DR reports that a group of Danish consumers has begun rejecting clothes made of polyester, a trend the broadcaster’s P1 culture program has named the anti-polyester movement.
In an article published September 11, DR described consumers who turn garments inside out and study care labels before discarding anything containing polyester. The same buyers instead praise natural fibers such as wool, cotton and flax.
The P1 program K-live has labeled the phenomenon the anti-polyester movement. Content creator Sally Andrea, known as @swaggeste on Instagram and TikTok, told the program she has a large dislike of the material.
According to DR, Sally Andrea arrived for the interview at DR Byen dressed entirely without polyester, in a thick-woven cotton shirt bought for 20 kroner secondhand and a pair of selvedge denim jeans. She connects polyester to a buy-and-throw-away culture and to fast fashion chains such as Zara and H&M.
DR notes that Google Trends shows a global increase of 400 percent in searches for “natural fiber” over the past five years. American professor Bruce Y. Lee wrote in Psychology Today that “polyester” has become a Gen Z term for something cheap and inauthentic.
Researcher calls the picture complicated
Maria Mackinney, a lecturer at the Royal Danish Academy who researches trends, told DR she is not put off by polyester. She came to the interview in a polyester top under a secondhand linen sweater.
As stated by Mackinney, the movement is also a way of signaling identity and distancing oneself from mass production, similar to recent trends for knitting, sewing, baking and ceramics. She disputes some of the claims made against the fabric, noting that polyester is used in sportswear precisely because it is breathable.
Mackinney added that textiles in clothing are extremely complicated and that all production carries problems. She pointed out that cotton requires large amounts of water, pesticides and farmland, while polyester can be made from recycled plastic such as old bottles.
The industry body Dansk Mode og Textil informed DR that there is no notable change in the balance between imports of clothing made from synthetic and natural fibers. DR also reports that The Guardian and NPR have covered the movement.
The magazine The Atlantic has defended the material, writing that the opposition is out of proportion. Polyester was invented in the early 1940s and has since been made lighter and more breathable, according to DR.
Sally Andrea told K-live that the material has clear advantages, including rainwear and quick-drying sportswear. Her objection, she said, is that polyester now appears in almost everything she buys when shopping.
