I often see on clothes, bags, sheets, etc. a few % of polyester in the cotton cloth label. What does this mean and why do they do it? Are they weaving one out of every few strands out of polyester? Or is the fiber itself made of a few % polyester in composition? And what does it do for the cloth?
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It’s the worst. I hate even 1%. And you cannot get gray tshirts or underwear these days without like 10% poly. It’s horrible.
Btw clothes/materials that are mixed fibre (like cotton/polyester blend) are not recyclable. If possible, try not to buy them
Just adding that wool cotton blends used to be the norm for some of the same reasons that cotton poly blends are the norm now.
The hand is better, the garment wears longer, doesn’t wrinkle as easily, and is warmer that straight cotton when wet. I bought a long sleeve button down shirt blend for a one bag two week trip this spring, Along with a cotton wool blend t shirt, a light parka, a clothesline and some Dr. Bronner’s I was good for 40-95 f for a week and a half.
It might be a trend. Ice Breaker and some other wool centric companies showed up when I started searching.
Very simple, they made it for the costs and because polyester is stronger than cotton. They often do this because their weaving/knitting or cotton is of poor quality.
That’s the same with jeans and elastane. A higher percentage of elastane often means a lower quality of cotton.
And yes polyester is much less confortable than coton, except when it comes to microfibers.
(hope my english is understandable)
(source : my textile engineering courses)
Polyester is a very warm fabric. If you’re looking for cool fabrics stay away from polyester.
As an aside from this conversation, is there any way to re-stretch a cotton shirt that shrunk when it was washed in hot water, back to its original size?
I’ve seen mop heads being advertised as 75% cotton and 15% rayon and 10% polyester. Is this to reduce shrinkage when laundered? And to strengthen and extend the life of mop heads?
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One key reason that isn’t really being mentioned here is cost. Polyester is cheap, so by adding it to your fibre mix you bring down the cost of materials going into the finished garment and improve your profit margin.
In the world of mass-produced clothing, especially fast fashion, margins are *very* tight, so even a 0.1% saving on materials costs can translate into a significant amount of extra profit when scaled up over literally millions of garments.
Natural fibres wear better than polyester. They are more comfortable, breathable, and better for temperature regulation. So there is often a limit in terms of the proportion of artificial fibre that customers will tolerate and still buy your product. It’s a balancing act.
I would recommend [this article ](https://www.permanentstyle.com/2019/05/the-guide-to-synthetic-and-performance-cloth.html) from Simon Crompton for further reading.
If the fabric has any woven-in pattern like pinstripes, could be just the pinstripes (or whatever minor pattern element) are polyester.
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