Cheap, durable and lightweight? Sounds enticing to wear all over our bodies. Oh polyester, how you’ve taken over the fast fashion industry with ease. While the synthetic fabric keeps our clothes (somewhat) affordable and up to date on the latest trends, polyester does more harm than good, and looks stylish while doing it.
Polyester’s Fake Persona
Dating back to the 1920s, research was conducted on polyester and its main ingredient polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Patented in 1941 to be produced legally, polyester and other synthetic fibers now make up 70% of our clothing. Amazing, right? No, not really.
Polyester is directly made from oil, a fossil fuel that contributes to significant amounts of carbon in the environment. Additionally, the fabric leaks toxic dyes and microfibers into the environment, impacting our health. Polyester poses a threat to our human rights, habitat and well-being. So, is style worth all the harm?
Can’t Keep Up? Polyester Can
It’s no secret how social media influences the latest fashion trends, but it has sped up the pace of incoming and outgoing styles. One day, boho-chic and Isabel Marant consume our feeds with Pinterest boards and Amazon links to achieve the right look. After a week or so, the trend fades and moves onto the next mainstream content of a new style. It is a rapid, perpetuating cycle that exhausts the consumer and fashion industry.
How do we even keep up? Polyester seems to be the answer! The quick-made fabric poses as the solution to stay within the fashion trend loop. Even if there are loose threads, polyester-made clothing will let us achieve at least one outfit seen on our TikTok. Screw cotton, polyester gets the job done (for now).
Building Awareness Before You Buy
VALLEY understands. It is alluring to buy the latest clothing piece that everyone wants, display it around your local college town and flaunt. You got your money’s worth! But, did you really? Check that label again, and we mean the fabric makeup not the brand. We are aware of the notable fast fashion brands like Shein, but even pricier brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Jaded London and Peppermayo heavily utilize polyester and unethical processes to produce clothing.
Second-hand stores used to be primarily filled with pure cotton or well-made clothing but fast fashion has infiltrated the thrifts too. Overconsumption leads us back to the landfills of clothing with no home or temporary purpose to fulfill one outfit. Next time you buy a new piece of clothing, maybe take a second to evaluate the price, fabric and why you really want to buy it. Get the most bang for your buck.
Are you wearing polyester right now? Let us know @VALLEYMag on X!
Related
Threads of Greed
The Fashion Shifts
TikTok Style Battle: How To Make Both Look Good
It’s arduous to seek out educated people on this matter, however you sound like you know what you’re speaking about! Thanks
Attractive component to content. I simply stumbled upon your website and in accession capital to assert that I acquire in fact enjoyed account your weblog posts. Any way I’ll be subscribing for your augment or even I achievement you access persistently fast.
Great V I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs as well as related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, site theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task..
Hello there, You’ve done a fantastic job. I will definitely digg it and personally suggest to my friends. I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this web site.
Very nice pattern and fantastic content material, nothing else we need : D.
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this blog before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyways, I’m definitely happy I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back frequently!
of course like your web site but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very bothersome to tell the truth nevertheless I’ll surely come back again.
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa? My website covers a lot of the same topics as yours and I think we could greatly benefit from each other. If you are interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Excellent blog by the way!
Hello. fantastic job. I did not expect this. This is a remarkable story. Thanks!
I do trust all the ideas you’ve presented to your post. They are very convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too short for newbies. May just you please prolong them a little from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.