Is cotton actually better for the environment than synthetic fabric? And what does ‘organic’ cotton really mean?
You spend your life surrounded by textiles: your clothes, sheets, carpets and curtains. But how much time do you spend thinking about what goes into them?
In this episode of Huh? Science Explained, Ellen Phiddian dives into the warp and the weft of fabrics: what they’re made of, their environmental impact, and why they’re hard to recycle.
Huh? Science Explained is a LiSTNR production.
Listen to more episodes of Huh? Science Explained
More on textiles:
- Recycling clothes: how feasible is it really?
- Turning textiles into raw materials
- Microplastics in Adelaide are 72% textile fibres
- Dye-scrubbing substance cleans out wastewater
Originally published by Cosmos as What, exactly, are your undies made of? The science of textiles
Ellen Phiddian
Ellen Phiddian is a science journalist at Cosmos. She has a BSc (Honours) in chemistry and science communication, and an MSc in science communication, both from the Australian National University.
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