Materials - Topic of the day 11/30/24
Cotton! Wool! Linen! Polyester???? Share with us your favorite materials and least favorite blends 🤮🤢 Which companies do it well? Which feel like crap 💩🚽? And how do you take care of said material?
85 Replies
Denim the greatest fabric of all time
It’s only denim if it’s from the city of Nimes in France, otherwise it’s just sparkling twill
Big fan of cotton in it's various forms tbh
I mostly dislike 100% cashmere but love a bit of it in a blend. By itself it's almost always too delicate for me but an 80/20 blend of merino/cashmere feels like I get equal parts of the best of both properties
Denim, Moleskin, Corduroy, Chambray I love them all
I like my cotton sturdy and my wool scratchy and that’s about it tbh
i like concrete
and brick
i put a fabric between my fingers, go "hmm..." and make a critical evaluation of the quality of said product
this is how you become a menswear guy
ive always wanted to check out something like a tropical wool but im too broke to afford anything of the sort right now, anyone have any experience with sport coats made with the material?
Not a fan of lamb skin leathers; so soft it feels fake, also like I have to be too delicate with it. Found a rick lamb bomber in a second hand store and was surprised to find I was not a fan at all
wool gab is my current obsession, loving the lighter varieties
some wool gab pants are on my list of things i want, its such a nice feeling fabric
is that something sales associates expect people to just do: walk in the store, feel a bunch of fabrics, and leave?
good heavy linen is also a pretty incredible material especially when it gets hot out
in my head yeah, especially at high end stores I really doubt they are expecting everyone to come in and drop $200+ on a pair of pants on a whim
i walked in to a very pricey menswear boutqiue and felt up some high twist wool for the first time very recently and it was life changing
ive learned to appreciate linen a lot, its easy to overlook all the wrinkling and whatnot if its as hot daily as it is in SEA
Crispy crunchy linen is one of the best things ever
Wool has my favorite drape, cotton doesn't even come close to wool in that regard for sure
But I like cotton too, when poly is used for its properties and not just to cut costs you can also do some really cool things
Issey Miyake type beat
I really like silk for accessories. I have a silk shirt, but it doesn't get much wear because it feels so delicate (probably in my head)
also fleece lol
Fleece goated
nice silk feels crazy good
Silk/Semi-synthetics are my favorite summer material
also no one has mentioned leather yet
fucking love a greasy leather
leather rocks for shoes, leather pants tend to be prohbitively expensive (so I just have really nice pleather pants instead)
leather footwear +++++
leather clothes :bruh:
I thought you would have been a leather jacket fan oman
One of my grails is a hender scheme pig suede shoulder bag
:xd: i forgor they made jacket i was thinking of leather pants when typing that
i do like a leather jacket i just dont own any
never found one that works
that photo is so crusty hold on
the stiffness meant to me its really gotta fit exactly how you want or it just doesnt look how i want it to
thats a beautiful bag man
skill issue
leather pants rock
I thought linen was a synthetic :derp:
its the flax plant
Linen is an ancient material
And very cool
i have some wool/linen/silk blend pants that are pretty crazy
really wild texure and feel
Blends are my favorite in general ^
Inis meain is not exactly my style to a T but I am addicted to their pieces because of their knit blends alone
Linen / silk makes for a really good blend
Polyester drapes well too
polyester is amazing when it's used for what it's good at, and not just as a way to reduce cost.
Patagonia fleece and nano-puff are both examples of high-quality polyester, and have been copied so often that they are beyond popular...they are ubiquitous.
My favorite natural materials are probably linen and wool.
I really enjoyed wearing lots of linen this past summer. It seems so much nicer than cotton when it's hot.
Today, though, I think my favorite material is down, because it's 15°F. 🥶
I was looking for black pants exclusively to be a poly-wool blend bc I wanted pants that drape well and could be washed
uniqlo has this "wool like" polyester pant and i despise it
its a dreadful material
Poly materials are all different
Arcteryx uses poly
i do generally think they do good stuff with synthetics but this pant in particular is awful
Zara uses poly
i think trying to use poly to emulate something but cheaper probably doesn't go that well often
They’re different
Also the way you weave poly into a blend is different often
id say somewhere in the 70-80% range use of poly is to cut costs
its the other 20-30% where poly shines
when its used to cut costs it pretty much always makes things worse
its hard to find a good wool dress pant that wont break the bank where im at since its a tropical climate, and i was really hoping that the poly would serve as a good alternative since i do like poly stuff i own from uniqlo, but the feel in store was really awful
ebay for tropical wool
should be able to find something
ppl in my country dont use ebay unfortunately but i get the vision
ive been scouring fb marketplace for months
proxie could be an option? idk how it works to places outside the US but i imagine it exists
Love me some wool, especially of the pant variety. Just drapes really well and im realizing that the whole fear of dry-clean only pants is a bit overblown, because of how little dirt actually adheres to them.
nah im sure theres other used sites in his country
yeah true
its like 95% facebook marketplace
anyway if he wants he can make a #questions-and-advice thread and people will help, lets no derail this one lol
but ya thats tough
my bad for derailing LOL
nah its chill people wanna help
i appreciate it 🙏
Least favourite material is propably silk. I feel like 90% of silk use cases viscose/tencel/cupro just do better
i think silk communicates luxury and expense in a way that tencel doesnt
i think my nice silk feels better than cupro imo
cheap silk sucks, nice silk is super nice
that said i rarely look to pay the premium given most brands use modals these days
yeah, maybe I just never had the good stuff
I think cashmere is similar to silk: Really nice in high quality, most of it is not that great and has annoying issues.
Raw silk has also been an interesting material. One of Our Legacy's staples is their raw silk shirt. Looks and feels a lot like cotton but performs better thermally and handles wrinkles better.
Wool is probably my favorite overall, along with alpaca.
Not a fan of angora (rabbit fur) yarns since they shed hair constantly.
Tech fabrics are great for travel and warm weather, and as daily beaters.
Best feeling linen and cotton garments I've ever felt have been from Eidos but that brand is all over the place directionwise.
Thought I'd like ramie more for warm weather but they usually use it in very dense weaves that don't breathe well.
Acrylic is the only material that I've hated in every usage where it makes up a substantial percentage of the fabric.
this season i got my first wool sweater and i'm amazed at how i don't get sweaty in it
like if i wear a cotton sweater if it gets hot i need to remove it but with wool sweaters i just feel like i'm in the correct temperature all the time
Obligatory Rosen doesn't have a good reputation but this article has a selection of fabrics worth peeking at imo https://the-rosenrot.com/on-the-rising-homogeneity-of-textiles-in-fashion-industry
Gracia Ventus
The Rosenrot | A Collection of Fashion Essays
On the Rising Homogeneity of Textiles in Fashion Industry
Homogeneity in fashion – both in design, and especially in its material use – is on the rise, owing to the transfer of decision-making power from the creatives to the marketers and merc…
I have one pair of hemp/cotton jeans and feel like hemp is underrated/underutilized in clothing. It's more durable than cotton, has more interesting drape, and is way softer than I would have expected it to be. I guess more spinners have been trying to work with hemp recently
I like it and hope more brands use it, it's just hard to get consistently high quality hemp vs linen for makers. I remember Naked and Famous speaking about it in a QnA way back. Does seem like the supply chain is maturing though
I think they used Sally Fox Foxfibre yarn? Which is at least the same supplier DLB uses for my pair of pants
But yes I think you're right. I guess it's a difficult material to spin and only a few folks are doing it well
It makes a huge difference in the drape of jeans though, it really has a ton of potential
Yup, they were having trouble finding one at first
I've been wearing polyester thermal stuff for work and it's actually... fine?
It feels alright tbf.
vintage silk is goated for summer (esp naked silk)
i do not think uniqlo uses it anymore but their lambswool sweaters from the mid 2010s were the perfect balance between lightweight and thermoregulating imo
my grandma made my dad a shirt for his wedding made out of hemp and i wear it all the time its a little scratchy but the drape is super cool
and undyed hemp looks awesome
excellent article, thank you!
their lambswool really went downhill starting around 2018
they still have them, the quality is just awful
I have a hemp shirt from Outlier and a bunch hemp blends in shirts/jackets. Pure hemp feels pretty much like linen. Ramie is like linen but much smoother and less wrinkly.
Wool is by far my Favourite especially for socks. I'll never wear cotton socks again.
Lyocell is also interesting especially for undies. Cotton doesn't handle sweat there well and polyester does not breath enough down there.
For t shirts, Supima cotton is amazing. Also for pure cotton for sweatshirts and hoodies. Merino wool is great for knitwear, cotton can fuck off there. And cashmere for scarfs and gloves, beautiful.
Merino wool is great for knitwear, cotton can fuck off there.Depends on if you're getting quality cotton knits Also poly for underwear breathes well if you get a decent tech fabric
what are your opinions on alpaca wool?
Its wool and its usually warmer than comparable sheep-wool. which can be an advantage but also can be a disadvantage
Alpaca wool is great. I think it is really nice in a blend. It's cashmere like in its softness and lightness, but just depends on what you want your sweater to do. Good for a light, non scratchy sweater if you're into that sort of thing. Way less substantial than a merino wool knit.
I prefer merino for my everyday sweaters but a bit of alpaca in a blend can make a sweater much softer and cozier
Big fan of merino boxer briefs over here
Alpaca basically cashmere so it's great
For camelids it’s Vicuña wool or GTFO /s.