The farce of fleece.

Ha!

Yep.

I've seen cotton fleece, wonder if that works better...

Wool is basically sheep's hair. Imagine if you washed your hair with laundry soap every time. It needs conditioning, give a good wool wash.

Hi soz. Well at least I know I'm not alone!

Hi fortune! That makes sense!

But I should confess - I'm talking about that cheap fake fleece (polar fleece or something, I'm not sure what they call it) they make blankets and sweaters and stuff out of.

Real wool stuff, I have dry cleaned.

Aah. Well, best I can recommend then is to use a good fabric softener.

Oh, real fleece. I was immediately thinking of the so called fleece on all the outdoorsie stuff, and was about to say it was way better than the con they ran on us a decade or so ago with the polypropolyn long underwear.

Polarfleece. It's a petroleum by-product, or something.

But awful soft for a while!

Well, there's polar fleece and there's polar fleece.

I've got a couple of pieces of the good stuff, and there is a serious difference between it and the cheap stuff.
My oldest pieces of L.L. Bean polar fleece, hmmmm, bought them in 1994 or '95. They're still in amazing condition. Some other cr@p, bought last winter, has already turned into pot scrapers.

I bought a length of good polar fleece about 4 or 5 years ago, planning to make car seat covers, but after I'd spent $$, I couldn't bear to cut the length up. So it's a nice autumn/winter bed cover. I've washed it and washed it and washed it, and it's still nice. Fluuuuuuufffffy and sofffffffffffft. The dogs and I squabble over it.

Better hope Bear doesn't hear about you defaming him, Soz.

He has a reputation to uphold.

I remember the big shout-out on polar fleece was that it was made from recycled pop bottles, or something like that. Probably should Google it.

Aw, he's a big ol' softie whether he admits it or not.

link

I don't care if its made from recycled pop bottles. All the more reason to buy it in my opinion. Still, I just want it to stay as soft, or softer, as the day I bought it. (Living in Nike town we've got those recycled shoe playgrounds all over town - they're the greatest thing ever.)

I should check out the different levels of quality as eBeth pointed out. I bought Mr. B an expensive polar fleece sweater from the Columbia store (another local manufacturer) but it doesn't get cold enough here for him to wear it often. I'm going to drag it out and check on its softness!

The recycled pop bottle business was kinda what made me buy polar fleece to begin with. I guess buying the good stuff to start off with is what makes me sorta positive toward it. Now, when I buy a cheesy item, I know that it'll get nasty.

I can't imagine winter here without my L.L. Bean polar fleece pants. Those things can be life-savers when it's minus 40 outside.

I do know that cotton fleece is much nicer than polar fleece, but it tends to get less soft and fuzzy with washings, too. There is a silk fleece however.....

I have some silk long johns from LL Bean. They are wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. I always put them on when we head for The Mountain in snowy weather - about the only chance I get to wear them.

I really wasn't aware that there were so many fleece options - thank you for letting me know this. I think I'll have to check the fabric store for material instead of looking at ready made goods - that's the best way to compare quality, I think.

Aww come on, you guys don't like it when it gets all nubby? That's good, neither to I!