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Cotton Clothing: Why Natural Fibre Is Better for Sensitive Skin

October 31, 2016 Contributor Maria M

Cotton gets recommended for sensitive skin so routinely that the reasons rarely get explained. Here is what it actually does differently — and the part of the label most people miss.

What cotton is

Cotton is a natural cellulose fibre grown around the seed of the plant, spun into yarn and knitted or woven into fabric. There is no dissolving step and no polymer extrusion. That matters, because every additional process is an opportunity to add something to the material — and for reactive skin, what has been added is usually the problem.

Five things it does differently

It absorbs moisture instead of holding it

Cotton takes moisture into the fibre itself, absorbing a substantial share of its own weight before it feels damp. Polyester and nylon are hydrophobic — they move moisture along the surface or leave it sitting against the skin. In anything warm and enclosed, worn all day, that is the whole difference.

It works across temperatures

Cotton traps air between its fibres, which insulates in the cold, and it does not cling as it warms, which helps in heat. It is one of the few fibres that is genuinely comfortable at both ends.

It carries less chemistry

Synthetic fibres are made from petrochemicals and finished with more chemistry on top — terephthalic acid in polyester, polyacrylonitrile in acrylics, ammonia and sulphuric acid in the viscose process, petroleum derivatives in nylon. Organic certification restricts what can be used on cotton along the way. It removes candidates rather than adding them, which is the entire argument if your skin reacts to things you cannot identify.

It holds odour less

Bacteria responsible for odour do well in the damp surface conditions synthetics create. It is why polyester develops a persistent smell that washing struggles to shift, and cotton generally does not — without needing an anti-odour finish applied, which is itself a common irritant.

It is used where skin is already compromised

Cotton is the standard material in gauze, bandages and babywear for the same reason it is recommended for eczema and contact dermatitis: it is well tolerated and it is not doing anything clever.

The part of the label most people miss

"100% cotton" usually describes the main fabric panel and nothing else. The same garment routinely contains:

Rubber elastic in the waistband — natural latex, or synthetic rubber made with accelerators such as thiurams and carbamates
Elastane through the body for stretch and shape retention
Polyester thread in every seam
A printed or woven synthetic label, usually at the neck or waist
A resin finish for wrinkle resistance, or a softener

If you have switched to cotton and still react, this list is where to look. The cotton is often the one component that is not the problem.

What we do about it

Everything we make is 100% GOTS-certified organic cotton, without latex, spandex or elastane. Beyond that, 134 of our products are sewn with cotton thread rather than polyester, and our Nothing But Cotton range has no elastic and no dye at all.

That last detail matters more than it sounds. A single polyester seam is enough to stop a garment breaking down at end of life, and to put a synthetic fibre against skin that was trying to avoid one.