Explaining a trend's historical contextfrom @theironsnail

Transcript

Here's something weird. This 600 year old fabric formula just broke its own record on Google. Right now, this year, more people are searching for this fabric on Google than they ever have since Google started recording data by a lot. Why? The answer is because we're coming out of our second polyester suit era, the nylon suit. That magical fabric is waxed cotton. And this jacket is a Billy Reed wax herringbone member's jacket. They sponsored this video. We need some context as to why a 600 year old fabric is suddenly getting so so popular. And to get that context, we should look at the seventies and polyester leisure suits. They were very bright, loud, flashy, they didn't wrinkle, and most importantly, the fabric of the future. And to be totally fair to them, it was the fiber of the future and still is. We're still developing it. Better the same time, it's also not breathable, kind of stinky, doesn't age well, and it's plastic. So the polyester leisure suit basically died from popular culture and wool suits came back. That was quality. That's what people wanted, something natural. And if we look at wax cotton, six hundred years ago, sailors put fish guts on their sails and tier like, woah. This makes the sails way better. How about we also make that a cape and wear it no we don't get all wet? Then they went from fish guts to linseed oil to paraffin wax. The craft kept evolving and it still evolves a lot today. One of the most famous mills is located in Scotland and named Hallie Stevenson, which is this fabric right here. Waxed cotton was obviously superseded by waterproof membranes, DWR coatings, the nylon outdoor adventure jacket, and polyester outdoor adventure adventure jackets. In general, they were bright, loud, and they used the fibers and fabrics of the future. But tier popular sentiment towards those fabrics started to change because they could delaminate over time. They don't last forever. And generally, the process of making them involves chemicals that are not so good for the environment. So we basically had another polyester leisure suit phase this time with nylon outdoors jackets that are still useful, but people are shifting back to natural fibers on heritage garments that you can reapply wax to that patina beautifully and are the whole package.