Are Your Clothes Made From Plastic?

What are “synthetic fabrics?”

Synthetic fabrics are textiles made from man-made fibres instead of natural ones. The fibres are created through chemical processes, mostly from polymers that come from petroleum-based products (a.k.a. plastic).

Most clothes produced today are made from virgin plastic, which relies on the extraction of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are a finite resource and create a lot of pollution, contributing to climate change, so ideally we want to limit the amount that’s being produced.

The Main Plastic-Based Fabrics

Here are a few of the most common fabrics that are made from plastic, so you know the names to look out for.

Polyester: A versatile and widely used synthetic fabric, polyester is known for its durability, resistance to wrinkles, and quick drying. You’ll find it in most high street clothes, especially skirts, dresses and shirts.

Nylon: Another popular synthetic fabric which is known for it’s great elasticity and strength. It is often used in things like tights, activewear, and even ropes and parachutes.

Acrylic: When you buy a wooly jumper that isn’t made from wool, you’ll usually find that it’s made from acrylic. Known for its warmth and softness, and crucially its resistance to moths, it’s often used for jumpers, blankets and cold-weather clothes.

Rayon: Although derived from natural sources (wood pulp), rayon is considered a semi-synthetic or artificial fabric. It undergoes significant chemical processing to transform the cellulose from wood pulp into fibres, so it’s not as environmentally friendly as it might seem. It’s widely used in shirts and dresses because it’s soft and drapes well.

Spandex (Lycra or Elastane): Spandex is a stretchy synthetic fabric known for being exceptionally elastic. It is commonly blended with other fibres to add stretch and flexibility to things like swimwear and sportswear.

Why Does it Matter if Our Clothes Contain Plastic?

There are a number of environmental and health reasons that affect us when our clothes are made from plastic. For many people, these feel minor and don’t really matter, but if you’re someone who cares about your health and the planet, you might want to listen up.

Plastic based clothes release microplastics when they’re washed, which end up going directly into our waterways, causing our oceans to be polluted. It’s predicted that by 2025, there will be 1 tonne of plastic for every 3 tonnes of fish in the world’s oceans, so it’s a serious problem.

Because plastic is incredibly durable, clothes made from them don’t break down easily, and contribute to significant textile waste in our landfills.

Some people find that plastic-based clothes can cause skin irritations, and can be less breathable than their natural counterparts.

Natural Textiles vs. Synthetic Textiles

But are natural fabrics always better than synthetic? Not necessarily.

As with most questions about sustainability, this one’s not that simple to answer, and there are a few things to take into consideration.

In general, natural fabrics are better for the environment, more breathable, and will biodegrade naturally at the end of their lifetime. However, when we produce lots and lots of clothes from natural fabrics, we need to use more land and grow more crops, which can cause damage to the environment.

On the other hand, synthetic fabrics are more hardwearing, so tend to last longer. They’re more resistant to creasing, and can be great for sportswear, and cheap to produce. The main problem is that they struggle to break down, and when they do they release harmful microplastics that make their way into our land and oceans.

What are Blended Fabrics?

Blended fabrics are what most of us wear pretty much every day. Most t-shirts, sweatshirts and highstreet coats are made from blended fabrics.

The term refers to any fabrics that are mixed together, for example t-shirts regularly use a mix of cotton and polyester, and a lot of outerwear will blend expensive natural fabrics like wool with cheaper plastic-based fabrics like polyester. This is usually because synthetic fabrics are cheaper to produce, so save money in production.

The problem we face is when it comes to breaking down these fabrics. Because of the mix, the natural fibres break down more quickly than the synthetic ones, which leaves a whole lot of trouble. When a fabric is fully synthetic, it’s actually easier to recycle and make into new fabric.

At the moment we’re working with some of our partners on a new kind of recycling where we can split up blended fabrics, which is very exciting, but still early in its development.

For now, most blended fabrics unfortunately end their life in landfill, which is one of our biggest goals to prevent, by giving clothes a second life.

Can Plastic Clothing Ever Be Good News?

It’s not all bad news!

Brands like our partners Finisterre and Seasalt use recycled ocean plastics in their clothing, and TALA also create their leisurewear from recycled plastics. This means no new raw materials needing to be processed, and waste being recycled instead of thrown away.

There are tons of amazing companies all over the world that are dedicated to finding solutions to make plastic-based fabrics less impactful on the environment.

Pre-loved over new

Even when buying clothes made from recycled materials, choosing pre-loved over new is going to have the least impact.

Because the clothes have already been produced, and are still in good nick (or we’ve revived them back to good nick), you can get your hands on higher quality clothes for cheaper prices.

When you buy pre-loved, you keep good clothes in circulation and prevent the need for new things to be produced at all, even the new components that are added to clothes made from recycled materials.

So does it actually matter if your clothes are made from plastic?

Yes and no.

There are environmental impacts, certainly, but if you keep your clothes for a long time, buy pre-loved and find responsible ways to get rid of them when you’re finished with them (like our takeback schemes), you’ll be minimising your impact.

So choose pre-loved, and choose the planet-friendly option.

Shop our latest pre-loved collection here.