Leigh Campbell's edit of the best 100 per cent wool knits you'll love this winter.
Do you ignore that little tag on the inside of your clothes. Maybe you even cut it off? You're not alone... but you might want to rethink.
In this episode, we dive into the essentials of fabrics. From cotton and silk to wool and synthetics, we’ll cover the best practices and what to look out for when you’re buying online. Consider this a fabric encyclopaedia lesson.
That fine print you've probably been ignoring is actually going to save you money and extend the life of your wardrobe.
THE END BITS
Get $20 off for our birthday. Click here to get a yearly Mamamia subscription for just $49.
If you loved this episode with Nicole Bonython-Hines you can listen to her episode on how to look after your clothes.
Want to shop the pod? Sign up to the Nothing To Wear Newsletter to see all the products mentioned plus more, delivered straight to your inbox after every episode.
Listen to The Quicky's episode on dupes
Tell us what you really think so we can give you more of what you really want. Fill out this survey and you’ll go in the running to win one of five $100 gift vouchers.
GET IN TOUCH:
Feedback? We’re listening! Call the pod phone on 02 8999 9386 or email us at podcast@mamamia.com.au
CREDITS:
Host: Leigh Campbell
Guest: Nicole Bonython-Hines
Producer: Grace Rouvray
Audio Producer: Tegan Sadler
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
You're listening to a Mamma Mia podcast. Mama Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is recorded on.
Whoever said orange is a new pink with seriously.
Disturbed laurels for spraying groundbreaking?
Oh my god, you have to do it.
You live for fashion.
Hello, and welcome to Nothing to Wear, the podcast that solves fashion problems and levels up your wardrobe. I'm Lee Campbell, and every week I talk to an expert who is going to help us work out how to get more out of the clothes we already own and tell us exactly what is and what isn't worth adding.
To our wardrobe.
One of my favorite episodes we have ever done was about garment care. Sound boring, but it was an absolute game changer, and I realized all the things I was doing wrong when it came to laundry, as well as discovering some super handy gadgets and products that help us look after our favorite garments. So today I've brought back Nicole Knife and Hines to answer every single fabric question we have, and I have a lot. Before we get into the incredibly confusing world of fabric, I've got one question to ask you, what is the oldest purchase in your wardrobe that is still going strong.
Gosh, I have a lot of really old things.
Yes, the beautiful Cashmi jumper you were wearing today, I commented before we started recording. And it's got your daughter's name on it because she used to wear it for school for horse riding.
She did, so that's been around a while.
It's got a Cash's label in it that I stitched in because I was never going to succumb to that nasty iron on label thing, and that had to be all handstitch.
Oh my gosh, I should did that up at night. That's your way. I love it.
But you're such an advocate for you know, caring for your garments and keeping them a long time, so you've probably got a lot I do.
Actually, I've honestly got stuff I've had for probably thirty years still in my wardrobe.
I still work commendable.
You're going to teach us how to do that with this episode.
Good, okay.
I want to start with natural fibers because in my head they're considered quote unquote better.
I do prefer a natural fiber because I feel like they breathe better. That's not to say they have lungs, but they just allow the osmosis of moisture in air, I suppose better than a polyester based But then there's a difference. So there's petroleum based fibers in like Viscos, which is a wood based fiber.
Oh, okay, So we'll get to synthetics in a moment. So I had to google natural fibers because I knew a few. We've got cotton, wool, silk, cashm which I don't know if if that's different to well, I'll ask you in a moment. Bamboo linen, which I thought was cotton but might be suede leather shurling, which I'm guessing is like basically the whole cover of a sheet.
So let's just quickly go through those.
Good old cotton is one hundred percent cotton, all the same, because then I saw on some websites it's one hundred percent Australian certified cotton. Okay, yeah, are we getting too far down the line.
Look, I love cotton, and I think everyone feels like cotton's kind of their go too. Apparently it's really environmentally uses a shitload of water.
Well that's the thing, because when I say natural is better. It depends I guess how you're looking at it. It's better for sustainability and that we wear it for longer or complete schit. But some of the processes of making the fabrics aren't that great. But cotton's good because I guess I've got a few pretty affordable, great cotton T shirts that are white and I can use the wonderful products you suggested in that laundering episode and keep them fresh. Let's talk wool. Then, why is some wall scratchy?
I think it's the way they twist the Obviously, a higher quality like a Marino wool is going to be less scratchy. Okay, the sort of when they grate it, so you get the Tasmanian wool that grows in less sun.
It's just a bit of a finer fiber.
And so it's actually like the hair type of the animal, Like we've all got different hair types, yeap.
So all the crappy stuff gets made into carpet and stuff like that, wow, and then the really fine, nice stuff gets made into beautiful knits. And then there's a process that they do with the wall that makes it even softer. I wore a brown the other day, which I really should try and remember. Like anyway, it was the softest butter. It wasn't scratchy at all. Okay, But wool is meant to be the greatest fabric of all because it keeps you call in the summer and warm in the winter.
It does.
And what's Cashmi is cashmere? Woo is a goat?
Cashmi is a goat? Oh wow?
So if you sometimes see it, will Cashmi blend? It's those two animals, correct? Oh wow? And does the fleece on a Cashmi goat is softer? Talk to me about silk, because I love silk. I always butcher it in the washing machine because well, you're not meant to put in the washing machine, but you can.
Did you ever grow silk?
Course, and you had those mulberry leaves and then they would die and you mum would be like, you have to put them in a bin, and I'm like no, And they spin their little cocoon.
Correct, and then we use the cocoon.
Yes, the threads that make up the cocoon. I know, it's pretty amazing. I thought this amazing thing on Instagram the other day, the way they do that in China or mir or somewhere.
Yes, And interestingly, depending on how you feel about animals. I mean, that's obviously not vegan, because some of these are vegan cotton, bamboo, but silk isn't, wall isn't cashmir isn't. So there's that whole other spectrum. True linen is linen type of cotton.
Generally it's a fibrous plant. Oh it's a different plant. It's a different plant.
Leather and swage they come from.
Cows, cows or sheep, depending on what type of picks, even whatever type of leather it is of the leather, will we come across a cow but like that now example, Yes, And that fancy schnell bag is lamb skin.
Yes.
So in general, with these natural fibers, if you care for them properly, do you feel like they last longer or they're easier to launder or are they harder or depend on which fiber.
Leather and suede are always going to be tricky. You've always got to track them to the cleaners, and you know, it's all hit and miss, depending on got.
A beautiful swede coat and it's heavy and will keep me warm, but the only way I want to wear it in is when it's raining.
I can't wear it.
When it's a tough one.
Yeah, if it's a shiny enough leather you consider white.
Yeah.
Clean. Yeah, But when.
It starts absorbing sweat and things like that, Yeah, harder to cleaner.
Yeah, and you need a specialist dry cleaner. But good old cotton in general, if you've got a good quality cotton item that should be pretty.
It should be pretty, shouldn't lose a shape?
Well, again, depends on the caliber of it and how it's made and the weave and how loose or tired it is.
Wow.
I know it's confusing.
I just think the safest way to do anything is just to stick it through in a warm wash and hang it on the line and a gentle not too spinny. No, I think you can go hard on it. I think the tumble dryer part is the thing that's really like you. I've really pulled back on my dryer right.
Good for you.
It's been raining a lot here, But you've been in the back of my head.
And I wasn't that terrible? All that rain and no clothesline? Correct?
Okay, we might come back to some of those in a moment, but I wanted to ask what about natural blends, or like there's some natural fiber and then there's some synthetic because we're going to get into synthetics later. But like there's a T shirt I was looking at it's a cotton and lysol blend, or sometimes there's a linen blend. Why do they blend these two together? Is it a finish thing? Is it an affordability thing?
I think cotton linen just gives a bit of a slub because linen is not as fine a texture as cotton. I think it's more of an appearance thing. I'm not sure what life cyll is.
I did, and it's some sort of synthetic fabric that's used a lot in active wear, so it might be a stretch. He's going to say, is it a stretch because none of those natural fibers we've talked about a stretchy. It depends on the wave again, Like you could get a cotton knit, like a fine cotton jersey.
Ah, oh yeah, is a jersey.
Actually, or some people call it a knit, and then depending on the weave of that, you can get really stretchy ones, but not as stretch as if they are the lastin.
Okay, So maybe that's how they add the stretch more affordably. When I'm looking at silk, I just think in my head, I'm supposed to look for like slip dresses that are.
Cut on the bias. What does that mean? I just know to look for it. Okay.
So you can have a silk spice cut skirt, which is more about the shape. So if you cut it on the rather than cutting it straight, you cut it on an angle. It just makes it fall in a different way.
Okay, So when they cut out the pattern, the fabrics kind of turn. Yes. Correct, I'm picturing myself at the spotlight when she's like gliding the sleeps and that's a straight that's a straight straight.
But then when you put the pattern on that fabric, if you're going to make your own thing, you put it on that triangle gives it that sort of fluting.
At the bottom.
Okay.
Synthetics, this is where my brain explodes. So we've got rayon, acrylics, spandex, nylon, polyester, and I think there's types of polyester. So doing some googling to prepare for this, I didn't even realize. You know, they can date back to when each fabric was kind of invented in the fifties or a seventies. Some of them have got like actual specific names to the factories. It may yes, fascinating think spandex is a brand name. Actually, yes, probably, But to me that's just really really stretchy leggings or something.
Well, it's the likera component. I think even like brand name Elastin is probably the more generic name. Okay, but Spandex and like I think are actually brand names. It's a bit like calling a vacuum clean or a hoover. Yes, yep, we tissues your kleenex. Okay, So what's it acrylic? I think it's a petroleum based fiber. M Polyester is probably the least environmentally friendly of all the fibers. Its petroleum based, and it doesn't break down.
If you're shopping online, you scroll down to the fabric composition, you'll often see polyester, but it might not give you any more description. Because I looked through my wardrobe in preparation. I don't mind the synthetic fabric, but some polyesteretoms I have don't crush amazing for trouble, and then some poly is awful. It's like scrunched up plastic. Correct so it's not all synthetics are created equal.
They're not in terms of wear or not. And it's also not prohibited by price either. No, you can get a really cheap jacket in a polly that never creases and falls really well and then vice versa.
Yeah, that's it. So how do you feel about synthetics? I mean for you generally what you wear, but also styling your clients. We're generalizing here, but more affordable sometimes other synthetics, and like we said, they can wear. So do you mix and match natural fibers and synthetic fibers.
I mean I should be a bit more environmentally aware when I do it. I had someone snap at me once because I was swearing, I've got this very expensive designer I've bought it on sale, but you know shirt and she leaned across and she said, you know that's polyester, And I said, oh is it?
She it's the worst thing you can wear. What about vegan leather?
This is the reason why I wanted to get you back on I messaged you a few weeks ago and I bought the most amazing pair of vegan leather pants secondhand, but they've got a little mark on them.
And they're like a beige.
If it was black, I honestly would just color it with the POSCA and no one would notice. And I said to you, how do I clean my vegan leather? And you sent me on a spiral this amazing laundering account from New York of followers and they explain that vegan leather is basically just fabric with a plastic coating. Yeah, yeah, okay, so it feels and looks like leather.
Some are crunchy and hideous, somewhat are quite buttery soft.
Much.
Yeah, So would you ever recommend that to clients depending on budget?
Sure, yeah, you know.
If I'm not thinking with my environmental hat, sure, I mean I think it's a good cheaper option. And yes, there's you know, there are some brands that are kind of expensive that do really great shapes.
Yes, and they use that more buttery soft, and it could be more durable in a way. Upsides to synthetics and downside to synthetics. Is it that taking away the environment, which of course we absolutely care about, But we're talking about shopping and longevity and maybe travel. Are the items that are just great and a synthetic could it be a slip dress.
Could it be I really like a poly or an acetate that acetate is actually a would pulp.
Oh yeah, what are the ones that are from natural stuff that are now synthetic acetate?
Acetate it is. It could have something else in it. It might have a bit of poly in it as well, but it's essentially a wood pulp fabric.
So not all synthetics are petroleum based or what kind of plussed, but I think any of those synthetic fabrics poly or acetate crape is one of the best fabrics in terms of not creasing its suiting and drape. So the weave of the fabric is the thing too in regards to how it wears.
So gaberdine is kind of your traditional suiting kind of fabric, and if you held it up to a microscope, it's got a kind of a line through the weave, or it's a cross hatchy. It's a very flat fabric. It doesn't have any sheine or it is a polyester or cotton or in anything.
You can have a cotton gab, you can have a polygas kind of like you could have a cotton flannel and synthetic flannel a similar kind of.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh, but it's kind of your traditional suiting. Wool gaberdine is probably the most prolific type of gabon, interesting because that's what most men's suits are, wool gaberdine, for example.
Okay, downsides are the environment. You can't die synthetics like you can you can die? Oh wow? Okay, great, because I've got some stains on some lighter like shift dresses and stuff that I could just make you turn them navy or black? So would you do that yourself? Will send it to a dye? Well, I was going to try it myself for your face.
Be scared.
There are people that do it. There's a place called color Change and they'll do. Someone might have a wedding dress they love the shape of but they never wear it because it's white. Yeah like what okay? But usually it requires heat, doesn't it to do a die? I know there are cold water dyes, but I wouldn't trust them.
Well, I've only done the Ti Diet cotton T shirt with my nieces and that was fun. So I feel like maybe natural fibers at home. If it's an item you're going to throw out anyway, Okay, it's got a stain on it. But yeah, synthetics for experts.
Yeah, if it's something expensive, I would definitely outsource that.
Okay, interesting in a bucket.
I was top well in my head, I thought, can die natural fibers, can't die synthetics.
But then you die everything. Okay. One thing you can't bleach synthetics.
You can't bleach synthetic It makes them go.
I remember one of my kids went to a friend's house and his mum said, oh, I bleached his cricket gear and I, oh, and sure enough it's all yellow.
Yes, I've done that myself. Now I know what happened. I just thought I was bad at laundry, which I am. Okay, So speaking of stains and laundering, that's good to know. You can't bleach synthetics, but if you've got a white natural fiber, you can generally try and get a stain out harefully. Yes, fabrics that are best for what you know, travel You mentioned gaberdine.
No, you could do a gabatine.
If you're a corporate and you're jumping on a plane for eating some sort of a crapy thing is probably going to do you the best. Okay, what I please? Say, Please say is good for travel? That's oh kind of.
Or that very fine pleated. Yes. Sure, sometimes you may get a silk in a Please Say, but.
You like it in the archy levels probably ninety nine point nine p it'll be synthetic because it holds that crease.
Natural fibers can't hold that crease. Yeah, sure they Sometimes you could have a cotton, but it would need to have a moticum of polly in it.
For what does moticum mean?
Mix a titch I love it and underwear cotton only cotton guss it. Yeah, that little bit that looks like that could just be a hangover.
I'm sure that my mother told me they only have cotton. No, I'm the same.
Let it breathe, yes, well, then again there's a vagina with lungs going. But like you said at the top of the episode, back to breathe ability. If anything needs to breathe, it's generally an other region.
Yeah, totally.
And also you're sweaty or whatever, you want something to suck it up a bit.
Shoes leather synthetic, Oh gosh, I know.
Leather would definitely wear longer and better.
Yes, synthetics will crack so with the surface, so where the color is on a synthetic.
Like the top. I love them.
Their new affordable red point is synthetics. They're not going to ask me forever. No, they're going to crack. Okay, actually, like the color will crack. And is the synthetic shoes the smelly shoes or can leather shoes get smelly too?
I think it depends on your feet. But you can get these good like charcoal inserts that you can buy the supermud.
Okay, because you always try and wear a sock, but sometimes a shoe doesn't go with a sock, depending on which genera.
Those secret sock thing is. But yeah, they have to be fine enough. Therefore, you know it's the cotton factory. Again, they're probably made of synthetic. Yeah, they probably are. If they're fine, they're made of synthetic. I never thought of my fine invisible socks. They are synthetic, one hundred percent interesting. I buy the toweling secret sock. Okay, you can wear sneakers, but you couldn't really wear them in.
A no, not like a point. No, with a leather shoe. Is it called toppied top? You know how if you buy a fancy leather shoe and you take it to the shoe man and they put that little plastic. Oh, because the sole often of designer shoes or fancy shoes is also made of leather. That's going to wear out pretty quickly, right, Yeah, it depends how much you wear wear them. Yeah, it's a business shoe or a men's shoe. Do you think there's a benefit in getting that investment? Dofinitely, okay, because it's about fifty bucks. But if you paid a lot, it is. I just had a pair of boots and actually I was like wall, But then I was like, hang on, Lee, You've paid a lot for the boots and you can wear them a lot.
So it's just if you are going to wear them a lot, then sure.
Something you have to cop one last question, and I guess let's bring it back to shopping in our own wardrobe. I remember you saying on a previous episode that when it comes to fabrics, shopping in real life, touching, feeling, assessing the same. If you don't know a lot about fabrics, do you recommend maybe a visit to the shopping center just to literally look at fabric tags and learning what things are in terms of touching and feeling or maybe going through your own wardrobe and looking at the tags.
Yeah, probably.
I mean the thing is, it's not going to tell you on the tag if it's Gabardine or but it will tell you if it's Polly or what sort of percentage it is, Okay, Polly or not Polly, or cotton or I mean, I would definitely say if you're in a store, or even if you're online, I would avoid cotton poly anything.
It's like water and oil.
Yeah.
I just find that pills and and he piled anything makes it look cheap.
We talked about someone had a very expensive autem one that was peeled, and of course someone and bought the wonderful pill shaver you recommended and spent a Saturday night shaving my clothes and it was so joyful. So yeah, I guess learning looking online looking at your tags, you can kind of get a better idea of.
What things are made of.
It doesn't I mean, I still think going to a store is probably the best thing. By feeling it, and you know, if you are one of these people that is concerned about creases and scrunch it in your hand and see what it does.
Yes, that's me because I don't even know an iron. You know, I've got a steam of those. Yeah, you need irons for some things. What about your sheets?
What know what irons?
There's sheets?
It's very expensive.
How old you are?
These percent?
All right? Bougie and budget? So I have brought two different things basically get your approval, But I don't know do you want to go first? You have stores to recommend. I didn't recommend you to Glow because I know that we've talked a million times and I thought you might recommend their wool and their cashmere. Kshmi is pretty good, okay, and it's a good price point.
It's a good price point, and they do last, you know. I mean this knit i'm wearing now as well. It was my daughter's, but I think I probably bought it when she was about thirteen.
How old was she now? Twenty two? Wow? That's good.
So how have you laundered that Cashmi sweater?
I hand wash, sometimes I machine wash, but sometimes I hand wash and then machine watch. But on the wool cycle because it does a better spin than me.
My budget is actually two jumpers from Country Road because I wanted to ask you, and they're expensive. I won't lie, but my bouhie is more expensive. I wanted to ask you. So there's this beautiful brush crop Cardigan and it's just kind of a v neck crop comes in five colors.
It's two hundred dollars.
That's a lot of money, but country roads kind of around that these what.
Fabric is it? This is what I want to ask you.
So thirty four percent Marino wall, thirty three percent nylon, fifteen percent our Packer, fifteen percent mo hair, and three percent spandex. So it's a real mish mash, okay, So that one keep that in mind. But then there's a beautiful Australian Marino will rip detail pull over. So just another simple one hundred and thirty nine, So sixty bucks more affordable. And it's one hundred percent wall. If I'm going to buy one, do you think for longevity the one hundred percent wall?
Probably? Is it more soft because it's got the I can't tell you. I'm looking online. Oh okay, I'm going to have to go in store.
But preparing for this episode, I thought, let me look at the composition, and I immediately thought the two hundred dollars one would be all fancy natural woolen stuff. But no, they've got a real mix in that.
It's a real mix and it's got that bit of nylon it which helps it to hold its shape and the elastin gives it a bit of stretch when you.
Put it's not all bad.
I mean, there's a method to that madness. But if you're looking for longevity, I feel like one hundred percent something is probably better.
In a classic gray sweat or knit. I'm looking for long jevity. Okay, if you're doing a sweat shirt like I call them a sloppy joe. Yeah.
Yeah, So you want the one hundred percent cotton bonds, have one that is one hundred percent cotton.
Always check on the drop shoulder and on bonds immediately. Okay, So do you have a bougie for me? That could be synthetic, could be natural. It's just an item that you love or have your eye on. That's a fabric that you enjoy.
I mean, Kashmere is probably my lux thing.
So if you're not getting a Uniglo Cashmere, what's a fancy you could get?
I mean, gosh, you can get Kashmir in any brand and all those beautiful sip soft coats a Kashmere, but and you can get the mineral price point like a full.
On big coat. Yeah, I only ever think of a knit.
Oh no, you can get like a Melton type weight, so it's sort of like Melton. Mean, it's a type of weave. Again, it's very smooth. A lot of coats are a melting so they're thicker, so almost like a blanket, but not as oh yeah as a blanket. Like yea, get very in weights in a middle and that can be synthetic or you probably could get a synthetic Melton, but usually it's a wall or a Cashmere. Okay, I did buy I haven't worn it yet because I bought it when it was on sale at the end of European winter.
Great time to shop particularly online.
I know it is, but it's sort of hard to imagine wearing a cashmere full length coat.
You better go to Melbourne or Tasmania soon. Anyway, it's hanging up in my coat. It's a franky shop Kashmere coat. It's almost ankle length and it's a super dark navy and hopefully I will wear the crap out of it because it was even on special.
It's pretty pricey.
You'll look trust me with your fabric knowledge. You'll have it to pass on to your daughters. That sounds amazing.
I guess when long coats are out of fashion, I could always ham it.
You could ham it, crop it off. Just don't bleach it. I definitely won't bleach it.
Before I tell you my bougie. Can I ask one more fabric question? Those coats that feel like felt almost like kids craft felt?
Oh yeah, that could be a type of Melton as well. Okay, but it's sort.
Of crappy one because I feel like lin sticks to it likes and it looks really heavier sort of and look to be honest, I've seen in a lot of the cheap affordable store.
Yes, it's probably got a bit of polly in it, okay, and yeah it catches everything, catches everything not good okay, but all like those. I mean, you know, my navy cashmere is going to require a roller. Yeah right, And this time of year, being winter, you've got to keep a roller on you at all time.
I have one in the car. Good on you, I've found when it came out the other day. It's a mini one that fits in your handbag.
Oh that's so good well as a mother of two two long hair cats. My life is eighty percent link rollers. Okay, my bougie. I have not purchased, but gosh, it's beautiful. It is by the brand Silk Laundry, which I'm sure you know. I've only recently discovered it. It is the relaxed blazer in Midnight. It comes in i'd say like six or seven colors. It's one hundred percent silk, and I just it's a double breasted, oversized navy blazer. It's four hundred and five dollars. That's a lot of money. Although their pants aren't that more affordable, whereas they feel like a blazers, you're getting more bang for your buck for some reason. Right, if I was to be brave enough to purchase a one hundred percent silk blazer, how would I care for it?
You'd have to dry clean it. Anything that's tailored, you can't wash it yourself.
No, So you could carefully wash like a silk skirt maybe, but any sort of tailoring, yeah, and lapel and your by skirts you could do, okay, but not a blazer.
Anything that's got tailoring, darts in it, lining, any of that, buttons and all that or just it'll be horrible, you won't like it.
Okay, that's good to know.
Well, what I do is with my almost all blazers usually the weathers. If you're wearing a blazer, you've got a T shirt underneath. But if I happen to have a tank, I just get a women's pantyliner and put it in the oh, in the jacket, in the jacket. Yeah, and it just saves you a few more weares and like shitzy, you know.
But I think people dry clean things way too often.
Okay, good because dry cleaning has yeah, and super bad for the environment too. Nicole, honestly your brain. I just wish I could download it into mine. You're a wealth of fashion and fabric knowledge. Thank you so much for training me. Thank you for listening to Nothing to Wear. Don't forget to sign up to our free Nothing to Wear newsletter.
There's a link in the show notes.
And if you loved Nicole's knowledge on this episode, She's been on three times in the past, so we'll pop a link in the show notes. She's talked about garment care and also how to make your clothes look more expensive.
See you next week.
This episode was produced by Grace Rouvray with audio production by Lou Hill. This podcast is powered by our subscribers. If you believe in independent women's media and want to support us, a subscription to Mamma Mia costs less than the price of a coffee each month. There's a link in the show notes, and a big thank you to all our current subscribers.