Guides

Read the label like we do

Everything we know about fibers, labels, and the tricks between them — the same rules our tiering runs on, in plain English.

How to Buy a T-Shirt That's Actually 100% Cotton

A T-shirt can say "100% cotton" in big letters on the listing and still arrive with an elastane collar, polyester stitching, and a poly-blend pocket bag. The headline describes the body fabric. The composition line — the small print most people scroll past — describes everything else. This is how to read it.

How to Read a Clothing Label (and the Tricks Brands Use)

The product title says "100% cotton." The little tag sewn into the side seam tells a different story — and that tag, not the title, is the one the law cares about. Learning to read it takes about a minute per garment, once you know where brands bend the truth.

Is Lyocell (Tencel) Natural? The Honest Answer

Lyocell sits in the most awkward spot in any fiber chart: it starts as a tree and ends as a thread, with a vat of solvent in between. So is lyocell (Tencel) natural? The honest answer is "neither, exactly" — and that gray zone is worth understanding before you let a label decide for you.

Natural Fibers Compared: Cotton, Linen, Wool, Silk, Hemp

Five fibers do almost all the work in a natural-fiber wardrobe. This is a plain comparison of how cotton, linen, wool, silk, and hemp actually feel, when to wear each, how they age, what their care really demands — and the blends that quietly let plastic back in.

Polyester vs Cotton: An Honest Comparison

Most "polyester vs cotton" comparisons are written by someone trying to sell you one of them. This one isn't. Polyester does real things well, cotton does other things well, and the honest answer depends on what you're actually buying the garment to do.

What Is Elastane (Spandex/Lycra) and Why Is It Everywhere?

Elastane, spandex, and Lycra are three names for the same thing: a synthetic stretch fiber that quietly turns up in jeans, tees, socks, and "100% cotton" shirts that aren't quite. It's usually only a few percent, which is exactly why nobody notices — and why it's worth knowing what those few percent do.