com/fast-fashion-facts/

dvdman1

meeeeh wrote: »

There are a lot more problems with disposable clothing than just micro plastics. As for designated areas in land fill. Come on? You think your acrylic jumper stops shedding when it's in the landfill. Not to mention that huge amounts of material is dumped because they were not used up in the collections.

https://7billionfor7seas.com/fast-fashion-facts/

Nowhere did i say the jumper was ok in landfill.."Not ideal at all" is what i said...im mearly pointing out the issues with these matherials, they always pose a problem regardless of the scenario....thats why not producing them in the 1st place should be our goal.

Yes i agree its disgraceful the amount dumped not used up in collections, truly awful.

SozBbz

I'm trying to buy less and buy better.

I've really tried to evaluate whats worked for me in my wardrobe and focus on replacing those elements when necessary.

Gym gear is a tough one though - hard to get yoga pants made of natural fibers.

But - I have recognised that when I was buying from Nike, I was replacing them every year or so as they'd go saggy and the material would ball. I bought my first pair of Lululemon (probably 3x the price) about 4.5 years ago and I still wear them to this day, not just to the gym but also to run around at weekends/evenings etc. So now I only buy Lululemon and have 4 pairs in total, and they all have loads of life left in them.

I've also started paying more attention to consignment/thrift stores lately. I've "sold" some items in a swap day and bought a vintage designer purse in exchange. I've also bought and sold dresses that I've worn for weddings on sites like Adverts/Depop which I think is great, as wedding guest outfits are terrible for only being worn once. I once got a Ted Baker gown that was €395 for €120 off a girl who had bought it and worn it once. It was still in stores at the time. I then got it dry cleaned and sold it on again 3months later (having worn it to a friends wedding) for €80. God knows where it is now, but I know its had at least 3 good wears, when easily it could have sat at the back of the origional owners wardrobe for years.

I wash my clothes on 20degrees mostly (unless there is an obvious stain) and refuse to use tumble dryers as I want to keep them looking good for as long as possible.