Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Man-made fibers are fibers made by human beings, and the term refers to the same family as synthetic fibers. Nylon, polyester and rayon are examples. The building units are chemical substances also referred to as monomers, and a synthetic fiber is a chain of those small units joined together. “Man-made” itself simply means made or caused by human beings, as opposed to fibers that grow naturally on plants or animals.
Man-made fibers is reference to “Synthetic Fibers”.
The fibers made by human beings are called synthetic fibers or man-made fibers.
For example nylon, polyester, rayon, etc., These units are chemical substance and also referred to as monomers. A synthetic fiber is a chain of small units join together.
Please visit our Synthetic Fibers term to learn more.
Learn more about textile fibers for the apparel industry.
You may also want to visit our man-made fiber research section and the fiber definitions area of our glossary.
The term "man-made" means made or caused by human beings.
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Every fiber wardrobe is built from starts as either a natural fiber — cotton from a plant, wool from a sheep, silk from a silkworm, flax from a stem — or a man-made one, manufactured by people. That single distinction drives most of the practical differences shoppers feel. Natural fibers arrive with the properties the plant or animal gave them. Man-made fibers are engineered: because the chain of monomers is built deliberately, its length, thickness and chemistry can be controlled, which is how the industry produces fibers tuned for strength, stretch, wrinkle resistance, quick drying or low cost. Polyester's durability and easy care, nylon's strength and abrasion resistance, and rayon's fluid drape and silk-like hand all come from that engineering freedom.
Man-made fibers made modern performance clothing possible. Athletic and outdoor garments depend on manufactured fibers because their moisture behavior, stretch and recovery can be specified in advance — the moisture wicking fabrics term in this directory is one direct result. The category also frames honest labeling questions: a manufactured fiber made from a plant source is still a manufactured fiber, which is the distinction behind the mechanically processed bamboo term, where only fiber produced directly from the bamboo plant may be sold as bamboo. Understanding “man-made” as a production description, rather than a quality judgment, is the key to reading fiber content labels accurately: the term tells you how the fiber came to exist, and the specific fiber name — polyester, nylon, rayon and the rest — tells you how it will behave.
Labels list fibers by their generic names and percentages, so “man-made” itself rarely appears on a garment tag; the named fibers do. A shirt listed as a polyester and cotton blend is part natural and part man-made, and its care and comfort follow from that mix — the cotton contributes softness and absorbency, the polyester contributes strength, shape retention and faster drying. That is why blends are so common: each side of the family covers the other's weaknesses, and the proportions on the label predict how the garment will wash, wear and feel.
Fibers made by human beings rather than grown in nature. The term covers the same ground as synthetic fibers: nylon, polyester and rayon are standard examples, each built as a chain of small chemical units called monomers.
A small chemical unit that can be joined with others in a chain. A synthetic fiber is exactly that — many monomers linked together into a long chain that can be spun into yarn and woven or knitted into fabric.
The synthetic fibers term page explains this family in full, and Apparel Search also maintains a textile fibers overview, a man-made fiber research section and a fiber definitions area in the glossary, all linked from this page.