Getting Fleeced
Clever marketing pulls the wool over our eyes, and I nearly overspent on a 'shacket'
On the mountain, proper attire is a must. I need my clothes to work. Half of my old wardrobe has gone to the thrift store, since purely fashionable items have no place on the mountain. Finding functional clothes that look decent at a good price has been a real challenge.
Half of my clothing is men’s or boys’, and my clothing choices tend to look lumberjack-chic. It’s not an intentional look as much as they’re better made. We all know women’s clothes often have ridiculous pockets. Additionally, I’ve found the material used to make women’s clothing tends to be sub-par, putting fashion ahead of function.
The Meaning of Fleece Today
Fleece, used to mean the wrinkly fibre of a sheep or ripping someone off.
In my quest to find resilient mountain life-ready clothing, I decided to search for good heavy plaid shirts. First, I discovered a new fad of calling a heavy shirt/jacket a ‘shacket’ which is stupid. Since the sort of thing I’m looking for is coincidentally trendy, I decided to check out a store that I used to shop at often.
Bingo! I found exactly what I was looking for, a fleece button-down shirt for just under 100 bucks.
An Expensive Fleece ‘Shacket’
That’s when it hit me. The meaning of fleece has changed to include artificial fibres designed to act and feel like natural sheep wool. My nearly $100 ‘shacket’ was 100% pure Polyester.
Polyester and polyester-blend fleeces have become predominant on the market. It’s more cost-effective to make, warm, and easy to maintain.
However, it’s plastic, not sheep.
It’s a sneaky marketing idea, naming plastic fibres the same thing as their natural counterpart’s raw form( ie before the sheep’s fleece has been spun into wool). It may not be exactly incorrect, but it’s clever and it works. Though most of us are aware that fleece is polyester, and that polyester is plastic, we still think we’re touching a quality material when feeling the softness of polyester fleece.
My Problem With ‘Fleece’
In my search for functional clothes, I’d fallen for the marketing, and have many times before.
As mentioned in ‘The Oilsands’, I believe in Canadian oil and have a good respect for the industry. Oil products such as plastics are a huge part of our daily lives, but I don’t believe that natural and sustainable material should be replaced by it. Though polyester has unique strengths as a fabric, naturally derived products like wool and cotton are superior.
Performance
Putting the different fabrics side by side for comparison is difficult. Polyester and real sheep fibre are both very warm. Polyester wins for strength and wrinkle resistance. Interestingly, sheep wool is flame retardant. While polyester claims to be, I don’t believe it. It’s common knowledge in welding that you don’t work in synthetic fabrics because though they don’t light easily, when they do they melt. Unless if they’re treated with flame-retardant chemicals.
Polyester fleece can be recycled, but so can wool.
Wool is more sustainable, which is paramount in my life and has me questioning my entire wardrobe.
Polyester is cheap, sometimes? I did just nearly buy a $100 shacket made out of plastic.
A Question of Ingestion
The presence of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals in plastic clothing is a given. I won’t try to quote the many studies that can be found online, but I’d suggest doing your own research. I’m a tradesman/farmer, not a scientist.
We absorb a lot of our environment all of the time without knowing it. Fabrics are no exception and a hugely overlooked part of our lives. We wear clothes against our skin all day and all night. Even if you sleep commando, you might be absorbing chemicals in the sheets.
Plastics in our bodies are still a huge topic of study, as there are a lot of different chemicals at play. The distinct effects are hard to pinpoint. From the potential to be an endocrine disruptor (affecting how our glands and hormones work) to skin issues and autoimmune diseases, to cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.
Plastics being ingested into our bodies is undoubtedly not a good thing.
Environmental Ramifications
Microplastics are a big topic lately, and duly so. From the manufacturing of fleece to the actual use, to disposal, plastic textiles create and disperse microplastics into the environment. Once there, they’re impossible to get rid of. We already have them in our bodies, and they have been proven to pass from mother to fetus. They’ve even been found on the top of Mt Everest.
My Conclusion
I’m not into being tricked by sneaky marketing and I don’t like thinking that the clothes on my body might make me sick. In this fast fashion world, I want to lean toward slow fashion. Good, quality materials that don’t have such an impact on the environment. More oil for my gas tank.
Though I’m not going to chuck all of my polyester clothes and blankets just because I don’t like what they’re made of, this has me rethinking my future fabric choices. Polyester has its place, for example, my waterproof layers are awesome. But where it could be sheep’s wool, like in a trendy but timeless lumberjack-esque shirt/jacket..
I’ll choose not to follow the herd and go with the sheep.
Honourable mention: acrylic and nylon - other plastics galavanting as honest textiles while actually being kinds of plastic - and still living in my wardrobe.
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7787125/
You sure have your head screwed on right. Appreciate your content. 'Lumberjack-chic' looks good on you!
Recently I was in New Zealand for work. A place that used to be known for sheep and wool as prominently as Scotland. I've been wanting to get more wool clothing because nothing compares to it. It keeps you cool on warm days, keeps you warm on cold days, keeps you dry, and is durable. Getting real wool is expensive these days! Like over $100 a thin shirt expensive. I remember when this stuff was available at Army & Navy for $20! - Let's not discuss age here :P
So I figured I would find reasonably prices New Zealand wool when I was there - Nope!
The market is flooded with cheap plastic clothing. Wool is now an upper class trendy thing and hard to find. You have Merino this and merino that, with ridiculous price tags. Meanwhile the "active" clothing that's supposed to have replaced wool is cheap and not even close in performance.
One of the last places I was able to find affordable wool was a surplus store. Old, new stock military issue wool was still affordable, at $30-50 a shirt. Only negative is you had the limited choice of colour, either green, blue, or green ....or blue.
I talked to the owners of the store, they are closing because lack of business and cost of operations. Sadly the general public is happy with the cheap plastic. They dictate the market by buying what is available. If they stopped and demanded better, the market would change. But the reality is that most people live in the cities and don't need the same quality and durability from their attire. After all, you and I see and experience more outdoors in a week than most city people in a year.
At this rate, we might have to spin our own wool and make our own clothes if we want anything good.
Cheers!