Season 1, Ep. 8: Polyester: A Gift and a Curse

In this episode, Layla and I are chatting about the chemical history of polyester, why we're both grateful for it and loath it at the same time.

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Episode Photos:

Mary Quant

Mary Quant Butterick Pattern

The dress I made for a 70’s party out of a vintage polyester double knit.

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Full Transcript:

 Hello, and welcome to the Making History Podcast, where we discuss the history of our crafts and the people who brought them to life. You may notice we're on video right now if you're listening to this on YouTube. So this is my daughter, Layla. Hi. We are the dynamic duo behind the Making History podcast.

And we started this at the beginning of the year as an audio only podcast and thought that it would remain that way. But because I already have a large following on YouTube on the pin cut, so channel people were saying, um, Nikki and Layla, we want to see your faces. And so we are making the jump to video.

Now, if you are an audio only listener. You are not missing anything.

By us putting the video version of this on YouTube. But if you're watching on YouTube now you get to just see us having our leisurely chat in my tiny sewing room. It took us forever to set up the equipment in here. Like we have lighting and mics and it takes so much stuff.

And now Layla just said, I feel like I ran a marathon after that. So. Here we are ready to record a podcast in video and audio. But don't worry if you're listening on Spotify or anywhere where you listen to podcasts, you're not missing out on anything. But if you're watching on YouTube. Hello. Hey, here's our faces because you asked, here's our faces.

So, um, Layla, what are we hoping for the podcast in the future? We're hoping to do two

episodes a month. Mm-hmm. Hopefully, and video were our two goals when we started it. So

Yeah. And then eventually monetization Yes. Would make all of the effort feel. That would be, I see on the cake the ideal, so we started as a once a month podcast, but now that we have sort of the routine and I am learning how to research quicker because side note, I am not using AI to research and outline.

You go these

episodes. Part of the fun of this for me is the learning part. I love to learn things. I love history, I love crafts and I, that's the part I really love and I'm not outsourcing that to the chat. GPT. Okay, so it takes some time, but I have learned to get a little faster at it. So I think now we'll be able to do bimonthly.

Bimonthly. Is that twice a biweekly? Biweekly. Biweekly. Biweekly. So that hopefully will start at the beginning of next year, unless we get it together sooner. Okay. So today's episode is about a fabric that literally changed the world. Layla, what are you wearing today? I am

wearing. A very cotton T-shirt and some very cotton jeans today.

Levi's. Levi's. They're Levi's. They are Ted episode.

Mm-hmm. Ted, I am wearing. Okay. I'm wearing a Rayon jersey shirt that I made. Mm. And my jeans actually have some stretch in them. Crazy. So that applies to our topic today. We're gonna talk about the gift and the curse of polyester. We have strong feelings.

Yeah. I passed my strong feelings onto you, do you think? Yeah,

I have. I have a lot of strong feelings, but polyester is a very strong one.

Right? So let me tell you a story this one time. I was out. Okay. We lived in Hawaii at the time. Someone was visiting me, we were at the beach. She was sweating to death and she's like, why am I so hot?

And Hawaii's not like, it's not like Kentucky Hot. Mm-hmm. No, it's probably 80 degrees most of the time. And breezy, but it is very humid. You do just get used to being a sweaty person. But she was inordinately hot and I said, well, you are wearing a polyester dress. And she's like, what do you mean? And this, I've had the same conversation with three or four different friends.

Like, oh my gosh, why am I so hot? Well, you are wearing a polyester sweater. Is that why? So it is a surprise to people that polyester is making you sweat.

Yeah. I went thrifting with a friend. She just got into thrifting and I found these really cute like shorts. They had lace and then they were lined with blue, so there was like blue behind the lace and they were super cute.

They fit me really well, but I was like, I don't know, like I'd wear these in summer. And they're polyesters, they're gonna be really hot. And she was like, oh, is that a bad thing? And I was like, yeah, yeah. It's like it's plastic pretty much. So yes, it is.

Plastic clothes. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Polyester fibers are not actually made from any natural material.

Mm-hmm. They are not actual fibers. They are manmade fibers. Plastic, they're boiled up in a lab. Plastic. Yeah. So I have a list here of pros and cons. And you can decide at the end of this if you think it's a gift or a curse. It's kind of both. Okay. The pros, you don't have to iron it. We'll talk about all of these things along the historical way.

it's durable actually. It's cheapness becomes a con in a lot of ways. Yeah. We'll discuss that too. It's very durable. It doesn't stain it. Is stretchy. Yeah. So for things like um, athletic wear, bathing suits mm-hmm. We're grateful for it. Yeah. That's why we have some stretch in our jeans.

'cause it also dries fast. Yes. It drives for both active wear

and

some suits. It'll dry faster. That's true. Mm-hmm. But it does hold onto bacteria at the same time. Yeah. Yeah, put your cottons on under your leggings, if you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah. the cons are, it is not biodegradable. Like the environmental concern is a huge, huge part of the curse of polyester.

Not only because it doesn't biodegrade, but also it's so cheap. People can make a lot of it and then sell a lot of it.

And then there's a lot of it. She is so smart. She didn't even research, but we're gonna discuss that.

Yeah. I had a good teacher,

they kind of shot themselves in the foot in how they marketed it as cheap.

We'll get to that also. It is sweaty, like we already discussed. Yeah. For me, that's the number one con. I also just don't like how it feels on my body. I'm not saying I don't own any polyester, but I was looking through my dresses the other day and it's all linen cotton, linen cotton, rayon, rayon, linen. And I just, I like the natural fibers.

Mm-hmm. I don't like how, usually how it feels. Yeah. It's also hard to sew, so I don't sew with it.

I've also had some like workout tops mm-hmm. That if I, like, if I wear them and get like. Sweaty in them, they smell, no matter how much I washed it. Mm-hmm. It still smelled. I had to get rid of it. It does

hold onto bacteria for sure.

Yeah. They say you can wash things in vinegar and that can help, but, but then it smells like vinegar. Okay. One of my anecdotes was this, I took an adult ballet class also when we lived in Hawaii and there was a, a woman in there who used to be a dancer. And this was at the height of LuLaRoe, if you remember the buttery soft leggings.

She was wearing a LuLaRoe top to ballet class, and it was like, it was loose and flowy three, like shorter sleeves. But she said, I have never been so hot dancing my entire life. And I was like, well, your shirt is polyester, your shirt

polyester. So whenever I feel like

buttery soft is a buzzword,

red flag,

that's how you know it's polyester.

But that term is everywhere. It's on Amazon, everywhere. Okay. Another con, it promotes over consumption, which we will also discuss at the end. And it cannot be recycled. It's very difficult to recycle because it's usually in a blend with other things. Yeah. So in order to recycle something, you have to s like extract it from Yeah.

Separate it. So, people I think, think that recycled polyester means it's really sustainable, but actually environmentally it's not good. Like, I don't know. Yeah. But Layla and I discuss this all the time. There's very little ways of buying clothing that are not harmful. Yeah. And at the very end, I will make a very good point.

Ooh. Look forward to it, about what we can do to comp combat. Combat this. Okay. let's get into it though. The history of this miracle fabric, polyester it, like we talked about it is plastic, it's manufactured through chemistry.

I don't pretend to understand all of that. Mm-hmm. It's really complicated. Yeah. But poly means many and Esther means chemical compound, which is derived from oil.

Oh, my favorite

Bible character. I actually didn't know that plastic was. Derived through oil. Who's your bi favorite Bible? Ster. Oh, ster.

Okay. Layla. Sorry. She said she didn't have any good jokes for this episode and I was like, I'm sure you'll think of some as we go. Okay, so it's derived from oil. Did you know plastic is derived from oil? Oil? I do not know that. polymers were discovered by Herman Stoddinger. Stoddinger, In 1925, and he won the Nobel Prize for this in 1953.

No way. So polyester is older than I thought. Yeah. The twenties, I thought, because when you think of polyester in clothes, you think of it in the seventies. Yeah. I think of jazzer size specifically. That's like, that's Lycra spandex. Oh, this is a little bit different. But polyester, those double knits they used to wear in the seventies.

Oh, I dunno how they tolerated that be so hot. Yeah. Dad and I, when we went to that murder mystery party. It was set in the seventies and I totally lucked out and found this retro polyester seventies dress. Yeah. And it was really big. So I could, I sewed it into a seventies pattern that I had into a dress, and it was really weird.

It's not like any polyester fabric we have today. It was like a woven and in it.

Okay. I was at Goodwill the other day, Uhhuh and I almost bought this dress 'cause I, I was so torn. There were no tags in it. But it had like, the seams that looked older. Mm-hmm. Like, 'cause they were, um, what did, they were like sheered.

Zigzagged. Oh, okay. They were pinking. Sheared. But I, I, I was like, is this silk or is this polyester? Because it felt like silk. Oh. But it was printed only like on one side and the other side was white and it was super stretchy. Oh yeah. Yeah. Definitely. I could not figure it out. Polyester. Yeah. So I wonder if it's the same.

Maybe. So it probably actually was vintage then.

It probably was. In this case, this dress was. Yeah, it was,  I don't know what they called it, but it was partially stretchy, but not like a stretchy net that we have now. I don't know, it was weird, but it had big retro flowers. My dress looked great. Yeah, it was cute.

We'll put a picture in the notes. Yeah, if you wanna see pictures for this episode, you can find them on the Making History Podcast Instagram page, and on the the website page on pin cut. So that's dedicated to this episode, which we will link. Yes, for sure. So plastics had been around for a long time, but the fibers took longer. So he discovered how to make the plastics, but it was much harder to get them. Like wove, it spun into actual like usable fibers. Like yarn? Yeah. Because that's what clothes are made out of. The strict, the sticky resin strings that they could produce.

They couldn't spin them because they were sticky. I was imagining like when they make taffy.

Yeah. I'm picturing cotton candy.

Yeah, like the heated sugar. Yeah. Like cotton candy. Yeah, cotton candy. Yeah, because they just break right. But then in 1935, the USA, the company DuPont spun the first polyester fiber, and from then on there was this like battle between the US and Great Britain who's going to win the race?

Two synthetic fibers. We beat them, right? We beat them once. We beat them this time,

1776. We beat them. This time we can beat them again.

They finally spun the first poly fiber. It felt like silk. It was a silky fiber. And, and then later, like it was, it was. It really got rolling from there. Okay. So in 1938, polyester yarn was made before that.

Oh yeah. Things were knitted from wool and cotton. It's too bad they're still not. I know. And in 1939 we got nylon stockings. Ooh. That's why they're called nylons. Did you know that? Oh, that's so cute. Kinda a cute, yeah. Um, I do still remember, like I've read a lot of like, um, Agatha Christie, there's this whole plot line in the a, b, C murders about the silk stockings and how nice they were compared to like nylons.

What was the plot point?

Someone get strangled

with one or. No, you have to read the book. Oh, you have to read the book. There was a stockings salesman involved.

Oh, okay. So it wasn't like,

like the thing connecting all of the victims was they had bought silk stockings recently. Oh. Or something. Something. I haven't read it a little while, but so I do know.

And then there's this other time where Poot buys a bunch of silk stockings. And I can't remember why he did it, but they were silk and they were nice. Oh, they were fancy. So even though the polyester ones were there, they still preferred the real stuff for the silk. Okay. Then World War II hit, this comes up in every single episode, and I'm always astounded at how much it changed life.

Yeah. It changed everything, every facet of life World War II hits, nylon started being used in things like parachutes and war materials and things like that.

I am assuming that polyester, especially because you can coat the nylon to be water resistant. Oh yeah. And then like our, my husband, he makes kites out of rip stop.

And that rip stop is made to be so strong. Yeah. Because of the grid running through it. Hmm. So nylon changed the world for the better in that way. Yeah. So by the 1950s, nylon was pretty popular. They were using it in men's shirts as blends, so they would blend it together, men's shirts and suits. It would make them last longer.

But for the housewives, they loved this because they did not have to iron things. Then they started making the slacks that were like anti-wrinkle slacks because of the polyester in them. They were easy to care for. They were staying resistant. Um, there's this Seinfeld episode. I meant to ask your dad about it because I don't remember very much about it, but I think it was George Costanza was advocating.

Didn't he work? You don't know. No. Yeah, I think somebody will tell me. I think he worked for a sports like. I don't know. He worked for a sports something or other and he suggested that the uniforms should be made out of cotton. 'cause they're more breathable.

Yeah,

because you know those baseball players are so wet too.

Oh, they're nasty. Yeah. Sweating so bad. They're wearing pants out of polyester, double knit. Like they're thick and they're hot. Right? Yeah. But it was a total disaster because they stained. Oh, so you know they slide. Yeah. And the dirt gets all down and they can't, they can't clean them off. I'm pretty sure either that's like urban legend actual story or that was a Seinfeld episode.

Somebody can tell me in the comments. Oh my gosh. Speaking of comments, we now have an email address if you have anything to say. If you have a picture to send us, like during the gunny sax episodes, some people send us some pictures in their gunny sax dresses, and if you have any pictures to send us. Or any related comments and notes, you can email us at Making History podcast@yahoo.com and we can read some of those.

Yeah, on the episodes. Okay. Also, in the fifties, the French. I can't read my, oh, the French kaori started using polyester like Chanel, Dior, Balenciaga. Mm. So those very fancy dresses, because there were satins and Mm.

Things like that that they could use now for less money. Yeah. And they still look very luxurious. Mm-hmm. Like most of the evening gowns you buy now, I would say 99.9% are polyester. Polyester. I actually have an event to go to a military ball in December, and I think I'm gonna make my dress. Because I would really love a non polyester Yeah.

Fancy dress in my wardrobe. So I don't know. We'll see. But my mom just ordered some, uh, what's it called? Rayon, velvet. She brought me some samples to church yesterday so I could feel it. Yeah. And I think I might, 'cause it is December. I think I might try out of that. And then you come convert to Nutcracker?

Yes. If I make it not too fancy, not too fancy. Or you could dress up with heels. I could make it long and then cut it off for, for future events. Yeah. Yeah. Or it can make like a, an overskirt.

You so should, like 67. Like Winnie. Yes. You should make a play suit and then an

overskirt. Okay. Good idea. Okay, so let's move on to the 1960s.

This has become widely accepted by the middle class. Of course, the upper classes of society still prefer their natural fibers.

Yeah.

And I think that probably continues now. You have the upper classes who want real fur. Real silk,

yeah.

Et cetera. Yeah. Or vegan leather. It's one of the two. Oh my gosh. Can we talk about, let's segue into the advertising before we take a break.

Okay.

This is another thing that really gets me about polyester. The first time I bought a pair of shoes that said Vegan leather, ILO, ld, because I just couldn't believe they thought that I was that stupid, like vegan leather. Is plastic. Yeah. And I don't know who wouldn't know that? I don't know why this marketing works on people.

Yeah, because you can't make leather outta cotton. Like what do you think they're using instead? You can't. Leather is animals. Yeah. It's the definition. We should look up the definition of leather, the etymology, but you can't call it leather. And then to use the term vegan, like vegan is a food. Well, I guess because.

Vegans are against using leather.

Yeah, it's, I would say it's more of a lifestyle. Yes. Oh, I'm vegan, so I should just get the vegan leather,

you know? But I know the vegans know because we are smart. I know the vegans know that it's just plastic. And plastic is problematic in it's manufacturing, just like they consider eating animals.

So whatever belief you have about using animals is not going to be offset by the manufacturing of plastic shoes.

That's what I'm saying. Yeah. Sorry to break it to you. And I think that we are smart enough to know this, and yet they keep manufacturing. Vegan leather. Yeah. Like just get, like, there's so many other bags, like, I don't know, I, that's one marketing term I just don't understand and I'm, it just makes me mad 'cause I'm like, they think we're stupid.

Yeah. I'm like, guys, like we know what this means. It's plastic, right? Yeah. I would hope polyester is plastic and vegan. Leather is also plastic. Yeah, I'm just saying you're wearing plastic guys. Also the, when I bought that pair of shoes mm-hmm. My feet ferose. I wore them like two times. This is when we lived in Utah, I think.

Oh gosh. I was like, I can't wear these. My tools are like, I sickles right now

because my shoes were plastic. Yeah. Here's an anecdote. I just thought of one. Oh, good. So I have, I have two leather jackets. So one of them is, she thrifted them. I th I thrifted One of them. Oh, one of them is like a Wilson's leather, leather jacket and it's genuine leather.

Was that my dad's? Which is like, no. Oh. And like genuine leather, I guess isn't, it's not full grain. Like you want full grain leather, but genuine leather's like,

whatever is it called? Top green?

Full grain. Top grain? I'm not sure. Maybe they're the same thing. Maybe it's the same thing. Yeah. But it's lined with polyester and I.

Froze to death at work, like every time I worked in an estate sale company. And so we were like outside moving furniture and it's like 30 degrees outside and it was freezing. But then my grandpa gave me his old bomber jacket when he was lived in Mongolia. And it's like real leather. It has

real Sherpa on the real Sherpa.

The whole thing is lined with Sherpa. I don't think the vegans are gonna be happy with this episode. We're sorry. No, but he has had it for like. 30 years. Yeah. And it's still being used. So I would say that's pretty sustainable. That is a really good point. You know, sustainability. But yeah, and I, I honestly think, I'm sure I probably sweated at some point in that, in like 30 degree weather outside

because it was so warm.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, in Mongolia it's below zero. It's winter cold. Yeah. Yeah. Sherpa is another thing. That I'm willing to pay for my slippers. Speedline with real Sherpa.

Yeah. I also have his

slippers because, yeah. No, those are, those were dads. Oh, those are dads. I have dads slippers. I, because yeah. My feet are always so cold.

Yeah. After. After the vegan leather scenario, I mean, the shoe thing, I discovered wool socks. Oh. And that does help. It helps. Yeah. Cotton or wool. No polyester socks. Remember guys, when you guys were little, those cheapo socks that were always cute. Yeah. Were so stinky. And the Crocs. I would never buy you guys those anymore because your feet stunk so bad.

So bad.

Okay.

Layla just brought up a good point that our bras are made of polyester, she's right. I am. Right. Honestly, though, like I wish we could go back to the like, not co, not like tight lacing, but wearing stays to hold you up from the bottom instead of pulling you up from the top.

Yeah. Maybe we should just start making them.

Let's start that movement.

Yeah. Also, they were made of like cotton and linen in breathable things. Yeah. They could be let in and out. Yeah. I'm just saying, I think there's a movement Yeah. Of women doing that. My Thanksgiving bra.

That's so funny. Thank you. Because I don't like the elastic, I don't like the feeling of a rubber band around my body at all the time. I feel like that would solve that problem.

Yeah. I find it comforting sometimes.

Really like it. A little tug. Ugh. It's because she's still young. Okay. Anyway, let's move on.

God. Is this a good time to take a break before we move on to 1970s?

Yeah, we can move on. Okay. Okay, let's

take our quick take a break. Break. 📍

📍 📍

Okay, so like I said, by the 1960s.

Polyester was kind of an icon of modernity is what I read about it. Mm. So it was like hip modern. And this was helped along by the fashion designer, Mary Quant. Yeah. She was a British designer and fully entrenched in youth culture was these Mary Quant look. So she made like mini dresses, double knit mini dresses, lots of polyester, and that very iconic sixties, like go-go dresses.

Yes. Kind of like a box. Yes. Yes. Go. And then there's

the one, what's the famous painting with the blocks of color? Um, the, is it Clee?

I'm so glad that I didn't know this. Oh, no, it's, but he's the same guy that made the soup cans.

because there's a, there's a dress with that print on it.

And that's like when you Yes, Paul. Yeah. When you sent me that, I saw that dress and I went, oh, I know who that is.

Ah, I found, found it. Piet

Modrian composition with

red, blue, yellow. Yes. Piet Modrian. Mary Quant had a dress. Which apparently you can buy the sewing pattern for. So Mary Quant had a line of sewing patterns. You should make me one.

I should have made it for this episode. That would've been so cute. That would've been so much fun. Okay. I want, I was, I said we should put polyester on for this episode, but So Mary Quant was as influential in the sixties as Jessica McClintock was in the eighties on. We discussed Jessica McClin talk. We did in the gunny sax episode.

So yes, and, and like I said, you can find the sewing patterns. We're gonna put some pictures on the Instagram page 'cause they were so cute. Yeah. If I ever stumble on one now I'm gonna buy it just to have it. Absolutely. Because it's kind of iconic and I didn't know about her.

She also had a line of home decor in the same kind of Oh, interesting vein. Yeah. She was considered very modern and the young things loved her. Very, very influential. Okay. The end of the seventies, however, saw Polyesters demise begin to happen because they constantly, marketed it as being cheap.

Mm-hmm. That sort of backfired and people thought of it as cheap. Cheap, yeah. So they started to prefer, um, natural fibers again. So things kind of like Yeah. Swing back and forth in history it seems like. And. Also the, there were still battles between the US and Britain, and they were sort of now rushing to find something like newer and different.

Hmm. But they eventually just kind of stopped innovating because polyester was selling so well. So they weren't trying to find new and better ways. Yeah. And so the industry sort of stagnated. Hmm. Until. Other fibers like spandex and nylon came about, and then you have the jazzer size. Yeah. Thing in the eighties, and people started wearing a lot more nylon and spandex instead of just regular polyester, which still nylon and spandex is still a subsidiary that stemmed from, yeah, the invention of polyester.

So I'm including all of those fabrics. Mm-hmm. So those started to rise even as like the polyester from the seventies, double knits and all that started to decline.

Mm-hmm. It also might like. Because people started thinking of polyesters cheap, putting nylon on the tag. It's like, oh, well it's not polyesters, so it's, it's better.

Yeah. That's interesting. That kind of thing. Interesting. Yeah. I think that's how they, they still market like that today. Mm-hmm. Yesterday, Layla and I bought pajama bottoms. They're cotton. The reason we bought them is because they feel so good. Yeah. They're like really thick cotton like they used to have in the nineties.

Mm-hmm. But it says on the tag. What was it? 80% cotton, 20% recycled, recycled cotton. Yeah. I don't think that there's any reason for them to say that 20% of the cotton was recycled, but they know that people, it's like a buzz bird. Yeah. People are like, oh, I'm doing something good for the environment by buying recycled something.

Yeah. So marketing is so funny to me, so funny to me, like yeah. Yeah. I mean, people must fall for this stuff. Mm-hmm. I'm sure I fall for it all the time without realizing like yesterday, okay, butter yellow, is this in color right now? I loved Butter Yellow way before it was cool. Like the

kitchen was butter

yellow.

Butter yellow was my favorite color in high school. And then when we, when the kids were really little, we bought a house and I painted it butter yellow. And then it went totally out of fashion for what, the next 15 years? Yeah. And now it's back. And there was this Bose speaker advertisement with Serena Williams and I'm like, Ooh, I think I need this.

It's so cute. Butter yellow. So yeah, it's not like I'm immune to advertising. I told her to wait. I did. However, see you. Oh yeah. Find, well, I was with you on an estate sale. This lady was a fashionista bro. She was iconic Best estate sale for clothes that we've ever found because also they did not smell.

And so I found this 100% cotton, nineties sweater. It's cool in butter. Yellow. Yeah. But it's not so butter that it looks bad on me. It's like more of a lemon butter yellow. That's perfect.

Yeah, that was perfect. Yeah. All her clothes felt so nice.

Okay. All the, sorry, can I No, go. Go ahead.

Side ramp,

I was at that estate sale Friday. We went Friday. Mm-hmm. And I saw somebody's, you at estate sales, there's hold shelves, so if you don't wanna carry something around you put it on the hold shelf. And I saw this lady's pile of stuff and I was like, I saw a shirt on the top.

And I was like, oh, that's so cute. Like, but it's on the whole self so I can't take it. So then I went back Saturday. And I guess they didn't have time to wipe the hold shelves 'cause her pile of stuff was still there. Oh. And she didn't. And after, like, after a day, it's typically wiped or like it's void. So like it doesn't count.

Yeah. Layla worked for this estate sale company. Why she, I worked for this company so I know. I know what's going on. And so I went with my sister and I was like, oh my gosh, Natalie. Like, her stuff is still here. I really wanted this. And it was, it's like a, it was kinda like a knit guest tank top, like a vintage nineties guess tank top.

Mm-hmm. I was like, this is so cute. So I folded it up and I put it on the whole shelf and I was like, let me just make sure she's not coming back. Mm-hmm. And then when we circled the rest of the house, you know, I'll take it, I, we go around the whole house. There's these two girls there that are like, I clearly just there for like, like they don't go to estate sales because they, I don't think they really got, you know, what was going on.

And so we kinda, like, I ran into them a few times and they were like. Just not really following the rules very much and they didn't know about the signs. And I was like, oops, okay, whatever. And so then we walked back downstairs to look at the jewelry next to the register and they were like confused about the register lines and uh, and so they have not been a lot.

But then we went back inside to grab the tank top and it was gone. They took it, and I think they might have took it. They both had pi, like big piles of clothes in their hands. I'm sorry that happened to you, Layla. Like I know that I was gonna take it from somebody else's pile from the day before. Yeah, but you knew it wasn't, but I knew.

So like a raise. Was she just taking stuff this, this raise? Yeah.

Anyway, so that

was like a really, I mean,

some people don't know a state sale etiquette, but, but we can, we can make this apply. Okay. Let's discuss some ways that we can be a little bit more mindful in our polyester use. Yes, because it's true that polyester is really terrible for the environment.

First of all, it's made of crude oil. Second, while the manufacturing process is so bad for the environment. Yeah. And the recycling is almost impossible and it does not biodegrade. Mm-hmm. So nobody would argue that polyester is a healthy thing. Yeah. So estate sales are a, are an amazing place to find real fibers and nice clothes.

Yeah. Especially now, because I feel like now more than ever. More than one style is in style. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense? Yeah. I think because we have like Instagram culture and you're more allowed to wear what you love instead of follow the trends. Yeah. And so the vintage items mm-hmm. Are coming back with a vengeance.

Yeah. Like that nineties sweater. I could buy that at the gap today and nobody would even know that. I didn't No know. And I am happy to see that the. Um, the stores are starting to bring back natural fibers. Yeah. Like the cotton pajama pants we bought yesterday. Mm-hmm. And I'm just seeing a lot more cotton specifically.

Yeah. And linen, which also like arguably mm-hmm. Any kind of manufacturing can be a problem environmentally. Yeah. There is no zero impact way to clothe yourself. Mm-hmm.

Right. Yeah. 'cause even. You can make your own clothes, but you're buying the fabric from somewhere, right? And you're, you know,

so before I bring this point home, let's talk about making your clothes.

There are things you can do. 'cause Layla gets really annoyed when she finds a dress that's rayon or cotton or whatever, and it's lined with polyester. It's so annoying. I'm like, why wouldn't you do the opposite? Like flip it. I don't know. Yeah, it doesn't make sense. But what you can do, like there are lining fabrics like called beberg rayon you can buy.

That's breathable.

Yeah.

Because my issue is I do not want to sweat.

No,

I have this one, it's a gap Marino wool sweater. I thrifted from Goodwill. Mm-hmm. I've had it for like five years. And it's a thin sweater. Mm-hmm. It is the perfect traveling sweater. Yeah. Because it's warm enough and I never sweat.

Mm.

It's

like a miracle fiber. This this wool sweater.

Yeah.

So for me it's like a personal comfort issue. Yeah. And so I'm, that's why I'm so particular about it, like I'm not necessarily like a diehard environmentalist. Because I, I just understand that there's no way we can make zero impact. Mm. Yeah. But when you do start to dig into the impact, like fast fashion, you can't be a, you can't be ignorant of all of the problems.

Mm-hmm. With fast fashion and polyester plays a huge role in fast fashion. Mm-hmm. Because it's cheap. People over consume it. Yeah. Like crazy. And the working conditions and the environmental impact, like they're huge and extreme. Mm-hmm. Right. So the problem is. Are overconsumption. Yeah. But the heart of overconsumption is discontent.

Mm. We are never satisfied. Yeah. And that I think is what has to change, especially as western thinkers. Yeah.

And it's not like if you need a new winter coat, go by a winter coat. Yeah. But you probably don't need three winter coats if you already have to. You don't need

a new one this season if you have one, one that works from us.

Even. Even if you're going

to

Goodwill.

Right. You do not need a third winter coat. That's just a little different.

Yeah. I do think that, one of the massive cons of influencer culture has been to convince us we need new things all the time. Yeah. And now there's this whole thrifting influencer culture, which is

still bad.

I don't, yeah. Tony, I'm so sorry. I'm about to get like so mad if you're going to Goodwill. And you're buying even like 10 new items, five of which you already have something very similar at home that's still not good. Like you're still,

it's a pro, it's a problem. Like this is a problem in Western cultures for sure.

Yeah. I don't know. Maybe you can tell me wherever you live. I actually, I do believe Australia just took over the U us, overtook the US for fast fashion consumption. No way. So this is a problem more than just here in America, but in first world countries. I think it's pretty prevalent.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I know that Forever

21 shut down all their American stores did.

Yeah. The mall had a huge forever. Not Forever 21. Oh my gosh. La, no. Maybe h and m 21. H and M. I think it was h and m. They did? Yeah. They like shut down. It was either H and m or Forever 21 I think it was. They shut down all their us. Why did they, I'm not sure you can, I think you still get them shipped here, but they shut down their US ones at.

That is so interesting. At least I'm

pretty sure

From

a sewing standpoint, it definitely, I think sewing has become a more expensive hobby than it was for generations past. But when you're wanting to have clothing of high quality fabrics. Sewing is still cost effective.

Yeah. And so I can sew things out of linen much cheaper than I can buy them. Buy, yeah. Nice things. Anyway, so this kind of turned into like a, a rant. We don't, we don't pretend to have answers to these problems. No. Because

all like, I have,

like, we both

have polyester stuff, but I think it's about, yeah. Like, 'cause there's some things that kind of have to be polyester, not Yeah.

And we're grateful for it. Swimsuits. We are grateful for the swimwear. Mm-hmm. A lot of my nicer, like my like ballet clothes that I go to see shows in mm-hmm. Are polyester.

Yeah. Those fancy fabrics that like we wouldn't be able to afford out of silk. Yeah.

But like go and thrift them. I dunno. I feel like you don't need them new's because I found some really

cute like polyester show tops.

Yeah. Goodwill, like nice shirts. Yeah. Yeah. We are big fans of Thrifty. I love Goodwill, so most of my nicest clothes are from the thrift store. Yeah,

my thrift shirt is from the thrift store.

I made mine

love.

Look at US sustainable. I hope y'all enjoyed this episode. Next time we are going to talk about. Um, funeral and friendship quilts.

I think for October. I wanna do something on the spooky little bit

creepy side. Should we

dress up?

Oh my gosh. We're a video podcast now. I'll dress up as David

Bowie and you dress, I'm gonna have to dig in the bin for that. Yeah. And then you

can dress up as Jessica McClintock, or I'm gonna have to make a gunny sax.

Yes. Okay. So I'll be David Bowie and you'll be here. Surprisingly, a lot of

gunny sax dresses had polyester in them.

I'm just gonna have to dig through the costume bin for mine.

Yeah.

But we should fun be.

That'd be so fun.

You have a month to talk me into it.

Okay. Okay. 'cause then, or you could be, um, oh my gosh, The murder dollhouse lady. I could be her. Ruth Wakefield. Ruth. She made the cookies. No, I'm, uh, Lee

Lesner.

Francis

Lee. Francis Lee Lee Lesner. Maybe I should be a character from a podcast episode that we've done. Yeah, we could

twin. Oh my gosh.

Or I could be, um, or you could be Mme. Alexander. You could be Miss Piggy.

All right, we'll brainstorm. Bye. And you'll just have to be surprised. But thanks for watching listening, and we'll see you next month.

Bye. Bye.