The following are a list of synthetic textiles. Most synthetics are made like polyester is – with a chemical process that uses coal, water, air and petroleum. However, a new brand of synthetic fabrics are either recycling old fabrics or are converting recycled material – such as old tires – into wearable cloth. While synthetic cloth origins might still not be great for the environment, recycling something else that wasn’t good for it is usually preferable to mining for new material. (This can vary, depending on what byproducts are involved in converting the material to a cloth.)
Rayon closeup 2 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Commonly known synthetic fabrics include:
- Polyester
- Aramid
- Acrylic
- Nylon
- Spandex/polyurethane
- Olefin fibre
- Ingeo
- Lurex (metallic)
- Rayon
Materials most often used to synthesize fabrics are
- Petroleum (LOTS of it – your hose are almost as responsible for the oil crisis as your cars are)
- Milk (usually cow’s milk)
- Carbon fiber
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