What Are Synthetic Fabrics & Are They Sustainable?

Ubiquitousness aside, just what are synthetics fabrics?

To put it simply, they’re plastic, so considering most synthetic clothing is made from petroleum-based chemicals, the growing demand for it means a big eco fashion faux paus for our biggest style inspo: Earth.

That’s why we want to get to the thread-bare bottom of whether or not there’s a more sustainable way to do synthetic textiles.

Synthetic fabrics are artificial fibers that are manufactured using man-made materials—as opposed to fibers than come from things in nature, like cotton, leather, and wool. What exactly those man-made materials are differs slightly depending on which particular item on the synthetic materials list we’re talking about, but it all boils down to one thing: plastic.

Most are created by taking petroleum and subjecting it to various chemical processes, often involving polymers. These aren’t to be confused with a semi-synthetic fiber—such as rayon, lyocell, modal, bamboo, or viscose fabric—which are made from plant fibers like wood pulp that undergo chemical processing to soften (i.e. plasticizing).

The history of synthetic materials goes back to the 1800s and starts with an alternative to silk made from mulberry tree bark. Fast-forward to the 1930s, the world of synthetic fibers really took off with the invention of nylon (patented by chemical giant DuPont in 1935) which the world touted to be a “miracle fiber”.

Here’s a (more or less) comphrensive synthetic fabrics list:

• Acrylic
• Anidex
• Aramid
• Elastoester
• Fluoropolymer
• Lastrile
• Melamine
• Modacrylic
• Novoloid
• Nylon
• Nitrile
• Olefin
• PBI
• Polyester (PET)
• Polypropylene (PP)
• Polyurethane (PU)
• Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
• Saran
• Spandex/ Elastane/ Lycra
• Vinyl
• Vinyon

As you can see, there are a lot but but some are significantly more prevalent in use as synthetic clothing material.

Most Common Examples Of Synthetic Fibers & Clothing

Polyester: Polyethylene terephthalate (PET, AKA plastic #1) is durable, stretchable, breathable, and versatile, with use in everything from thick and cozy fleece fabric or thin and moisture-wicking activewear. It’s easily recyclable and recycled from things like plastic bottles. This makes for one of the more sustainable synthetic fabrics.

Nylon: Accounting for 12% of synthetic fiber production, nylon is widely used in form-fitting apparel like sportswear, swimwear, and yoga pants. It’s production emits a significant amount of nitrous oxide (a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2). Nylon is also readily recyclable, and companies like ECONYL® are making it easier to find recycled sustainable swimwear.

Acrylic: Polyacrylonitrile and acrylonitrile is stretchable and moisture-wicking, properties that make it widely used in knitwear. It makes for some of the most environmentally damaging among all synthetic cloth in terms of microplastic shedding.

Spandex: Spandex/elastane is a breathable polyurethane-based fabric used in most athletic wear, skinny jeans, swimwear, underwear, and more since it can stretch five to eight times its normal size. Unlike these other examples, it’s made from chemicals that are synthesized in the lab (that aren’t derived from coal and petroleum), but it still makes up a lot of our garment waste since it’s difficult to recycle.

Synthetic fibers are advantageous most notably because of their performance and affordability. Many artificial fibers have been designed to be an alternative to natural fabrics, which typically means a huge reduction in cost.

Synthetic fibers have also been designed to be stain-resistant, water-resistant, and even waterproof. They excel particularly well in weather-resistant outerwear and activewear for their breathability, quick-drying nature, and moisture-wicking qualities (whereas natural fabrics like cotton can absorb and hold up to 27x its weight in moisture, like sweat).

Looking at some synthetic clothes examples to demonstrate, it’s hard to make something like a rain jacket out of natural materials. While wool is naturally hydrophobic to a minor degree and cotton can be given some waterproofing with a wax coating, these would never repel more than a moderate drizzle.

Washing synthetic clothes is also generally easier than natural fibers. However, that’s a double-edged sword because while heat won’t shrink your polyester sweater, you need to exercise greater care when machine drying and ironing synthetic fabrics (which is to say: don’t) so as not to melt the plastic fibers. Keep in mind that synthetic clothing is flammable, too, unless treated with chemical flame retardants (ew).

Being able to continuously evolve our wardrobes—especially for those on tighter budgets—certainly wouldn’t have been possible without synthetic fabrics. The same could be said for all types of industrialization (fashion, food, healthcare, transportation).

However, as they say, too much of a good thing can be bad—especially if that thing is made out of plastic.

Many garments made with synthetic fibers are chemically unstable. If you’ve owned a $5 tee shirt or $10 pair of leggings, you have likely seen the degradation or discoloration after wearing the garment for just a few months (sometimes even less).

Oftentimes people find they’re allergic to synthetic fibers. An allergy to polyester, also called textile dermatitis, is a result of the chemical additives used to process the fabric. It can cause a range of symptoms, from mild itching to severe hives and rashes. Even if an allergy isn’t present, synthetic fibers can still be harmful to human health and are known to produce poisonous gasses when incinerated. Nylon and PU-based fabrics, for instance, produce toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN) when burned.

These disadvantages though are minor when you consider what they’re doing to our planet.

First, fossil fuels need to be obtained before undergoing an initial refinement process to become petroleum before being refined again to produce ethylene. These processes are extremely wasteful and produce toxins and greenhouse gasses which are released into the environment.

Then there’s the human rights abuses along that same supply chain. The process used to make acrylic fabric, for example, is highly volatile. Workers are continuously exposed to the risk of explosions. and harmful gasses. Merely coming into contact with acrylic fibers increases our risk of developing cancer.

And of course, there’s end of life disposal. As we all know, plastic isn’t biodegradable and neither are clothes made from plastic.

While some examples of synthetic materials are easier to recycle than others—polyester and nylon being the easiest and acrylic and PVS being the hardest—few synthetic clothing actually is recycled. Most is either incincerated, sent to landfill, or ends up in the environment otherwise where it will slowly degrade over hundreds of years.

The only somewhat sustainable synthetic fabrics are those made with other recycled synthetic materials that would have otherwise made their way into landfills, oceans, or the mouths of hungry fish. However, recycled synthetic clothes from the likes of recycled clothing brands still pose a threat when they eventually break down (because plastic can only be recycled so many times) or when they’re washed.

This poses the biggest problem of all: microfibers.

There are 50 million tons of plastic waste in the ocean, as evidenced by horrors like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (a growing island of plastic trash twice the size of Texas). Experts predict that by 2050, there will be more plastic than fish in the ocean. It’s easy to blame all that on single-use plastics (which no doubt play their part), the most insidious culprit is far less obvious.

Microplastics: the tiny pieces of plastic that end up choking our sea.

While not solely responsible, 176,500 metric tons of microfibers from synthetic clothing make their way into the environment each year, by way of pollution and washing machines. In a typical wash, an astonishing 700,000 microfibers aare generated. It’s closer to one million when washing polyester fleece.

While some of these are captured by local wastewater treatment plants, 40% on average slip through and make their way into rivers, lakes, and oceans.

How To Minimize Synthetic Clothing Microplastic Pollution

Most clothes already in existence are made of synthetic fibers—not to mention furniture upholstery, carpet, homewares, and more—so it would be remiss to think we can avoid them completely. While it’s a good idea to stop buying new virgin synthetics, it would do more harm than good if we just threw them all away.

So how can we keep our current synthetic clothes in circulation for as long as possible without contributing to microplastic pollution?

Fortunately, there are some easy solutions:

• Wash clothes less often: When you do wash your clothes, make sure you’re washing a full load (less friction equals fewer fibers are released).
• Lather in liquid: Liquid laundry soap doesn’t loosen fibers as much as abrasive powder detergent particles, so using it can reduce microplastics. Opting for natural laundry detergent and skipping fabric softener also creates less wash wear-and-tear.
• Use a front-loading washer: Microfiber masses from top-loaders are 7x greater than those of front-load machines.
• Use a microplastic catching wash bag: Fine mesh bags like the Guppy Friend trap the microplastics, so you can collect them and throw them in the garbage (rather than the ocean).