EcoZeal

Why clothes wrinkle and how to stop clothes from wrinkling have befuddled people from the time when mirrors were invented.

The world of fabrics is littered with many incorrect myths about what causes fabrics to wrinkle and what to do about it.

So why do clothes wrinkle? The two primary causes of wrinkling in fabrics are water moisture and heat. Heat and moisture can remove wrinkles (think ironing and steaming hanging clothes), but they are also the leading causes of that ferociously wrinkled organic cotton shirt.

Many other factors can contribute to wrinkled clothing and there is much that you can do to reduce wrinkles that will also reduce the total amount of energy that you will invest in your clothing over their life cycle from when you first go clothing shopping until you are finally ready to send it to the thrift shop, homeless shelter or recyclers.

Which fabrics are more prone to wrinkle? Sometimes it seems as if an organic cotton shirt will sprout contact wrinkles if you just look at it and crinkle your nose while a polyester dress can survive a train wreck and still be ready for a night on the town.

Generally, clothes using fabrics made from natural cellulose – cotton, hemp, linen (flax) – are the most prone to wrinkle. Clothes made from regenerated cellulose – bamboo, rayon, Tencel / lyocell, Modal – or from regenerated plant protein – soya, Ingeo – are less likely to wrinkle and wrinkles are easier to remove.

The tendency of a garment to attract or repel wrinkle is affected by many qualifications such as:

Weave – knits are less likely to show wrinkles than woven fabrics.

Fiber blends – wrinkles will easily fall out of a woven yoga top of 95% organic cotton blended with 5% lycra (spandex).

Quality of fibers – other factors being equal, high quality long staple organic cotton fibers are less likely to wrinkle than lower quality conventionally grown short cotton fibers.

Quality of manufacturing – a dress of tightly woven, high thread count cotton finished with tightly sown seams will last longer, look better and often require less ironing than a low quality garment.

Fabric finishes – this is tricky as chemical fabric finishes can be added during manufacturing or during laundering that will reduce the propensity for wrinkling, more about this later.

Laundering – which can make all the difference between having your clothing look like the surface of the moon during a solar eclipse or the smooth, shiny backside of a new baby.

Source: Organic Clothing Blog