Snow of tomorrow | Natural fiber or synthetic - What does the #naturelover heart buy?

It almost seems to have become a question of faith: Natural fiber or synthetic. No matter what I read or what article I publish about so-called sustainable materials, there's always someone who knows better. One post about insulation fabrics and the next comment is: "Why don't you write about material XY, it's much more sustainable and produces less microplastics!" The next person feels offended by merino wool because it comes from Tasmania, and the one after that? Who knows. I know that sustainability is a difficult - i.e. very personal - topic. It affects your own lifestyle. There's always some run-of-the-mill hack who doesn't do everything perfectly himself, but then wants to tell you what you can do better in life. That's why I would like to say directly on today's topic: regardless of whether you prefer to buy fabrics made from natural fibers or synthetics, you can't do it perfectly. That's something, isn't it? We can buy whatever we want and can happily choose between more or less pesticides or more or less microplastics. Or am I making it too easy for myself?

How natural and synthetic fibers work

Well, let's just start with how the materials work. Synthetic fibers have always been popular as functional fabrics. Polyester and polyamide hardly absorb any moisture, but can transport moisture away from the body particularly quickly depending on the weave. In addition, their insulating properties can be varied using special spinning processes and they are particularly skin-friendly thanks to their smooth surface. Unfortunately, this also means that bacteria adhere better and the fabrics can smell more quickly without special chemical treatment. Since natural fibres are very versatile and include everything from cotton to hemp and wool, it is difficult to generalize how they work. While merino wool, for example, is very suitable as a functional material and can absorb moisture well, cotton, for example, cannot. Cotton is very skin-friendly, whereas merino wool can scratch sensitive skin. There is probably no winner on points here either. But what about the environmental balance sheet?

In addition, polyester fabrics are also recyclable and can be made from recycled materials. But the problem with microplastics remains. With every wash, microscopic plastic particles can wash out and end up in the wastewater. As they are so small, they cannot be filtered out by sewage treatment plants and ultimately end up in the environment. This problem has long been known and one way to counteract it is to wash clothes in a laundry bag like the Guppyfriend.

In addition to washing clothes with a Guppyfriend, I have personally decided to increasingly use other natural materials such as hemp or blended fabrics. Hemp is the new star in the textile sky. Of course, making clothes from hemp fibers is nothing new. In the past, however, it was a bit "eco", but this year at ISPO almost every manufacturer presented something made from hemp in their collection. Hemp has an excellent ecological balance, grows back quickly and without pesticides, the plants even improve soil quality and the fiber is very robust and pleasant on the skin. And there is another fiber star: Tencel. Tencel is the brand name of the company Lenzing AG for the synthetic fiber Lyocell. Although synthetic fiber is misleading here. Lyocell is obtained from eucalyptus wood and is dissolved and spun into fibers in an environmentally friendly process. Due to its almost closed-loop production, it is considered to be particularly environmentally friendly and it also works: it can absorb a lot of moisture, has a cooling effect and feels pleasantly soft. The drawback: it is relatively expensive. In functional textiles, it is often used in combination with merino wool. This combines the advantages of both fibers and feels gigantic.

And now?

And now we're back to the same point. All materials have their advantages and disadvantages, so in the end everyone has to decide for themselves which variant they can live with best. Mine is a mixture of synthetic and natural fibers, depending on the area of use. No matter which materials you choose, the important thing is that they are high-quality fabrics that will last a long time.