My Lifetime Love Affair With Cotton

When I'm asked what items of clothing I'd like to see come back in fashion, I'd easily say all-cotton baggy, comfortable jeans and cargo pants for women with lots of big pockets... and maybe 100% cotton over-sized t-shirts, not too high on the neckline but not so low that my bra is exposed.

You see, I was born in the winter of 1967, and my heart has always stayed in that era, loving bohemian blouses and skirts and cotton Levi's. In my early childhood, Sears decided to weave synthetic fibers into their Tough Skins so the jeans would stand up to the rigors of outdoor play, not succumbing to grass-stains and tears at the knee. However, they were thick and hot in the afternoon sun.

Then Designer jeans became a thing when I was in middle school. No thanks to fellow teen Jersey girl Brooke Shields seductively and quite inappropriately (she was still a minor at the time) intoning that nothing came between her and her Calvin's.

Without me asking, my mother sensed that my wardrobe did not measure up to rigorous 8th grade standards and sweetly gifted me with a pair of Cap Ferrat designer jeans, a brand not yet familiar to me at the time but was surely above Mom's normal price range. However, I sympathized with my high school English teacher and counter-culture fan who argued that jeans were supposed to be work pants for the common man, not something made ornate and slapped with a big price tag. Furthermore, my classmate joked about having to lay on her bed and pull on her jeans with pliers. Way to give teenagers body issues!

Yet, aside from my sadness when the tide of leggings and skinny jeans drowned my favorite "Mom jeans" in mocking laughter, the bigger issue is that spandex and synthetic fibers wove a terrible web, infesting all cotton fabrics. Even at Walmart, I have to make sure my ladies briefs are cotton and not microfiber or cotton mixed with spandex.

My Mom may have been born in 1931, but she was careful to teach me that cotton panties, cool and "breathable," were part of proper feminine hygiene and that one should "go commando" under a nightgown or pajamas. She even told me that my very prim and proper, glove-wearing, debutante grandmother did not wear anything under her slips...a source of slight embarrassment for my mother when the undertaker asked for a complete outfit for my grandmother's viewing.

My Mom preferred jeans and pantsuits most of the time (even those hideous polyester pantsuits in the drab, dark colors that Roaman's made available to full-figure women in the 70's) and had grown up wearing stockings with a garter-belt only for more formal dress. I can still remember laughing a bit when Mom wrestled with putting on pantyhose for the first time at a family wedding in 1974. No doubt she preferred the old garter-belt and later encouraged me to try thigh-highs, which I found to be cooler and more comfortable and with the added benefit that a run in one leg didn't ruin the entire pair. I even found a mostly cotton old fashioned garter-belt. Being both full-figure and tall, I was amused that some of the online reviews for hosiery that fit me were written by drag queens, and I looked long and hard for tights with a high-cotton content to wear with my skirts in the winter. Now nylon hosiery has gone out of fashion, but only to be replaced with Spanx and body-shapers with more synthetic fibers.

No thanks! Give me cotton!!!

For a while the environmental argument was that conventionally-grown cotton required a lot of chemicals and resources, and organic cotton was expensive, so I considered the "green benefits" of synthetic fabrics and other alternatives. Recycling plastic into eco-fleece made sense to turn the tide on plastic waste, and there still are good reasons to wear moisture-wicking synthetics on outdoor adventures. My mother discovered that she liked the softness of natural bamboo sheets, but I found them too clammy in my unair-conditioned apartment. Resolved to make positive decisions, I happily bought items made from recycled waste, natural and synthetic materials alike...rugs that consisted of recycled flip flops or old tires, belts woven from recycled silk saris, biker wallets created from recycled tires and bicycle chains, etc. A friend also gave me a colorful skirt made from recycled saris.

However, we now are learning that our love affair with synthetic fabrics, especially polyester fleece, is putting micro-plastics into our waterways, which are ending up in the bodies of fish and wildlife and our own bodies. Scientists do not yet know about the long-term effects of inhaling, ingesting, or touching micro-plastics, but I think there is a reasonable cause for concern.

So, I've come full circle, embracing my soft, breathable cotton fabrics once again! Of course, we can begin putting filtration devices on our washing machines, and I plan to use my cotton/polyester blended sheets and clothing until they all fall apart...and some elastic is necessary in socks and under garments...but I feel a little vindicated in my cotton choices.

The clothing industry has very far to go in sourcing fair trade and ecologically sustainable choices. We've all read about forced labor in the worldwide production of cotton, seen rivers polluted by fabric dyes in Indonesia, and heard about garment workers in India dying under unsafe conditions. We also have witnessed glimmers of hope in legislation and pushes toward tracing the supply chains behind major US brands, but I prefer reading about businesses that are founded upon recycling, reuse, fair trade, and sustainability.

In the meantime, I will continue to search the racks in thrift and consignment stores for bohemian blouses and skirts, cotton unisex t-shirts, and that very rare species of tall, full-figure jeans. I've also discovered that silk blouses are a good cold-weather layer for me as most long-sleeve synthetic fabrics make me feel over-heated and always have, even before menopause overtook me.

So, seek reuse at thrift and consignment shops. Many also benefit charities as a side benefit. Overall, please continue to demand more ecologically-sustainable and fair trade clothing choices...and maybe feel freer to embrace cotton again!