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A few years ago, while I hadn’t yet completely eliminated polyester-based clothes from my wardrobe, I sat down one evening to eliminate them and shared the labels of random clothes on Instagram. The messages I received from Instagram showed that this topic was sensitive for many of us, but most of us were still lacking in knowledge.

As metta.lifestyle, we decided to share an article with you on this subject.

WHAT ARE THE TYPES OF FABRIC?

For example, let’s think of wool. I used to be unable to bear the thought of a wool sweater. Now I understand that my wool sweaters were not 100% wool, but rather knitted from synthetic materials. Wool is a soft and non-sweating raw material.

Before moving on to other types, let’s first go to the first known fabric?

The first known fabric was a piece of linen woven from hemp during the excavations carried out in Çatalhöyük. Linen is still considered one of the best fabrics today. Although cotton is very natural, it is unfortunately very affected by the chemicals used in its cultivation. Of course, it must be better than polyester, which is a "petroleum" product. But "linen" is cleaner in this sense as well.

We can basically divide fabric types into 2 as natural and synthetic. The naturalness of the fabric comes from the thread it is woven from, and the thread from the fibers that make it up. If the fibers are animal (wool, silk) or plant (cotton, linen), we can talk about natural fabric. Synthetic fibers, on the other hand, appear as synthetic threads and therefore synthetic fabrics. Semi-synthetic threads are made of cellulose (wood pulp) and turn into a fabric called rayon. It is also known as viscose, modal, acetate. Bamboo is also semi-synthetic. We can also say that it is plant-based but it undergoes processing.

Synthetic fibers are produced entirely by chemical methods. Nylon, polyester, polyamide, all of these have the same structures as pet bottles!

Natural Fabric Types; They are fabric types that are breathable, do not cause sweating and do not have allergic properties, wrinkle quickly, are difficult to iron and maintain.

1-Silk

2-Linen

3-Wool

4-Cotton

If you ask why synthetic fabrics are preferred, in addition to the cheapness of the raw materials, the good appearance of clothes made of synthetic fibers is also an important reason. It holds its shape, does not wrinkle, is easily washed, is durable, and dyes do not fade easily. In addition to these conveniences, synthetic fabrics have two serious drawbacks: they are airtight and tend to absorb dust and dirt particles.

When you look for fabric types, there are already dozens of types. The reason for this is that although there is little raw material, many different fabrics come from one raw material depending on the type of weaving. For example, let's look at cottons:

Basma fabric

Blue Jean, denim

Denim fabric

Sheet fabric

Damask fabric

Diril Fabric

Diagonal fabric

Etamin fabric

Gabardine fabric

Shirt fabric

Bonnet fabric,

Crepe fabric

Mermersahi fabric

Müslin fabric

Opal fabric

Organza fabric

Ottoman fabric

Cotton georgette

Batiste fabric and more...

Are you tired of reading like me :)

The best thing to do when shopping is to read labels. This detail is not on the labels anyway, but the raw material is.

Your aim should be to pursue natural raw materials. But you can also approve certain proportions of mixtures according to preference. Like 90% cotton and 10% Lycra. Due to the conveniences we mentioned above, synthetics used to increase the practicality of the clothing and not dominating the fabric may not be a big problem. But do not forget that as this ratio increases on the synthetic side, the breathability and sweating properties will increase. Especially prefer 100% cotton in underwear. You can prefer 100% wool in an undershirt to keep it warm.

Let's repeat which ones we will be careful about:

Polyester, Nylon, Lycra, Acrylic, Acetate Semi-synthetic threads are today's new technology, new ones such as Model and lyocell have been added since the day I first wrote this article. Some say there is no problem. After all, some say it is half chemical. My suggestion is that if you already have clothes made of these fabrics, wear them and pay more attention to yourself that day. How they make you feel. If you feel that it is not breathing, you will eliminate the ones you have and pay attention to those fabrics when you buy again.