Where do different natural fibers shine?

As much as we talk about natural fibers we don't seem to have much discussion about how to choose which natural fiber for are clothing.  Living in Texas I have been focusing my efforts on finding cotton and linen shirts.  I now have a little variety of 100% cotton, 100% linen and several different blends of these two.

Cotton can be quite nice, it doesn't wrinkle quite as easily as linen and tends to be softer.  Most woven shirt cottons wear well and last a long time.  They don't dry as quickly as linen, but do wick light sweat away from the skin so you don't get clammy and stinky like most synthetics.
Maybe I am just spoiled by the linen but I don't find it as breathable unless it's eyelet lace.  Luckily cotton eyelet lace fabric is readily available and aren't uncommon in ready made clothing either.  Cotton gauze material is almost insanely soft, but having tried one shirt made from it I would save it for things like baby blankets or maybe intimate apparel. It's probably not surprising that it can't stand up to the rigors of daily work.

Eventually when I need to start replacing my jeans I will be putting time a money into finding real cotton denim.  These days nearly all of those on the market have synthetic blends but they earned their reputation as work gear as  work gear when they were real cotton.

New linen isn't as soft and is far more wrinkle prone.  They are clearly more durable than cotton as my first shirt has grown softer over time without showing visible wear and tear.  It is just less crisp than it was new. I don't know if it's actually less wrinkle prone now or if it's just a combination of changing laundry habits and increasing tolerance on my part.

I am finding my preferences lean towards linen/cotton blends. They strike a good balance between the softer cotton feel and the crisp linen. It still wrinkles, but less than either material on their own.  It is almost as breathable as pure linen and far less expensive.   I have enough of shirts that these are now my default for heavy sweaty work.

For all these clothing I use cold water in the machine and then hang to dry on metal and wooden hangers.  Taking the time to straighten and smooth collars, cuffs, pockets, and hems at this point means that I can usually get away with ironing.   If I  need a more polished or formal look I use an steam iron on the highest settings before dressing.

I am at the point now of being able to start considering winter options.  Many of the reasons I love the cotton and linen make them less suited to my rare cold day.  I am sometimes a little chilled just from the common AC settings people use here.  Wool and silk is what springs to mind.  I am worried there would be steep learning curve to maintaining these, though.  I don't want any clothing I can't launder at home.

Does anyone else have anything to report about their experience with specific natural fibers?  I would consider leather in this category too, so please feel free to talk about where you have used that also.

It is only cotton that I can really find around here for natural fibers, as my circumstances are such that I must thrift shop for clothing. I find cotton to be easy to wash, and I don't ever have to iron any of it, which is quite nice, I just warm it up for a few seconds in the dryer if somehow something did get a tad wrinkly while in the washing machine.

I think hemp is about like cotton and linen.

For winter, wool and cashmere are good.

There are blends too.

Silk is strong, but it’s usually made into very thin fabric.  It’s good in hot weather if you are a “wear your shade” type of person.  Making jeans out of silk might not be the best use of the silk worms’ product.

Basically there are protein fibers from animals, and cellulose fibers from cotton, linen, hemp, nettle.  There are cellulose fibers from wood and bamboo transformed into fabric through chemical processes rayon, tensel, bamboo etc.  In my experience they have the feel of the other cellulose fibers.  Some consider these natural fibers because of the origin of the cellulose, some consider them synthetic because of the processing.  They don’t have the stinky weirdness and flammability of the synthetics because they aren’t made from petroleum products.

Which reminds me, in searching out cotton, maybe linen, there are strange processes sometimes applied, sizing, brighteners, fireproofing etc, which can make them as unpleasant as petroleum based fibers .

For all cotton jeans, try seeking out the work clothes brands as opposed to the fashion brands.  Try to find the ones that are not “pre worn, or predistressed”, look for the ones that don’t have glitter or embroidery on the pockets.  Carhart has 100% cotton jeans, but I am going to try another work brand next time because the material seems to wear out too fast.

Or in the classic brands like Lee, Levi and Wrangler, look for the work designs.  

Looking toward winter weather, there are a number of delightful natural fibers to help you out. All of these are breathable but trap air around the body, so you stay cosy warm and not all clammy, like you can get with synthetics.

- Wool has lasted the test of time for very good reasons. It also is naturally fire retardant and still keeps you warm when wet. Wool comes in an astonishing number of "hands"; that is, you can get anything from ooo-keep-this-around-my-neck-for-the-snuggly-softness to pretty-scratchy-but-sheds-water-and-blocks-wind. Each of those have good purposes.

- Mohair can be soft and silky, or can be a bit on the itchy side, depending. It is very warm and durable, even under friction.

-Camelids' (alpaca, llama, actual camel) fiber is silky, drapy, and warmer than wool. It does not have any memory, though, so items made from camelid fiber tend to lengthen during a day's wear unless the maker was skillful in avoiding this with how they structured the item. I learned this the hard way when I knitted my first alpaca sweater that ended up looking like a minidress by the end of the day...

- Angora is 8 times warmer than wool. It does shed pretty easily, though, as those fibers have no crimp, so not great for working wear. For hats, scarves, and  lounging-about attire, though, it's luxurious. Won't keep you warm when wet.

- Silk is fantastic for blocking wind! Makes a perfect lining for coats for this reason.

- Linen, surprisingly, has some value in cold weather, since it helps dissipate sweat when you're working. Top it with wool to keep your body's temperature range more stable while working.

- Leather doesn't breathe well, but it is outstanding for blocking wind and preventing wear or damage to places exposed to a lot of friction. Hands and feet are a good example, but knees, elbows, shoulders all might be good places to consider adding leather reinforcement.

Alpaca is also hypoallergenic, so folks with sensitivities to other fibers might enjoy a luxuriously soft layer of alpaca in between themselves and the other fibers. Beyond that, wool can be very nice, even in summer, depending on the construction, because it wicks away moisture, and resists smells, far better than most plant fibers.

Carla Burke wrote:Alpaca is also hypoallergenic, so folks with sensitivities to other fibers might enjoy a luxuriously soft layer of alpaca in between themselves and the other fibers.  

Hypo allergenic actually means less likely to cause allergies.  There are a number of folks who are allergic to it like me.  I also react to Paco-vicuna which is actually a form of alpaca ie the same species.  Llama is a different species and I don't react to it. Llama has very similar characteristics to alpaca so I use it instead of alpaca.

One of my favorite outfits ever was this silk/linen/cotton blend. Light, breathable summer wear. Because of the linens, it’s cooler than silk alone, and the fabric has more structure than pure silk, but there’s enough silk to make a finer fabric that drapes, which you would not get fro pure linen.

Hi. I wear clothes of natural fibers too. I can't stand synthetics, for at least three reasons: - they are made in factories, using petroleum as ingredient (which can better be used as fuel, and even better can be left in the earth); - when I wear them I feel sweaty (can become stinky within a day); - they feel itchy to me.

Many years my only thought was 'natural fibers are better'. But I read and I learn a lot, and found out 'natural' is not always better. Farmers who grow cotton, flax or other fiber plants often do so in large monocultures using all kinds of pesticides. Processing plants into usable fibers can be a process that's almost chemical (in case of viscose, rayon, a.a. it IS chemical). Making the fibers into fabric, dyeing/printing and then sewing the clothes is often done in far away countries where workers are underpaid and work circumstances are bad. And so on ...

So now I am more critical on what clothes I buy. I search in thrift stores, but most clothes they have at the thrift stores here are made of synthetics. I know there are better second-hand-clothes stores in the larger towns, but then I need to travel there (takes too much time). I know too about second-hand online marketplace, but I don't trust that enough.

Luckily there are a few webshops selling all organic natural clothes. At least one of them is very 'transparent' on where everything comes from, how it's made, etc. But that one only sells underwear and sportswear made of fine wool jersey (Dilling in Denmark). There's a Dutch webshop named Ecotex selling not only clothes, but also materials to make your own clothes, and it's all GOTS-certified organic. I am glad I am able to sew, knit, crochet, etc.

Shawn Foster wrote:Looking toward winter weather, ...
- Linen, surprisingly, has some value in cold weather, since it helps dissipate sweat when you're working. Top it with wool to keep your body's temperature range more stable while working.

...

I agree. Linen underwear and then wool. That's the way people here* had their clothes for thousands of years! Probably since the Bronze Age. Flax was grown before, but sheep with usable wool did not yet exist. From the Neolithic (when people started farming, cultivating the land and breeding animals) into the Bronze Age farmers have been very busy breeding sheep with wool! Have you ever thought of that?

* Here, I mean where I live, in what's now called (North) Western Europe.

Sad part in clothing it is hard to find 100% natural fibers in clothes. Often cuffs, tags, and stitching are synthetic without them saying. If a cuff is stretchy it is likely synthetic rather than natural no mater what the tag says. This happens in "wool" socks a lot of times.

Wool, in all it's forms, is one of the best and highly looked for in the bushcraft community. Alpaca wool is not only hypoallergenic, but lighter and warmer than sheep wool. Possum wool (Invasive in Austrian and not the same as Opossum) is super warm. Buffalo wool is I think the warmest wool out there.

Other uses.

Hemp can be made into a concrete, even in blocks like legos.

Wool makes a good insulation. As can straw if sealed well against critters.

Straw bales are used for walls and work well.

And of course cob can be made with straw or any natural fiber that isn't too smooth.

Devin Lavign wrote:Sad part in clothing it is hard to find 100% natural fibers in clothes. Often cuffs, tags, and stitching are synthetic without them saying. If a cuff is stretchy it is likely synthetic rather than natural no mater what the tag says. This happens in "wool" socks a lot of times.

....

You are right. Even in clothes made of organic cotton (jersey) often a little bit of synthetic material is used for stretch. But then it is on the label (or if you order online you can read it).
Most of those organic clothes use organic cotton thread for the seams. But all other clothing (made of cotton, linen, wool, etc.) is sewn with synthetic thread.

Socks don't have a label, but if you buy them new they have a card or band attached on which is written what materials are used. Usually wool socks have 10-20% of synthetics.

Another consideration that's been bouncing around my brain has been the source / sourcing / distance materials move around the globe.  As such, I've been poking around what fabrics can be created locally.  Flax and hemp are grown here for seed for consumption, so their fibres ought to be usable here (if I remember correctly, flax used for linen is from a different direction of plant selection).  Of course, sheep for wool are also local, although most sheep raised here are raised more for meat, so their fleeces are sometimes thought of as a "waste" product for the ranchers.  Different breeds produce fibre with different characteristics as well.

Land to Market is a program through the Savory Institute that certifies products coming from regenerative farms.  Much of what is available is related to food, but I recall leather is in there with some work boots being certified.

Longway Homestead is a local sheep / wool producer and wool mill that is promoting education and adoption of wool.  She's written a couple of books and my wife and daughter took a natural dyes course from her.  

Derek Thille wrote:Another consideration that's been bouncing around my brain has been the source / sourcing / distance materials move around the globe.  As such, I've been poking around what fabrics can be created locally.  Flax and hemp are grown here for seed for consumption, so their fibres ought to be usable here (if I remember correctly, flax used for linen is from a different direction of plant selection).  Of course, sheep for wool are also local, although most sheep raised here are raised more for meat, so their fleeces are sometimes thought of as a "waste" product for the ranchers.  Different breeds produce fibre with different characteristics as well.

Land to Market is a program through the Savory Institute that certifies products coming from regenerative farms.  Much of what is available is related to food, but I recall leather is in there with some work boots being certified.

Longway Homestead is a local sheep / wool producer and wool mill that is promoting education and adoption of wool.  She's written a couple of books and my wife and daughter took a natural dyes course from her.  

There's an organisation called Fibershed, with local groups in different regions and countries, supporting the use of locally grown materials for clothing. They also research ways to improve the quality of the local materials; like you say Flax has different plant selections for seeds or for fibers and there are many different sheep breeds. The Dutch Fibershed Nederland does a lot for education too.