Polyester is a synthetic fabric composed of plastic, primarily used in fast-fashion brands as a cost-effective material for garments. That sounds pretty nasty but is Polyester bad for you?
If you think about what it is made from the harm begins to make a lot more sense. Imagine wearing a plastic bottle; you would basically be trapped in your own sweat throughout an entire day. That's what wearing polyester is like, the lack of breathability would leave you feeling gross while also causing skin issues. You are being baked in plastic.
The friction between the polyester fabric, sweat, and skin would cause redness and inflammation, as well as clog your pores. Not only does it feel as if you are suffocating in your own sweat, but it also keeps the odor of that sweat in the fabric. A simple wash won't help either, the odor gets trapped in the plastic fibers and typically stays even after a few washes.
Environmentally, polyester isn't a good choice. Landfills are being filled with more and more clothes, with garments being 85% of trash in landfills, a good percentage of that being polyester, thanks to fast-fashion. The issue with throwing away polyester items is that plastic doesn't decompose fast enough, polyester takes over a decade to over a hundred years to decompose.
The solution would be recycling the fabric, however, that's a whole other issue. Have you been thrifting lately? If you have, you may or may not have stumbled on a few fast-fashion brands, maybe even a lot of fast-fashion brands, depending on where you live. There is a current issue of people trying to be good and donating their polyester clothing; however, that doesn't go far, as the items usually never get bought. Only leads to the same issue of ending up in a landfill to basically NEVER decompose.
There's no simple way to reuse the fabric either. While it takes years to break down, it is not biodegradable so the little plastic particles will always exist. Polyester also takes years out of our planet with the energy cost. Typically, using 3 times more energy than cotton or other natural fabrics. The CO2 emissions from polyester this year alone have been over 706 million tonnes, around 9.5 tonnes per production. For comparison, a single long flight across the world estimates to produce 9.6 tonnes of CO2.
So, is polyester toxic? Is polyester bad for you? In short absolutely YES, not only is it toxic to you and your skin, but also to our environment. It benefits no one but the people making money off it. Yes, it is cheap; however, in the long run, you'll need to buy ten polyester shirts due to the issues of the fabric. At that point, you can just buy one out of a natural fabric that lasts, is healthy and feels great to wear. As an alternative to Polyester we recomment bamboo clothing, bamboo has a beautiful feel, never smells and is biodegradable.
To learn more the beneifts of bamboo clothing please see this article here.
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