Polyester

In detail

Polyester is a synthetic polyester fibre, and its cleaning profile is close to the inverse of wool's. It has no protein to hydrolyse and no cellulose chain to oxidise, so alkaline detergents, enzymes and — within reason — bleaching agents do far less to it than to natural fibres; the laundering study that measured cotton losing up to twenty-nine per cent of its tensile strength over a hundred wash cycles found blended fabric losing around twenty per cent, and the blend's advantage came from the polyester content. Its limits are thermal and its weakness is oil. Polyester softens and can be permanently creased or glazed by heat well below what cotton tolerates, which is why the iron and tumble-dryer settings matter more than the wash temperature. And because the fibre is itself oleophilic, oily and greasy soil partitions into it rather than sitting on it, so body oils and food grease are harder to remove from polyester than from cotton and are the usual reason a synthetic garment retains odour after washing. Higher wash temperatures help with that specifically, which puts the two constraints in direct tension and makes the care label the deciding voice.

Why

• Polyester is explained by How care labels work

  The fibre appears at TWO ironing settings, which is the point rather than a contradiction.

• Polyester is explained by Adsorption of odour molecules

  The other half of the same finding: poor adsorption means more released.

Related

• Polyester is commonly affected by Perspiration
• Polyester is commonly affected by Sunscreen

Hacks and claims involving this

• Hotter washes clean better Disputed
• Lifting candle wax with a warm iron and paper Unresolved
• Using laundry detergent on a carpet stain Does not work
• The dots on a care label are just a rough guide Does not work
• Orange sunscreen marks are rust Does not work
• Melting candle wax out with an iron and paper Unresolved