Why Natural Fibres

We know that every garment has an impact. Producing fibres requires resources, manufacturing requires energy and transporting products creates emissions. There is no material that makes a new garment impact-free.

So why focus on natural fibres?

Because the material itself matters, especially when we consider how many clothes are produced and how quickly they are discarded.

Around 90% of clothing produced today is made with synthetic materials. Polyester is particularly widespread because it is inexpensive, versatile and easy to manufacture at scale. Its low cost has helped make very cheap clothing possible, but it has also made it easier to produce garments with very short lifespans.

A garment that costs very little to make can become disposable very quickly. If it is poorly made and rarely worn, the resources used to produce it have been spent on something that may have a very short useful life.

A well-made garment in a natural fibre asks us to think differently about clothing. Linen can become softer with wear. Wool can be repaired and cared for over decades. A cotton shirt can be altered, mended and passed on. Quality matters just as much as the fibre itself, but natural materials give us a starting point that we believe is worth paying attention to.

There is also the question of what happens when a garment is no longer wanted. Synthetic fibres are plastics. They can persist in the environment for decades or centuries, and they can shed microfibres throughout their use and disposal.

Natural fibres are not impact-free and they are not automatically sustainable. Cotton requires land and water. Wool comes with questions around animal welfare and land management. Linen still needs to be grown, processed and transported.

But natural fibres are biodegradable under appropriate conditions, and many can be repaired, reused and kept in circulation for a very long time before reaching the end of their useful life.

That is why bycomposition does not promise a perfect wardrobe. We simply want to make it easier to find clothes made from materials that are worth understanding, worth caring for and, ideally, worth keeping.