In the past 15+ years, I've never bought a piece of clothing, even the so-called "performance wear", that's not made from natural fibers - such as cotton, wool, linen. I am not sure about bamboo fibers - they are heavily processed and mostly in countries with less control. Looking into how much junk the dryer collects after drying plastic wear is enough for a person with a brain to stop buying those unhealthy and not eco-friendly clothes! All the microplastics goes into the environment - locally or deep in nature - and includes your lungs and digestive tract. Wearing plastic clothes at home is the worst - there are enough studies showing you inhale the plastic particles, and they start corrupting your health slowly but surely! The so called "fleece" to me is horrific comparable only to glitter! I can't believe that this is the type of material most kids love, and we make sure their lungs are full of it from an early age! Even scarier is the new trend of recycled plastics used for stuff that touches your skin or stays in your home! Who guarantees that the plastics are not containing micro toxins such as heavy metals, or compounds that could be released in time?! I am not hijacking the topic - brands such as Patagonia and Prana should be avoided, not glorified!
I don't necessarily disagree with your conclusion, but let's not conflate "natural" with "inherently better." After all, asbestos is a naturally occurring "fiber".
Fair enough if we're constraining the discussion to just "plastics in the environment" instead of "impact to the environment."
My point is that simple dichotomies are often too blunt to be helpful. As an example, silk is a natural fiber. Is it better for the environment? Many would say no because of the relatively high environmental impact compared to synthetic silks.
Suffice to say, the way the wording framed it as "natural" vs. "plastic" is probably less useful as a general heuristic.
The entire clothing industry is fucked. All you can do is buy clothes that will last as long as possible and you'll wear until you use them as rags, or buy pre-owned clothes and do the same.
Buy from places whom manufacture clothing locally. Buy from places that manufacture clothing using deadstock (AKA the offcuts of fast fashion and fabric that is destined for landfill). Buy from places that make clothing they encourage you to "pass on" (either to your children, through their own "refurbishment" program or through secondary markets).
The garments you buy, even using organic cotton, use more resources to produce than plastic garbage you buy at Walmart or Target. The most impact you can have is using the clothes for as long as possible, and support business whom have sustainable-as-possible practices (without greenwashing).
It depends on the type of garment, and how you plan to use it.
For example if you're buying tshirts, ring-spun cotton is ideal. Thicker and heavier the weight (gsm), the better. Quality stitching, see if it's double-stitched along the bottom, or if it's made by hand - backstitched.
Silk and linen will last longer, but you also need to be more careful with them. You can't throw them in the dryer. Cotton is good for casual wear if it's heavy gsm, ring-spun and has good stitching but silk and linen will outlast you and your children. Seriously, you can buy suits from the early 1900's that just need new stitching.
Blended cotton is made to be stronger, but will age weirdly if you're using a dryer. The tension of the different blends of polyester and cotton will fuck up your garment over time. It's also not suitable for exercise or if you sweat a lot. If you're just wearing it around the house - blended is a great choice - but you'll need to be careful as most blended garments are made that way because they're cheaper to produce and "feel good". So you'll have more shitty manufacturing practices to look out for.
There are great $5 t-shirts mass manufactured in Bangladesh out there, and there are shitty $70 t-shirts made by hand in the US.
White and Black is a good choice, as both can be dyed or bleached (start with oxygen-based bleach like OxiClean before trying chlorinated bleach on fabric) to look like new.
This is just t-shirts. Dresses and skirts, jeans, dress pants, shoes, everything else has their own specific instructions. Most of the time the manufacturer knows better than any guide you read online about the product, read the tags. And I didn't even get started on wool tshirts designed for hikers.
Oil stains aren't the end of the world. Starting with white tshirts and ending up with black (or dark-colored) dyed shirts is a great way to prolong the life of an oil-stained garment you can't get the oil out of.
I feel crazy sometimes explaining to people that despite all the buzzwords, it’s still just plastic and not great for you.
When I visited the US I went to some very big outdoor stores and their range of clothing made from cotton and other natural fibres was absolutely tiny. Such a shame. (Just as bad at home to be fair)
What's good for you doesn't mean it's good for the planet. Cotton requires insane amount of water, land. On the other hand, there must be other reasons why cotton is not the best choice for outdoor wear.
Bamboo utencils, cutting boards, etc - all seems made from pieces glued together. How is this better?! I buy walnut cutting boards - they have anti-baceterial properties, too. Yeah, their shapes could be weird and they could be expensive, but they perform better than bamboo and are for sure safer.
Yep, same with bamboo flooring. It's literally tiny strips of bamboo glued together to look like a piece of real wood. Doesn't look as nice, and isn't cheap enough to justify its existence seeing as you can't sand it.
I bought a shirt which is 50% bamboo (not cheap cheap - about $80). It's horrible to wear, like it's been heavily starched. I still kick myself for not reading the label properly, as it's quite a nice shirt
All depends on Your definition of "performance". If it's "the best water resistance with the best vapour permeability and lowest weight", I'm afraid You'll always end up with something with Gore logo on it.
That being said, anything You're willing to compromise on brings You closer to the goal of having a natural fiber outdoor hard shell.
Personally, I'm currently experimenting with waxed fabrics. Commercially it's made by plenty of outfits like Fjallraven and Barbour, but the basic idea is pretty simple - take any mechanically resistant fabric You like (cotton, linnen, hemp, whatever blend seems like it could resist about 70 deg. Celsius), apply a wax (usually some mix of beeswax, parafin or microcrystalline wax, sometimes thinned with oils and solvents) and heat the whole thing (either with a hair dryer, heat gun or throw in a bag in a dryer).
The result is usually somewhat heavy, but surprisingly resistant and depending on what materials You start with, can be pretty cost effective.
I think for a rain jacket you have to compromise on the performance. It'll be a bit heavier, maybe just water-resistent and not waterproof, and likely expensive.
