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23 Comments

1. Your opening comment reflects, ( I would bet), the feelings of a vast majority of Americans
   Well said.

   1. Absolutely! Thanks JWR.

   2. I was having a conversation with my daughter, who is married with. 2 year old daughter. She has been posting on FB against all of the rioting and looting going on, and people have replied virtue signaling.

      People have gotten fired from their jobs because of what their spouses have posted on Social Media. A friend sent me an announcement from a private school expelling students whose father posted something objectionable on Social Media.

      Freedom of Speech has been stymied, due to mob actions and spineless institutions who are “woke”.

      Something stated on Social Media today that might be acceptable today may be considered racist in the future. An actor was fired from a TV show because he posted a joke 7 years ago.

      It is fast becoming a Police State in the US, like Eastern Europe in the 1960’s.

2. Very informative article. Modern society is totally clueless about the luxury we have with modern textiles, especially the quantity that we enjoy. Back when people had to make their own textiles they were not only valuable, but scarce.
   I had been flirting with the idea of selling my spinning wheel as there seems to never be time to use it, but thankfully this article reminded me why I have it.

   1. Keep that spinning wheel, TeresaSue! What a wonderful skill and piece of equipment. I am a weaver, but not yet a spinner… I have a special appreciation for all those who spin, and know this may turn out to be especially helpful in the times ahead.

      1. One is spinning, another is weaving and we are considering getting Alpacas, and yes we want to sell their hair.

3. Truly, a Ghandhi moment. Nothing beats good Homespun…

   Up here, we can’t grow cotton, but hemp and flax are doable. We wear a lot of critters too. You do what you can with what you got.

   As it is right now, we easily have enough clothes to last us a decade or more, wear and tear factored in.

4. There is, and has been for many years, a large global surplus of clothing.

5. We live and breath your post. And being in L.A., fully surrounded by cotton and peanuts. Long for a camel hair garment and diet of nuts & berries though.
   LuvYerBro

6. Thank you, Madison B! An informative article, and an important conversation. Textiles are such an important part of preparedness — the gathering of supplies, and the ability to resupply across time. I am a weaver and a quilter, and I very much enjoy Tunisian and other tight-stitch crochet. My mother, grandmother, and great grandmother were all skilled in the creation of clothing (with or without patterns). All this to saw how much your contribution, and the subject coverage, is appreciated!

7. Do not forget we have fought a war over access to hemp and hemp cloth. The War of 1812 was over our access to Russian hemp or forced to only buy British wool/cotton.

8. What an interesting article! Thank you for sharing.
   My comment involves linen. Sigh. While I’ve seen linen clothing that looks great, I never buy it. Linen wrinkles if you even -look- at it….& I have no desire to look like Columbo.

9. My jeans last about 8 years. I buy 4 or 5 and wear them until they fall apart. My cotton polo shirts are old enough to vote, literally, bout them in 2000. My underwear lasts 2-4 years. My fleece sweaters never wear out I still have some I bought in the 90’s. Clothing is the least of my worries. I expect to run out of everything else first and still have a full closet.

10. A section on laundering will be welcome. I love and prefer wool, but except for superwash or a few others you do need to be very careful.

    I have some Stanfields wool long johns from Canada. They are light gossamer. But they are WARM! Wool breathes, and I would describe it as a natural “gore-tex”. This also makes it cooler in the summer than you might otherwise think. There’s also an Austrailian wool clothing supplier and a few others. Minus 33 that has a whole line of merino wool.

    Synthetics feel to me like I’m wearing a heavy plastic bag. Even most blends. Flax and Ramie are hard to find, but Silk, Wool, and especially cotton are far easier and the only thing I wear.

    1. Agreed! We wear lots of merino wool and tumble it in the dryer without heat and then line dry. But I have found linen is very wrinkly no matter what. I have also found that good fleece garments do last years but get thinner over time.

    2. If you make your own clothes, especially wool clothes, wash the fabric gently in hot water before making them. The fabric will pre-shrink, and will become thicker and stronger. Wool will felt slightly if you do this, and becomes very much stronger and more durable.

       You can do this two or three times to most fabrics, so they finish shrinking, but do NOT pre-shrink wool more than once. It will continue to shrink almost indefinitely. I had a wool queen size bedspread that inadvertently turned into a lap robe.

       Once made, wash the clothes in cool or cold water to prevent further shrinking.

11. My mother was a tailor ( an actual tailor) she made much of our clothing from scratch. A little of that wore off on me. In the service a made extra money by sewing on buttons and badges (this was way before Velcro). I have a number of of old treadle sewing machines….if you ever see one in a thrift store or on Craigslist or such, buy it! You can still get parts for most of the brand name machines.

12. Excellent article on a topic people don’t think about. I try to get shirts of 100% cotton and pants with at least 60% cotton. Try finding 100% cotton socks in the stores these days!

13. I knit and sew. It has been interesting to discover the supply chain issues during this time of Corona virus. About 2/3 of our textiles come from China, along with a lot of our yarn. It has been a real challenge to avoid Chinese-made cloth, elastic, trim, etc. It is easier to find non-Chinese yarn. We need to make our way earlier into the production chain, not just sewing and knitting, but also weaving and spinning in addition to animal and crop production. I am a long way from self sufficient when all I do is sew and knit with products that I buy at the store. Thanks for the good article.

14. You are dead on about the synthetic fibers!
    Ask any military pilots, after flying with their Nomex on while on duty, they would only wear cotton when flying non-military.

    So when traveling on non-military aircraft, if you are so unlucky to crash and burn, and still live…be wearing all 100% cotton. The flash fire will still burn the cotton off of you, but it won’t melt into your skin.
    Also wear leather shoes, and no jewelry.
    Think of it, now you didn’t die in the crash. So you are going to make a quick exit, but what is wrong with your feet? Well you Crocs melted to your feet in the flash fire. However, you didn’t notice because all the jewelry you were wearing got super heated during the flash fire. So even though you are not on fire now, the jewelry is still burning you.
    Oh, the stuff we learn in the military, and we get our 10% discount at Lowe’s.

    If you didn’t have a military veteran in your family, or a firefighter that told you of the perils of synthetic fibers, share this article, it may save them in an airline crash where fire is the main killer.

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