Textiles

On wednesday I went to Recycle Boutique and raided the $4.50 bargain rack. I was looking for a variety of garments and fabrics to explore how they respond to the different digital fabrication methods.

Finds:
linen jacket
neopren top
PU pants
triple layer skirt: lining, skirt layer with ribbons, sheer layer with embroidery, embellishments
acetate tube skirt
polyester pants (zipper at back broken)
I also found a giant sequin on the floor in the pattern making room that was too intriguing to not pick up.

The linen jacket is very beautiful, well cut and finished and has a nice colour. My assumption for why the owner gave it away would be the maintenance issue: as much as linen is light and airy and great for summer, it also creases easily due to the glue found in the natural fibre.
The neoprene top has a weird shape, very wide shoulders and sleeves for being a small size. The dark colours and the material, which doesn’t really breathe makes this a tough garment to wear in summer, when one would actually chose to wear short sleeves.
The PU pants (PU only on the front) were faded and had lost stretch. I assume they have been worn lots. I picked them, because I thought the PU would be great for the laser cutter as it doesn’t fray.
The skirt I picked because it offered a wide variety of materials: lining, sheer fabric, ribbons, embellishments and embroidery. All of these could be used to add interesting features to other existing “boring” clothes. Due to all of these features the skirt may have been hard to look after.
The acetate tube skirt, like the linen, creases easily, but is a lot harder to iron/press. I assume another reason why it ended up at the recycle boutique was the broken elastic in the waistband. Given its straight cut, this skirt offers a good amount of fabric to work with.
The polyester pants looked hardly worn, but the zipper was ripped out of the seam, which I think may be the cause of its abandonment. 
Looking at all the observations, a few tendencies become clear:
The relationship to clothes has changed, items that could be fixed are discarded instead, and clothes that require more maintenance than wash and dry are also more likely to be abandoned.