What is the best? What do people here buy? Do you stay away from all synthetics?
Cotton is a great all around material, but has such heavy water usage, and a lot isn’t made well. Linen/hemp seems better for that, and is durable, but it’s such a specific look and with too much casual linen/hemp you look like a 00s stoner. Synthetics are literally plastic and every wash puts more micro plastics into the water. Is wool good? It works well for a lot of stuff, but is expensive and is an animal product. Vintage wool stuff can be pretty great. Lots of good deals on vintage wool coats which have held up great including brands you’ve never heard of and are long defunct.
What else is there?
Edit: also open to just durability recommendations. What lasts you the longest?
Apologies in advance for not directly answering but this is a rant I have on lock. I feel like fabric sustainability is sometimes used as a form of greenwashing by companies to launder the fact that the biggest hits to sustainability in the west come in the form of quantity of consumption, not type.
The average American spends over $1k every year to buy about 24 garments. On average, a garment will be worn only 7 times before being discarded. Most garments that are donated or sold to secondhand stores will never be sold, being moved instead to rag houses, where pickers from the vintage clothing industry will pick out bulk quantities of clothes for resale. The vast majority of clothes are passed over by pickers. Some are made into industrial rags. The rest are sent to a landfill.
The most sustainable thing individuals can do is to just buy less and to buy secondhand whenever feasible. Beyond that we need to nationalize the industry and stop manipulating people via advertising to keep buying so much.
Feel free to go off. I want a state run clothing store for consistent, well made staples everyone needs that isn’t shoved into your face via ads. Give me a clothing ration card lol.
I agree, and don’t buy very much, but I go through periods where I like looking around, seeing what is made of what and how it’s constructed. I may buy like 0-5 things a year new or used plus the odd underwear or socks or shoes when needed.
Years ago though, I bought a lot of fast fashion crap and almost have none of it left because of how easily it degraded, but I have other stuff which is newer to even older than me and is still wearable for a long time with the correct care. 7 wears is crazy low but sounds about right. Very bad for the earth, but also shit value for clothing. I want to wear something for many years before I convert it into rags to use.
Just curious what fabrics ppl here like too look for. Not having a washing machine full of polyester clothing seems like a good start. If I’m looking for one nice piece I will wear a lot, I stay away from certain materials even if I like what it looks like.
If you want your fabric to be durable do your darndest to get as 100% of a single fabric as possible. So get a 100% cotton shirt, or 100% linen, or 100% rayon, etc. The mixing of fabrics is what makes the clothing weak, and yk maybe the bible was right on this one