With the modern market loaded with artificial fabrics, people became more concerned about what they and their families are wearing daily.
Since rayon is among the widespread materials used these days, we decided to investigate how safe it is for regular use.
We hope you will find this information useful, too.
What Sort Of Fabric It Is
We often have no idea of what we are wearing, so to begin with, it’s good to figure out what fabric we’re going to talk about.
The material known as rayon is a semi-artificial fabric being manufactured from regenerated cellulose which, in its turn, is derived from wood pulp. Yes, some chemicals are still used for making this fiber, nevertheless, the fact that it is half-natural makes it a preferable choice compared to the fully synthetic fibers like polyester.
Hanging upon the procedures the fibers go through before they become cloth, rayon can also be known under such names as modal, lyocell, and viscose.
Related: Does Rayon Shrink?
Features And Characteristics
So what makes rayon so distinctive compared to other artificial materials?
- First of all, it is breathable and it doesn’t trap body moisture – the features that synthetics often lack. In rayon apparel, you won’t feel like you are melting on a hot day.
- Second, it is very easy to dye rayon since its fibers are highly perceptive to colors.
- Also, rayon is a good-looking fabric which is rare for artificial materials that usually look cheap.
- Finally, this semi-artificial fabric is very pleasant to the skin, unlike most harsh and scratchy synthetics.
However, despite such beneficial traits, rayon has certain flaws, too.
This fiber is easily damaged by the heat and moisture. If rayon apparel is wet, it will get deformed and stretch so that the clothing will look oversized.
Besides, rayon is predisposed to heat which makes laundering it quite a challenging thing since the fabric needs only cool water and manual wash or, as an optimal version, a dry cleaning at all.
Is It Safe to Wear?
Many owners of rayon garments often wonder whether this fiber is eco-friendly. Well, since we have three main sorts of this fabric, we suggest you compare them and see which one, viscose, modal, or lyocell, is the most green.
| Manufacturing | Decomposition | Eco-friendliness | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Viscose | chemically harmful, energy-consuming, possibly with issues regarding the use of lands for growing the cellulose source plants | Breaks down naturally. Can be reused if made of 100% cellulose | not fully environment-friendly because of using chemicals (often toxic) for production. Twice energy-consuming than cotton. |
| Modal | the raw material is harvested from special beech plantations (to be questioned) | Breaks down naturally. Can be reused if made of pure cellulose | The producing process may include harmful solvents. |
| Lyocell | the producing uses eco-friendly solvents | Breaks down naturally. Can be reused if made of 100% cellulose | Most eco-friendly of all rayons |
Since lyocell seems to be the safest to wear, it could be a good choice if you’re concerned about saving our nature. Anyway, being rayon, this fabric is the same soft and absorbent, it’s easy to take care of and – what is super important! – it resists odor retention longer which means it needs to be laundered less often (one more reason to buy it if you’re living green).
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