100% Cotton vs. Polyester: Why We Don't Cut Corners

We get asked sometimes why we insist on using 100% cotton for our sweaters, tanks, and button-ups. Why not a blend? Why not polyester, or bamboo, or space-age nylon that supposedly wicks away your sins? Wouldn’t it be cheaper? Easier? Faster?

Sure. But we’re not in the business of cheap, easy, or fast. We’re in the business of building garments that feel like something. And for us, that something starts with cotton. Real, honest-to-goodness, breathe-on-your-skin-like-a-sigh cotton.

So let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about why we’ll never cut corners. Why we won’t compromise, even when it would make our lives (and profit margins) easier. Why Sleepy Peach is, and always will be, Team Cotton.

Polyester: The Plastic Bag of Fabrics

Let’s just get this out of the way: polyester is plastic. It’s made from petroleum. Which is made from ancient, decomposed dinosaurs. Which is maybe cool if you're into Jurassic Park cosplay, but a little less cool when you're wearing it in July and wondering why you smell like a science experiment.

Polyester traps heat. It doesn’t breathe. It pills, it holds onto odors, and over time, it just feels a little... crunchy. You know what I mean. It’s the texture of something trying to be fabric. Like a ghost of a garment.

It’s also wildly cheap to make. That’s why fast fashion brands use it. They can churn out thousands of pieces for pennies on the dollar. And when the shirt falls apart after two washes? Doesn’t matter. You weren’t supposed to keep it anyway.

But we want you to keep your clothes. We want you to wear them to brunch, to concerts, to your weird little poetry club, and ten years from now, still reach for them.

100% Cotton: Nature’s Perfect Textile

Cotton, on the other hand, is the real deal. It breathes. It drapes. It gets softer with time. It doesn’t cling to your body like a desperate ex. It lets you exist in your clothes instead of being trapped by them.

There’s something almost romantic about cotton. It’s grown, not synthesized. It comes from the earth. It responds to your body’s temperature. It absorbs dye beautifully. And when you knit it—not print it, knit it—you get a texture that feels like home.

It also costs a hell of a lot more. Especially when you’re making short-run, artist-designed garments and not buying rolls of discount jersey from a warehouse that used to be a tire factory.

But to us, it’s worth it.

Cotton Wears Like a Story

One of our favorite things about cotton is how it ages. When you first put it on, it’s already comfortable. But wear it enough, and it starts to mold to you. It gets those little folds in the sleeves where your elbows always bend. It frays in the spots where you love it hardest. It becomes yours.

Polyester doesn’t age. It breaks down. It pills, it stretches, it warps. A polyester sweater doesn’t tell a story—it just reminds you that you probably bought it on sale when you needed something "good enough."

We want to make clothes you don’t want to throw away. That’s the whole point.

Cotton Feels Human

We know that sounds dramatic. But there’s something tactile and grounding about wearing something made of natural fibers. Cotton feels like the opposite of screen time. It doesn’t buzz. It doesn’t zap you. It just is.

There’s this comfort to cotton that you can’t fake. And in a world where everything is increasingly synthetic—from our food to our faces to our Twitter arguments—we kind of like knowing that what we’re wearing still came from a real plant that grew under a real sun.

"But It’s More Expensive..."

Yup. Sure is.

Cotton costs more to grow, more to process, and more to knit. And when you’re working with smaller, ethical factories—like we are—you’re not getting bargain-bin prices. But here’s the thing: when you make something with intention, the cost is the point.

Every dollar we spend making a 100% cotton cardigan is a dollar that says, "This should exist." It’s a small rebellion against disposable culture. Against cutting corners. Against things that look good on Instagram but fall apart in real life.

We’re not trying to sell you something that looks expensive. We’re trying to sell you something that is valuable.

The Sustainability Myth

You might be thinking, "But I heard polyester is more sustainable."

Listen. It’s complicated. If you recycle a polyester garment 400 times and never wash it and ride a bicycle everywhere, maybe it breaks even. But most of the time, polyester is not recycled. It’s produced using fossil fuels, sheds microplastics into the water every time you wash it, and contributes to landfill waste because it takes centuries to break down.

Cotton, on the other hand, is biodegradable. When it eventually wears out, it goes back to the earth. And if it’s organically grown or responsibly sourced (like ours), it has a far smaller ecological footprint.

We’re not perfect, but we’re trying to be responsible. And for us, that means choosing materials that we can feel good about now and later.

Cotton Is a Vibe

At the end of the day, cotton just feels like Sleepy Peach. It’s soft, nostalgic, imperfect in the best ways. It moves with you. It doesn’t try too hard. It feels like an old friend or a favorite record.

Our brand is about playfulness, comfort, and care. Polyester doesn’t belong in that world. Cotton does.

No Compromises

Could we make our clothes cheaper if we used polyester? Sure. We used to make all of our clothes in polyester before we discovered the superiority of natural fibers. Would we sell more if we used synthetic blends? Maybe. But then it wouldn’t be Sleepy Peach. It wouldn’t be ours. And it wouldn’t be yours, either.

We don’t want to make disposable clothes. We want to make beloved clothes.

So yeah, 100% cotton is more expensive. But we’re okay with that. Because every time someone puts on one of our sweaters and says, "Oh my god, this feels amazing," we know it was worth it.

Thanks for sticking with us. Thanks for caring about the weird little details. And thanks for choosing something real.

Team Cotton forever.