Polyester... friend of foe?

Lookin’ groovy in polyester man! Polyester isn’t traditionally a sustainable fabric. Your grandma might love her polyester pant suit (I know mine did) and your kids may cuddle up in their fleece hoodies, but polyester isn’t doing us any favors.

Polyester, like most plastics, is essentially made from CRUDE OIL. Yes, the ancient stuff under the Arabian sands that humankind goes to war over. By reacting two petroleum extracts, terephthalic acid with ethylene glycol (commonly known as antifreeze) under very high temperatures, you get the chemical polymer used to create polyester. As this cools, it becomes like a syrup and is forced through small holes to create tiny streams which dry and solidify into the yarn that is woven into fabric. In England, this polymer was called terylene. Du Pont secured exclusive U.S. rights to the polymer in 1946, calling it polyester, with the brand name Dacron.

The same polymer can be formed into other plastics like the one used for soda bottles. Because soda bottles and polyester have the same chemical makeup, some polyesters these days are made in part or whole by recycled bottles. Maybe polyester is sustainable after all… just read the labels!



Here are a couple pieces from Patagonia’s Hempton’s line which are made from a linen-like blend of recycled polyester, hemp and organic cotton. Nice! Patagonia has a bunch of options that contain recycled polyester including their staples of Synchilla® made from 8-oz double-faced polyester fleece (85% recycled fiber) which has saved numerous lives on the top of Everest or out camping on a cold night.

Thinking like an Econista:
I keep going back to certain themes and here again, is one. Irresponsible science has gotten us into this climate crisis. Because without all these scientists and patent-holding companies, we would be using naturally occurring fibers, grown with sun and water the way humankind was living for millenia. We wouldn’t be choking on pesticides, using crude oil to cloth ourselves or be breathing in chemical waste if some guy in a lab coat didn't come up with it. So Patagonia is a great example of how we can put science to work for us to solve our problems. Maybe there’s hope for our civilization after all.