So let’s get this straight. Polar Fleece is a brand name for plastic which has been formed into a fabric. Sometimes made from recycled pop bottles, often not. Real fleece is not a brand name, it is what is shorn annually or semi-annually from sheep. One is a flammable, cold, mungy-looking excuse for using more petrochemicals. The other is totally renewable, natural, fire-resistant, warm (even when wet), and uses very few other resources to be made into long-wearing clothing.
Why does this matter? Because sheep producers all over the world are having difficulty selling their wool, and because people who wear polar fleece seem to think that it’s an ecological benefit.
So look. Wool is produced by shearing sheep. Just like people, sheep’s wool grows all the time. It is shorn in spring (sometimes twice a year for very woolly sheep like Icelandics), so that the sheep don’t have huge coats on during summer. While I can’t say that sheep enjoy the process of shearing (it’s undignified), they certainly need to have the haircut! So regardless of PETA, there’s no harm done to the animals. Wool comes in many grades, from super-fine wool that makes lovely NOT itchy underwear to hard-wearing carpet wool. It can be dyed with plants, lichens, and artificial dyes. It can be spun and woven or knitted straight from the sheep, or it can be washed, dyed, carded and spun. The options are endless. It is very warm, though not as warm as alpaca. It is warm when wet, making it perfect for Northerners who work outside or do things in the rain. In fact, Tim Severn, who recreated Brendan’s voyage crossing the Atlantic in an open boat gave up on contemporary high-tech fabrics, and went back to wool for its superior insulation qualities.
By contrast, polar fleece is a proprietary process for making a fabric out of plastic. Much of what’s out there is not made from recycled pop bottles, despite the assumptions of consumers. As with food, labels must be examined. If it’s recycled, it becomes an excuse for continuing to use excessive amounts of plastic in throw-away forms throughout our society. Should we not be endeavouring to re-use, to make everything with a longer lifespan, so we don’t make the garbage in the first place? Using more energy to recycle something is still using resources. Making the fabric from new plastic is even worse: mining petroleum and processing it to make the tools, energy and raw materials for a piece of clothing that could easily be made without anywhere near the use of resources from a naturally occurring material.
And in the personal level, whether it’s new or old plastic, fleece is cold when wet, which makes working up a sweat downright dangerous in cold climate. And I have yet to see polar fleece made anywhere near as beautiful, warm, and culturally significant as a Pashmina shawl, a handknit sweater, or a felted vest. In fact, the dominant cultural statement made by wearing plastic is that the wearer supports the rape of the world to make disposable crap.
10,000 sheep can’t be wrong. Wear wool!
Oh, and you won’t catch fire from the sparks around the bonfire, either. So there.