Fashion Terms — the Apparel Search fashion terminology directory
Synthetic fibers are fibers made by chemical synthesis, especially to imitate a natural product — the result of extensive scientific research to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. They are created by extruding fiber-forming materials through spinnerets into air and water, forming a thread; the compounds come from raw materials such as petroleum-based chemicals or petrochemicals, polymerized into long, linear chemicals, with differing compounds producing different fiber types. Synthetic fibers account for about half of all fiber usage across every field of textile technology, and four of them — nylon, polyester, acrylic and polyolefin — dominate the market.
Synthetic means made by chemical synthesis, especially to imitate a natural product. In other words, something resulting from synthesis rather than occurring naturally.
Advantages of Synthetic Fibers:
Synthetic fibers are more durable than most natural fibers and they readily pick-up different dyes. In addition, many synthetic fibers offer consumer-friendly functions such as stretching, waterproofing and stain resistance. Sunlight, moisture and oils from human skin cause all fibers to break down and wear away. Natural fibers are much more sensitive than synthetic blends.
Disadvantages of Synthetic Fibers:
Most of synthetic fibers' disadvantages are related to their low melting temperature: Synthetic fibers burn more readily than natural. They are prone to heat damage and melt relatively easily. Although we are not certain, we believe many of them are non-biodegradable and are not as good for the environment in comparison to natural fibers.
Synthetic fibers or fibres are the result of extensive research by scientists to improve on naturally occurring animal and plant fibers. In general, synthetic fibers are created by extruding fiber forming materials through spinnerets into air and water, forming a thread. Before synthetic fibers were developed, artificially manufactured fibers were made from polymers obtained from petro chemicals. These fibers are called synthetic or artificial fibers. Some fibers are manufactured from plant-derived cellulose.
This category of fiber is also sometimes referenced as man-made fibers.
Synthetic fibers are made from synthesized polymers or small molecules. The compounds that are used to make these fibers come from raw materials such as petroleum based chemicals or petrochemicals. These materials are polymerized into a long, linear chemical that bond two adjacent carbon atoms. Differing chemical compounds will be used to produce different types of fibers.
Synthetic fibers account for about half of all fiber usage, with applications in every field of fiber and textile technology. Although many classes of fiber based on synthetic polymers have been evaluated as potentially valuable commercial products, four of them - nylon, polyester, acrylic and polyolefin - dominate the market.
History of Synthetic Fibers:
The first successful commercial process was developed in 1894 by English chemist Charles Frederick Cross, and his collaborators Edward John Bevan and Clayton Beadle. They named the fiber "viscose", because the reaction product of carbon disulfide and cellulose in basic conditions gave a highly viscous solution of xanthate. The first commercial viscose rayon was produced by the UK company Courtaulds Fibers in 1905. The name "rayon" was adopted in 1924, with "viscose" being used for the viscous organic liquid used to make both rayon and cellophane.
Nylon was developed by Wallace Carothers, an American researcher at the chemical firm DuPont in the 1930s. It soon made its debut in the United States as a replacement for silk, just in time for the introduction of rationing during World War II. Its novel use as a material for women's stockings overshadowed more practical uses, such as a replacement for the silk in parachutes and other military uses like ropes.
The first polyester fiber was introduced by John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson, British chemists working at the Calico Printers' Association, in 1941. They produced and patented the first polyester fiber which they named Terylene, also known as Dacron, equal to or surpassing nylon in toughness and resilience. ICI and DuPont went on to produce their own versions of the fiber.
Man-made fibers include the following:
Synthetic Polymer: Acrylic, Aramid (Twaron), Kevlar, Technora (Nomex), Microfiber, Modacrylic, Nylon, Olefin, Polyester, Polyethylene (Dyneema, Spectra), Spandex, Vinylon, Vinyon, Zylon
Semi-synthetic: Acetate, Diacetate, Lyocell, Modal, Rayon, Triacetate
Above is a partial list, and new are created on occasion.
Not all fibers are appropriate for the apparel or footwear industry.
Visit our synthetic fiber research section for additional resources.
Learn more in our textile fiber definitions section.
Learn more about
textile fibers and suppliers for the apparel industry.
Thank you for using the Apparel Search website.
The history runs in two waves. The first wave reworked a natural polymer: viscose rayon, made from cellulose, proved a fiber could be manufactured commercially years before fully synthetic chemistry arrived — which is why plant-derived cellulose fibers sit in the neighboring man-made fibers category. The second wave built fibers from petrochemicals outright. Nylon debuted in the United States as a replacement for silk just in time for wartime rationing, famous first for women's stockings and used practically for parachutes and ropes; polyester, introduced in 1941, matched or surpassed nylon in toughness and resilience, and ICI and DuPont produced their own versions.
The wider family evaluated by researchers includes acrylic, aramid (Twaron), Kevlar, Technora and Nomex types, microfiber, modacrylic and olefin alongside the big four. That breadth — from commodity polyester to aramids built for extreme duty — is what carries synthetics to roughly half of all fiber usage: nearly every performance problem a natural fiber cannot solve cheaply, from stretch to waterproofing, has a synthetic answer extruded for it.
Synthetics are more durable than most natural fibers and readily pick up different dyes, and many offer consumer-friendly functions such as stretching, waterproofing and stain resistance. Natural fibers are much more sensitive than synthetic blends to the sunlight, moisture and skin oils that break all fibers down over time.
Most relate to low melting temperature: synthetic fibers burn more readily than natural fibers, are prone to heat damage and melt relatively easily. Many are also believed to be non-biodegradable and worse for the environment than natural fibers.
The first successful commercial process came in 1894 from English chemist Charles Frederick Cross with Edward John Bevan and Clayton Beadle, whose viscose was produced commercially by Courtaulds Fibers in 1905 and named rayon in 1924. Nylon followed from Wallace Carothers at DuPont in the 1930s, and the first polyester fiber was patented by John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson in 1941 — Terylene, also known as Dacron.