More Than Just Hurt
July 28, 2023 7:42 PM Subscribe
Silent Spring for your wardrobe: Alden Wicker talks about the chemicals lurking in our clothes in an interview on NPR about her new book, "To Dye For: How Toxic Fashion Is Making Us Sick--and How We Can Fight Back."
This seems like only a step or two away from Goop-level "Everything you buy in normal stores is full of TOXIC CHEMICALS" stuff
If it were reasonable for me to buy only to buy impeccably tailored, timeless pieces (even thrifted) in 100% silk, linen and wool, please understood that I would and absolutely . But alas, I am a middle class US size 14-16 woman woman in 2023 who must travel for work and appear in public occasionally.
posted by thivaia at 9:01 PM on July 28, 2023 [25 favorites]
If it were reasonable for me to buy only to buy impeccably tailored, timeless pieces (even thrifted) in 100% silk, linen and wool, please understood that I would and absolutely . But alas, I am a middle class US size 14-16 woman woman in 2023 who must travel for work and appear in public occasionally.
posted by thivaia at 9:01 PM on July 28, 2023 [25 favorites]
ngl, chemicals can be pretty useful
posted by ryanrs at 10:06 PM on July 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by ryanrs at 10:06 PM on July 28, 2023 [8 favorites]
Yay, Better Living Through Chemistry
posted by blue shadows at 10:19 PM on July 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by blue shadows at 10:19 PM on July 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
A few years ago, an Australian ambulance service decided to buy cheap uniforms from Indonesia and the uniforms were so contaminated with toxic chemicals that staff had to take sick leave and they had to deep-clean the ambulances...
"Ambulance stations in Whyalla and Port Augusta will this week be the first stations to be cleaned of possible contamination by a batch of faulty uniforms supplied to paramedics three years ago.
The Ambulance Employees Association (AEA) says the uniforms caused allergic reactions in about 200 officers in 2006 and some are still suffering.
The association says one staff member has been hospitalised almost on a weekly basis, after suffering respiratory attacks when she comes into contact with ambulance-service material."
Link.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 12:19 AM on July 29, 2023 [10 favorites]
"Ambulance stations in Whyalla and Port Augusta will this week be the first stations to be cleaned of possible contamination by a batch of faulty uniforms supplied to paramedics three years ago.
The Ambulance Employees Association (AEA) says the uniforms caused allergic reactions in about 200 officers in 2006 and some are still suffering.
The association says one staff member has been hospitalised almost on a weekly basis, after suffering respiratory attacks when she comes into contact with ambulance-service material."
Link.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 12:19 AM on July 29, 2023 [10 favorites]
For those of us with sensitive skin, eczema, psoriasis and other health issues, there is value in looking for clothes that have OEKO-Tex certification, which means that they are less likely to cause skin irriation or allergic reactions.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 12:23 AM on July 29, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 12:23 AM on July 29, 2023 [14 favorites]
I’m not saying that this isn’t a thing, but… I definitely want to see some less breathless coverage, as it’s hard to separate the science from the reporting here. The guardian also did an article and podcast on this, which I didn’t read as the headline was just too clickbatey.
posted by The River Ivel at 1:31 AM on July 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by The River Ivel at 1:31 AM on July 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
A quick Google reveals that these issues have been going on with flight attendant uniforms for years, probably because the uniforms have to resist flame as well as wrinkles and stains, they're worn so often, and exposure to ozone during the flights degrades the fabric.
If you are not a flight attendant, I'd say the health risks are lower but there's no harm in sourcing your fabric from OEKO-Tex or at least avoiding the legendary Shein.
posted by kingdead at 6:18 AM on July 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
If you are not a flight attendant, I'd say the health risks are lower but there's no harm in sourcing your fabric from OEKO-Tex or at least avoiding the legendary Shein.
posted by kingdead at 6:18 AM on July 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Shein has been shown to have LEAD on their clothes, so yeah, that's one to avoid. Oh they also are horrible in every way.
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:21 AM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by tiny frying pan at 7:21 AM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Just finding clothing that doesn't have any sort of plastic is frustratingly difficult. I've been looking for shorts recently, just casual shorts, and it seems every company wants to sell flex, or cooling etc etc. Then, once you filter out those options you still have to look into the description or click the more info in order to find out what type of fabric the clothing is actually made of. And I'm down to about one brand name that actually does still have shorts without elastane or whatever it is because everything must stretch these days. I just feel like it's always something new these days with the things we have to use to get by having the potential to do us harm. And it's just exhausting. But uh, at least most things don't have lead? Aside from the things that do?
On active wear, I really have no idea on how it would be possible to avoid wearing something plastic. I've had it ingrained for years that "cotton kills" as far as outdoor clothing goes. But of course cotton is also the go to for fires as it won't melt to skin so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by ockmockbock at 8:23 PM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
On active wear, I really have no idea on how it would be possible to avoid wearing something plastic. I've had it ingrained for years that "cotton kills" as far as outdoor clothing goes. But of course cotton is also the go to for fires as it won't melt to skin so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
posted by ockmockbock at 8:23 PM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
On active wear, I really have no idea on how it would be possible to avoid wearing something plastic. I've had it ingrained for years that "cotton kills" as far as outdoor clothing goes. But of course cotton is also the go to for fires as it won't melt to skin so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Wool will stay warm/insulating when wet and won't melt to skin. There's a lot of modern light weight wool tops/leggings designed for hiking these days - it's not all jumpers and trousers anymore.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:32 PM on July 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Wool will stay warm/insulating when wet and won't melt to skin. There's a lot of modern light weight wool tops/leggings designed for hiking these days - it's not all jumpers and trousers anymore.
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries at 8:32 PM on July 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
If you are trying to avoid plastic in clothes, bear in mind that even if they are made from a natural fabric, every damn garment is sewn with polyester thread. The only practical way to avoid it is to make your own clothes using cotton thread, which is available, but more expensive than polyester.
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:45 PM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Fuchsoid at 10:45 PM on July 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've been dying a lot of clothes as an ongoing creative experiment, and I typically have 8 or 10 pots of partially-used colored dye sitting around. When I peek in the pot and see, say a red, sometimes I forget if that was red for natural fiber or red for polyester (the tape labels keep falling off), so I give a little taste. The salty ones are for natural fiber, the soapy ones are for polyester. Maybe this article will get me onto what I think might work, using an ohm meter to test conductivity. The natural dyes would be more conductive, I'd guess, because of the large amount of salt added.
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:02 AM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by StickyCarpet at 5:02 AM on July 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
This is graphic, but cheap underwear got banned from my house. I don't SMELL LIKE THAT.
posted by lextex at 5:28 AM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by lextex at 5:28 AM on July 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
OEKO-Tex certification, which means that they are less likely to cause skin irriation or allergic reactions
I don't know much about this certification specifically, but a glance at their site shows that they use "organic" as one of their criteria, which means they're scientifically useless.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:22 PM on July 30, 2023
I don't know much about this certification specifically, but a glance at their site shows that they use "organic" as one of their criteria, which means they're scientifically useless.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 8:22 PM on July 30, 2023
I don't know much about this certification specifically, but
That's not a very helpful dismissal. Their organic cotton certification is only one of their certification lines, and they do point out what they're testing for in the other lines. And, anecdotally, yeah, stuff with the certification typically stinks a lot less than other fabrics, and is less itchy.
posted by mittens at 5:32 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
That's not a very helpful dismissal. Their organic cotton certification is only one of their certification lines, and they do point out what they're testing for in the other lines. And, anecdotally, yeah, stuff with the certification typically stinks a lot less than other fabrics, and is less itchy.
posted by mittens at 5:32 AM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I'm annoyed that a lot of "travel clothing" or performance wear has been unnecessarily treated with Durable Water Repellent (DWR) coatings. Like you don't need water resistance on a pair of shorts. Supposedly the coatings have less/no PFAS in them, and are less damaging to the environment; but manufacturers are putting this in everything, and these coatings get worn off quickly in a high-abrasion environment like pants, and also degrade if you don't treat them delicately and wash them in a specific way.
One of the current trendy (but old) brands, Fjallraven, would rather sell you a bar of beeswax where you can decide if you want to apply it to your clothing, and they explicitly tell you that you'll probably need to reapply it. So basically they've reintroduced super-old waxed canvas.
posted by meowzilla at 2:40 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
One of the current trendy (but old) brands, Fjallraven, would rather sell you a bar of beeswax where you can decide if you want to apply it to your clothing, and they explicitly tell you that you'll probably need to reapply it. So basically they've reintroduced super-old waxed canvas.
posted by meowzilla at 2:40 PM on July 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Obligatory mention of Thinx using PFAS in their period underwear.
A definite example of things that are not good happening in fashion, given potential endocrine disruption.
posted by ec2y at 12:28 PM on August 5, 2023
A definite example of things that are not good happening in fashion, given potential endocrine disruption.
posted by ec2y at 12:28 PM on August 5, 2023
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They mention some things that are clearly bad, like water pollution during production, mix it up with possibly but now shown to probably not be such a big deal, like BPA, with just vague scaremongering. Thing is, most of these things they talk about aren't even proven to be harmful in food, but they're claiming here that people are having multiple severe reactions (almost always multisystemic, not just dermatological) to clothes with these supposed chemicals in them, even after multiple washes. It doesn't hold up, and all the talk about "The wellness community" just confirms that this is someone who wants to sell you stuff.
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 7:56 PM on July 28, 2023 [35 favorites]