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I can't tell whether you're making an argument for or against it.
by glial 2y ago
I can't tell whether you're making an argument for or against it.
- Night_Thastus 2y agoI don't think they're stating either - just that it's pretty impractical to remove plastic from clothing at this point.
- glial 2y agoAs another commenter pointed out, you could (and people surely did) make the same argument about lead or asbestos. That alone doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do.
- lukan 2y agoWe have clear evidence that asbestos and lead are very harmful. I don't think we have that evidence for plastic (yet). Also you totally can start buying plastic free clothes here and now. Just more expensive usually.
- atrus 2y agoPlus, plastics is a very very broad term. Saying "ban all plastics" isn't the same as saying ban lead, it's the same as saying "ban all metals".
- namibj 2y agoYeah, i.e., is rayon banned? Silicones (they're very different from all the classic oil-sourced plastics).
- soperj 2y agoSure we do, just look at the piles of clothing waste around the planet.
- lukan 2y agoIt was about health hazards.
- kwhitefoot 2y agoWhy is it impractical? It would be unpopular and put prices up but it could be done. We would have to reduce the amount of clothing that is produced but that is hardly a problem as we produce vastly more than we need. We could eliminate fast fashion for a start.
- bluSCALE4 2y agoYou don't hear people saying, man, that asbestos and lead did a bang up job on X. But you 100% see 100% of women wearing stretchy pants. For the longest time I exclusively wore cotton jeans and then they became impossible to find and I finally realized what plastic was good for: fat people. Now I see men wearing them all the time. The struggle of the 80s on people killing themselves to fit into jeans is not longer a thing. Not sure how socks used to be without plastic but pretty sure they'd fall apart fast.
- antipurist 2y agoYou don't need plastics for that. Warp knitting has been used for the last few centuries with cotton/linen/silk/wool to get stretchy textiles, and there are plenty of stretchy pants that are made of natural materials available today for those who struggle fitting into jeans.
- floren 2y ago> You don't hear people saying, man, that asbestos and lead did a bang up job on X. Well, asbestos is a great insulator and lead makes beautiful bright paints, it's just that the downsides outweighed those great properties.
- kwhitefoot 2y agoCotton socks exist as well as wool worsted, so not a huge problem as far as I can see. Tights and stockings will be a much bigger challenge.
- ninininino 2y agoIt's extremely practical. We have cotton, linen, and wool as great amazing fabrics. Drawstrings replace elastic.
- mrob 2y agoIn my opinion, no natural fabric is as comfortable as synthetics. But I have cotton bedding and curtains. I think these are higher priority: bedding is used while you're lying close to it and easily able to inhale any dust, and curtains are exposed to sunlight that can weaken the fabric and make it break down more easily. They're also both large, meaning there's more plastic to be released. Carpet also seems a high priority, although that's more expensive and difficult to change.
- ninininino 2y agoIt doesn't need to be comfortable, it needs to not lay waste to the planet and shrink your balls.
- taeric 2y agoNothing is replacing nylon where it is best used anytime soon.
- ninininino 2y agoWe can replace Nylon with get this, poorer alternatives, if we gave a shit about the environment. I know it's unthinkable to switch to a worse product or user experience, but imagine caring more about the health of the planet.
- taeric 2y agoThis feels naive. For things like parachutes or airbags, I question whether you would actually have benefits from using something like cotton. In particular, they almost certainly do not perform at the same level. As such, you run the real risk of losing gains from other material to losses to maintenance.