Even if you don’t pay attention to textiles, you’ve no doubt heard the buzzword microfiber in the last decade or two. Brands like King Louie and Union Line have capitalized on the success of these products.
As a point of fact, the use of microfibers and the use of marketing these materials has been on an upward climb since they first appeared in the market, sometime in the late ‘70s to early ‘80s.
They’ve been around longer than that, but it’s only been since the 1990s that we’ve seen them expand in the application. The proliferation of microfibers has only added to the questions about what exactly is this miracle fabric everyone seems to want in their jackets?
Unlike cotton — which is always made from cotton fibers, harvested from cotton plants — there is no microfiber tree. But, its failure to sprout from the Earth hasn’t stopped this magic fiber from getting into everything from cleaning cloths to jackets.
But, why? What is it??
What is microfiber?
Sold in many forms, the magic fabric folks call microfiber is a synthesized, soft, and absorbent textile once produced by the Japanese to make women’s bikinis.
Long before that, however, scientists had been making super-thin fibers in the lab as early as the ‘50s. They just couldn’t make the fibers long enough to constitute a strand.
Those first attempts we more like strands of hair, short, and worthless for textiles. They eventually figured it out, though.
Needless to say, those Japanese bikinis didn’t work out. As it turns out, people prefer swimming gear that doesn’t absorb water and turn soggy.
Researchers went back to the drawing board, but the microfiber race was officially on. Someone would eventually figure out a way to use this awesome, soft, absorbent fabric, but how?
The first commercially ready applications were products like Ultrasuede, which despite its implied name is not grown on the backs of ultra-cows. It’s grown in labs, then manufactured into a suede-like material.
Researchers have come a long way since those Ultrasuede days. Today, microfiber is nearly everywhere. It’s used in cleaning materials, cloths and mops, but also in clothing, and even bed sheets. Speaking of “even,” it’s even found its way back into swimwear.
We’ll come back to that in a second.
What is microfiber made of?
In most cases, when folks talk about microfiber they’re talking about fabrics made from a version of polyester but produced quite differently than what you traditionally imagine.
It’s not only polyesters. Sometimes manufacturers make it from polyamides, more commonly known by names like nylon, Kevlar, Nomex or Trogamid.
Sometimes they make it from blends of all the above. It’s not anything like the plasticky synthetics your parents used to wear.
The difference comes down to the fibers that go into the threads of microfiber, which are thinner than strands of silk, themselves about a fifth of the thickness of the hair on your head.
That thinness is what lends itself to so many possibilities. It’s so versatile, we’ve even figured out how to use it for making swimwear in recent history. They’re the softest suits on the rack, and not soggy when wet.
Apparently, those early Japanese researchers were just ahead of their time. It all comes down to the perfection of threads created in the manufacturing process.
Is microfiber natural?
Whether or not microfibers are natural comes down to how one defines natural. Perhaps a better distinction is to ask whether or not they grow organically?
They don’t grow on plants or animals like traditional fibers, but they do come from substances found on earth.
In a similar way to how humans produce plastic, microfiber strands are very thin manifestations of processed oils.
What makes the matter confusing is many microfibers feel softer and silkier than natural fibers like cotton and silk. They can fool someone into believing they’re touching a natural fiber.
Close inspection of the fibers only makes the matter more intriguing. (See the image above.)
One way you use microfibers and may not realize it is when you clean your sunglasses.
It’s become common practice to include a free mini-towel with most high-end sunglasses sales. That fabric which feels like silk is nothing of the sort. It’s microfiber every time, made in a lab, not from spiders or caterpillars.
Is microfiber durable?
Depending on the application of the technology, microfiber can be very durable. If we’re talking about Kevlar, the microfiber used to make bulletproof vests, the answer is a firm yes.
The microfibers you’ll find in the workwear industry have to stand up to the rigors of hard work. They also can stand up to various treatments that more natural fibers can’t take, like imprinting them with logos or treating them with chemicals like antibacterial.
More natural fibers aren’t able to take that kind of abuse. Even more so, microfibers can take these stresses in thinner, more flexible applications in some cases.
What’s more, most microfibers resist staining and bleaching. So it’s not only that they are durable, they are plushy-comfortable without being soft under punishment.
Pound for pound, microfibers are way more durable than their organic counterparts.
Is microfiber fabric breathable?
Yes, to a fault, microfiber is breathable, thus the reason it’s in your workwear jacket. It perfects that desirable wicking effect all clothing wants to sell these days.
You probably already use microfiber towels and cleaning supplies for this same reason. These applications of the technology work so well because of the absorbability of the microfiber at microscopic levels. (See last two images.)
In clothing, this absorbability allows properly manufactured fibers of this sort to wick away moisture from the body while repelling moisture from the outside.
It’s like voodoo how well microfiber breathes. This is the reason it shows up commonly in clothing like jackets.
This is how “wicking” works: You labor. Your body produces heat and moisture that rises up to places like your head, shoulders, and armpits.
Without a way to exit the body, this moisture would collect in pools of sweat giving you the typical sweaty spots that accompany hard work.
Wearing microfiber, however, you still may create pools of perspiration, but they won’t be as big. Much of your body’s humidity will wick off the skin, out the fibers of your jacket, then into the surrounding air.
It dissipates like a fog. If you could see it, there would be a cloud around your body while you labor. This is the fabric “breathing.”
Is microfiber the same material in my comfy sheets?
Likely, yes.
Consider how much body heat one produces during sleep, and then think about how fun sweaty sheets are for a good night of rest. If only the fibers could wick away moisture in a comfortable way.
More and more bedding uses microfiber materials because of all the reasons listed so far. Because we can now produce these fibers in long strands, we can make textiles like the ones needed to make sheets.
What’s more? Microfiber sheets feel silky-smooth when produced the right way. But, not always…
Because of microfiber’s proliferation, there has also been an increase in marketing aimed at selling products branded as “microfibers.”
Buyers are familiar with the word from other products they already own like their favorite microfiber jacket. Trusting other products sold as “made with microfibers” makes it easier to make buyers pull out their wallets.
The popularity is growing so fast, many brands proudly label their synthetic sheets in kind, but many sheets sold as microfiber are only technically microfiber.
In a very practical sense, some microfiber sheets are not much nicer than standard synthetic versions. They feel like “sleeping in a plastic bag” or worse.
One has to touch a given set of sheets to know if they’re made from the good stuff, but when you get the right ones, it’s a heavenly feeling sliding into bed.
For the foreseeable future, you can expect to see and hear more about microfiber. The microfibers of tomorrow, as we already see them in some markets, will be not only all of the above, but they will be biodegradable too.
Currently available, polypropylene microfibers are recyclable but still synthetic. It’s a step in the right direction, but consumers will probably demand more from this magic fiber because it’s so popular.
No researcher has yet created a microfiber that breaks down over time. Imaginably, it’s possible if one considers that we have synthetics that feel softer than natural fibers.
When it happens, and when they start making better workwear with those new textiles, you’ll know exactly where to find them at a good price. Meanwhile, we’re stocked with all the microfiber jackets anyone could ever hope to own.
What’s more? Every one of them is made in America.
Show me your best microfiber jackets
About the Author
Nick Warrick
Nick Warrick is the Sales Manager at All Seasons Uniforms. With over 15 years of experience in the work uniform business, he has worked with hundreds of clients across 20 different industries. Holding bachelor’s degrees in both Business Administration and Information Technology, Nick revamped the company’s online presence, offering its customers a new uniform shopping experience.