Big Fashion Brands Are Being Sued Over What's in Their Fabrics. Here's What's Actually in Them.

Most of what people wear today is synthetic. Leggings, workout tops, rain jackets, athleisure, and a good share of everyday basics.

And the majority of these clothes, are made of plastic fibers.

Synthetic clothing sits closer to the skin and for longer than almost anything else people own, and it's the category built most heavily out of chemistry.

Hardly anyone thinks about it. That's starting to change, and it's changing in court.

---

1. The lawsuits are real, and they're against names you know

Some of the biggest names in performance apparel are facing class actions over PFAS, a group of chemicals used to treat fabric. One of the complaints filed this year ran 157 pages.

These aren't fringe cases against unknown labels, we are talking about giant companies. They're brands sitting in most people's closets right now.

2. The problem isn't only the fabric. It's what's sprayed on it too.

Here's the part most people get wrong.

PFAS are a group of around 15,000 man-made chemicals. They're not the fiber itself. They're added on top, to make fabric repel water, resist stains, or last longer. They're called forever chemicals because they don't break down.

The US EPA links them to cancer, thyroid disease, and a weakened immune system.

3. Governments have started banning them outright

California banned intentionally added PFAS in textiles starting January 2025. France banned PFAS textiles as of January 2026. Denmark banned them in clothing and footwear.

Regulators don't move quickly on things like this. When they do, it's usually because the evidence stopped being debatable.

4. And separately, synthetic fabric sheds plastic

This one isn't about treatments. It's about the fiber.

Polyester, nylon, and acrylic are plastic. They shed tiny fragments every time you wear them and every time you wash them.

Plus, these pieces of clothing take 150 years or more to decompose.

It's what the material is.

---

None of this was an accident

The fashion industry got faster, cheaper, and more synthetic on purpose. It was more profitable that way.

More designs, more volume, lower costs.

Your health and comfort were never part of that equation. They weren't excluded out of malice. They just weren't in the math.

So what's the solution?

The fix has been around forever.

It's natural fibers. Cotton. Linen. Animal fibers like alpaca or wool.

Materials that come from the ground or from an animal. Materials your body recognizes.

Materials that don't shed plastic every time you move.

There's nothing new or clever about this. It's what clothing was made of for most of human history.

But this won't change the system...

The system won't slow down on its own

Nobody at the top of this industry is going to volunteer to make less money.

The only thing that actually changes it is demand, and demand is just the sum of how people live.

Slow living is the way

This sounds like a stretch until you follow the money.

Synthetic fabric exists because it's fast and cheap to produce.

It's fast and cheap because the industry needs volume.

It needs volume because people buy a lot of clothes, wear them a few times, and replace them.

And people do that because there's always a new trend to keep up with, most of it delivered through a screen.

That's the loop. Speed at the top requires speed at the bottom.

So when someone buys less and keeps things longer, the math changes. A garment meant to last five years can't be made of material that pills in three washes.

Quality becomes the requirement instead of the upgrade.

And when someone makes their own, for example, by knitting. They leave the loop entirely.

You choose the fiber. You know what's in it, because you put it there.

That's the version of slow living that actually does something. Not an aesthetic. Fewer things, chosen on purpose, made to last.

It also happens to be the version that's better for you regardless. Less time on the phone. More time with other people. More time outside. More things made by hand.

That's why some of us knit.

It fits into the life you already have. It goes in a bag. You can do it on a plane, in a waiting room, at a coffee shop, on the couch while everyone else watches TV.

Nothing has to be cleared out of your schedule to make room for it.

And unlike most ways to slow down, this one ends with something. An evening off your phone leaves you with an evening off your phone.

This leaves you with a scarf, a sweater, a blanket. Something you can wear, or hand to someone, or keep.

---

But isn't knitting hard?

It's only hard if you start the wrong way.

It's hard when you pick something complicated and cheap yarn that breaks and frays as you pull it. Every row turns into a fight with the material instead of a break from your day. That's what makes people quit in the first week and decide knitting isn't for them.

Here's what you actually need to start:

• Real fiber, not plastic. Most beginner yarn is acrylic, which is the same material this whole article is about. Starting your escape from synthetics with a synthetic defeats the point.
• Yarn thick enough to see progress fast. Thin yarn on a big project is how beginners lose motivation before the first payoff.
• Yarn that holds together when you pull it. If it breaks or frays, you spend your time fixing instead of making.
• Yarn that doesn't itch. Natural doesn't automatically mean comfortable. Plenty of wool is scratchy enough that people stop wearing what they made.
• Something you'd actually wear at the end. Most first projects end up in a drawer. If you can picture yourself wearing it before you start, you'll finish it.
• A video for the exact thing you're making. Not a generic tutorial. The actual design in your hands, so when you get stuck you press play instead of guessing.

Get those six right and knitting isn't hard. It's just repetitive, which is the entire point.

That's exactly why Sierra Yarn exists

We wanted a way for people to make their own knitwear using only natural fibers.

And we built it so anyone can start, even if you've never did it before.

Our yarns are 60% baby alpaca and 40% Peruvian Pima cotton. No plastic. Unlike ours, most beginner yarn is acrylic, which is the same material this whole article is about and makes garments look cheap.

Thanks to the fibers of our yarns, you spend your time making things instead of fixing them. The result looks like something you bought, until you tell people you didn't.

Every kit comes with a video for the exact design you picked. When you get stuck, you press play.

(All of our yarns are different because of Cloudtouch®, the technology that makes them soft as a cloud and easy to knit with. No one else has it.)

---

You don't have to start with a sweater

Start with a beginner knitting kit: a beanie, a scarf, a blanket. All fast, all easy, all made of something you can name.

Start today and work your way up, and by the end of the year you'll have your first real garment finished. A sweater. A cardigan. A tank top.

Made of fibers you can pronounce, by hands you can account for.

Not bought. Made.

Start your Knitting Journey with a Beginner KitEverything included · ships free

---

This Is Our Mission

We want to make knitting cool again. The only way to do that is to make it easy for every beginner.

So if you want to put the phone down, this is your way out. Hands busy. Mind quiet. And a scarf or sweater to show for the hours, instead of a sore thumb.