A shopper became understandably upset when, upon closer inspection of a department store jacket advertised as being wool, they were left feeling like the store was trying to pull the wool over their eyes.
"This 'wool' coat I saw at a department store that is 100% polyester," they wrote in a Reddit post above a photo of the price and description sign for the jacket. "I don't even know how they are allowed to advertise it like that.
"It's just so upsetting how the quality of everything has gone to absolute s***. Polyester doesn't insulate or stand up to the climate like [real] wool. It's just plastic destined for the trash."
The jacket itself is not pictured, but with a $149.99 price point, one wouldn't necessarily expect it to be trash. Cost for quality discrepancies aside, wool and polyester are very different materials that come with very different costs to the consumer, the planet, and human health.
While wool certainly doesn't come without its issues, according to Treehugger, it is a natural, renewable, biodegradable fiber source, making it one of the most sustainable clothing sources. Wool is also incredibly warm.
Polyester, on the other hand, is, as the original poster pointed out, not warm like wool and also not sustainable. Polyester is a synthetic fiber that is a kind of plastic typically made from petroleum. It is often used in fast fashion for clothes that, unlike many wool products that are very long-lasting, aren't made to last.
Cheap clothing with short lives accounts for over 100 million tons of textile waste getting sent to landfills each year, according to Earth.org. Ironically, cheap clothing also costs consumers more in the long run than investing in pricier but better quality pieces because cheap clothing has to be replaced so often.
Aside from avoiding supporting fast fashion by confirming the material of your clothing, shopping secondhand eliminates all of the above problems, and many thrifters have found high-end, actual wool clothing.
Commenters on the post were equally as upset as the OP.
🗣️ Which of these factors would most effectively motivate you to recycle old clothes and electronics?
🔘 Giving me money back 💰
🔘 Letting me trade for new stuff 👕
🔘 Making it as easy as possible ⚡
🔘 Keeping my stuff out of landfills 🗑️
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
"It's so frustrating when you are really trying to find natural fabric fashion to purchase," wrote one. "Misleading!"
"This also makes me appreciate the vintage thrifted finds, and makes it so much sweeter when they were made of 'real' materials, better quality, and are affordable," said another.
One more simply said: "Wow I hate this."
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