Armor, natural enough
Welcome back to text, the world’s only remaining newsletter. I hope whatever permutation of holidays you observe went well, and I’m excited to have you here for the new year. There are many things to discuss, but first we need to talk about wax cloth.
We have spoken in the past of ruggedized fabrics, especially X-Pac, which is a bit of an overengineered wonder of ripstop. A few of you responded to X-Pac with Dyneema, which is also ripstop, overengineered, sort of polymer-y, and in vogue. I own several objects made of Dyneema. It’s useful stuff.
But also, what if you’re one of those hippies – and to be very clear, I am absolutely one of those hippies – who wants as many natural materials in your home as possible? What if you want to wear something that is ruggedized? Imagine X-Pac pants. Now do not imagine X-Pac pants, because that is horrifying. Imagine literally anything else.
The hippie impulse is real. I know people, more than you think, who straight-up will never wear polyester anything. Moreover, some people hate the militaristic, lightly overplayed vibe of X-Pac. Yet pretty much everybody still wants to ruggedize, even those who think that cotton will increase your vibration.
And so there is wax cloth. You have a fabric, probably cotton, that you cover in wax in a way that does not feel waxy to the touch, but is able to repel water and generally wear in nicely. The idea of sailing is sometimes trotted out in the marketing copy. You think well that’s considerate.
You wonder about maintenance. Hot water? Dryers? This is never answered for you. You eventually check the care label and find out that if you’re investing in wax cloth, you are probably committing to a lifetime of dry cleaning. The climate impact of dry cleaning, long term, probably outweighs the climate impact of polyester. Even “green” dry cleaners still require transportation to & from the cleaners, and in almost all cases that involves fossil fuels. Still, at least the fossil fuels are not on your body. And the object patinas. Everybody loves a patina.
It’s unlikely that wax cloth will find its way into the “carry” universe, although perhaps it will manifest in backpack form at some point. (This has already happened, to a degree.) If you’re obsessed with carry goods, you probably don’t care about their climate impact beyond a reusable straw or maybe your iPhone case. But you do care about what goes on your body. Maybe.