Methodology
Retailers love to call a garment “100% cotton” when only the body is — the cuffs, collar, or lining often hide elastane or polyester. We read the actual composition, sort every fiber into one of three groups, and assign an honest tier. Here's exactly how.
The three fiber groups
Natural
Plant & animal fibers — the acceptable target set.
Cotton, Linen, Hemp, Jute, Ramie, Wool, Cashmere, Alpaca, Mohair, Silk.
Synthetic
Petroleum-derived — what “skip synthetic” is about.
Polyester, Elastane, Nylon, Acrylic, Polypropylene.
Cellulosic gray zone
Plant-derived but chemically regenerated.
Viscose, Modal, Lyocell, Bamboo, Cupro, Acetate.
The tiers
“Acceptable” means a Natural fiber — plus Cellulosics only if you turn the toggle on.
Pure
Every component is 100% acceptable fiber. No synthetics anywhere — body, trim, lining, pockets, all clean.
Body-pure
The body (main fabric) is 100% acceptable, but a trim, lining, or pocket contains something synthetic — e.g. a cotton tee with a 5%-elastane ribbed collar. The part you mostly wear is clean.
Natural-dominant
The body itself is at least 95% acceptable but not 100% — typically a few percent of elastane blended in for stretch. Where multiple body fabrics exist, the worst one decides the tier.
Excluded
Everything else: meaningfully synthetic, or a composition we couldn't confidently read. We'd rather leave a garment out than mislabel it.
Our cellulosic stance & the toggle
Viscose, modal, lyocell (Tencel), bamboo viscose, cupro and acetate start as plant cellulose but are dissolved and re-spun in a chemical process. They aren't petrochemical synthetics, yet they aren't unprocessed naturals either — a genuine gray zone. So we let you decide:
- Toggle off (the cotton-purist default): cellulosics are treated like synthetics. A 100% Tencel dress is excluded.
- Toggle on: cellulosics count as acceptable. That same 100% Tencel dress becomes pure.
Either way we always flag that a garment contains a cellulosic, so nothing is hidden — only re-weighted. Flip it anytime with the “count plant-based cellulosics” control on the shop.
Confidence & honesty
Some products state their materials clearly; others bury them in the sales pitch. We trust the clear ones most, double-check the murky ones, and when we still can't be sure, we leave the garment out rather than guess. We never call something synthetic-free unless it is — all the way through.
Prices and stock come straight from the retailers' own listings; we hide any price that hasn't refreshed within 24 hours, and we keep out-of-stock items out of the default listings.