You've probably read about microplastics in fish. In tap water, in table salt, in like everywhere you look. The coverage is everywhere now, and most of it frames microplastics as an environmental problem — something happening out there, in the ocean, to other things.
What gets less coverage is the more immediate version: microplastics in clothes, specifically in the clothes sitting directly against your skin right now.
Table of Contents
- What microplastics are and where they come from in clothing
- How synthetic fabric sheds microplastics against your skin
- What this means specifically for underwear
- Microplastic-free clothing — what to actually look for
- What we make and why
In case you're too lazy to read :)
Synthetic clothing — polyester, nylon, acrylic - sheds microplastic fibers every time you wear and wash it. Those fibers end up in the environment, in the food chain, and through dermal contact, potentially on and around your skin. Underwear made from synthetic fabric sits against your most sensitive skin all day. Natural fabrics don't shed microplastics. Choosing microplastic-free clothing for what you wear closest to your body is one of the lower-effort decisions you can make that has a real impact.
What microplastics are and where they come from in clothing
Microplastics are plastic particles under 5mm in diameter. The ones that come from microplastics fabric — specifically synthetic textiles like polyester, nylon, and acrylic — are called microfibers. They're thinner than a human hair, and they shed constantly: when you move, when you sweat, and especially when you wash your clothes.
Research published in the Textile Research Journal found that thousands of microfibers are released from synthetic garments during a single home laundering cycle, entering waterways through sewage effluents (Acharya et al., 2021). Synthetic fabrics currently account for around 60% of global textile production, and it's estimated that 22 million tons of microfibers will have entered the marine environment by 2050 (Balasaraswathi & Rathinamoorthy, 2022).
Do clothes release microplastics outside of washing too? Yes — friction from wear releases fibers directly. The question is what happens to the ones released against your skin.
How synthetic fabric sheds microplastics against your skin
The three main routes of microplastic exposure identified by researchers are ingestion, inhalation, and dermal contact. A 2023 study published in Heliyon reviewed all three routes and noted that while dermal contact is the least studied, it raises the prospect of skin irritation and allergic reactions (Emenike et al., 2023).
Microplastics and skin contact are an area where research is still catching up to the scale of the problem. What we know is that microplastics absorbed through skin are biologically plausible — skin is permeable, particularly in areas with thinner or more sensitive tissue. What we don't yet have is definitive data on absorption rates or long-term effects, and it would be dishonest to overstate that. The research is ongoing, and the picture isn't complete.
What is established: synthetic fabrics shed microfibers. Those fibers make contact with skin. The skin around the vulva and groin is among the most sensitive on the body. Do microplastics absorb through skin at meaningful levels? Researchers are still working on that answer. But the exposure is real, the tissue is sensitive, and cotton doesn't have this problem.
What this means specifically for underwear
Most conversations about microplastics in clothes focus on outerwear — fleece jackets, activewear, fast fashion polyester. Underwear rarely comes up, which is strange when you think about it, because underwear is the garment with the most direct, sustained contact with your skin. Eight to twelve hours a day, against tissue that is thin, absorptive, and in close proximity to mucous membranes.
Synthetic underwear — polyester, nylon, elastane-heavy blends — sheds microfibers the same way any other synthetic garment does. The difference is where those fibers land. This isn't a reason to panic, but it is a reason to think about what you're wearing and why cotton keeps coming up as the more sensible default.
Microplastic-free clothing — what to actually look for
Clothes without microplastics mean natural fibers: cotton, linen, wool, silk. For underwear specifically, cotton is the most practical — breathable, widely available, and the fabric most commonly recommended for sensitive skin and vaginal health for entirely separate reasons.
Microplastic-free clothing doesn't require a complete wardrobe overhaul. Start with what's closest to your skin longest. Underwear is the obvious place. From there, anything you sleep in, anything you work out in against your skin, anything you wear for extended periods without washing in between.
When you do wash synthetic garments, a microfiber filter bag — brands like Guppyfriend make them — catches a significant portion of shed fibers before they reach the water supply. It doesn't solve the skin contact issue, but it reduces environmental impact.
Check labels. If the composition lists polyester, nylon, acrylic, or elastane as the primary fabric — not just a small percentage for stretch — it's shedding microplastics. The higher the synthetic content, the more it sheds.
What we make and why
epoché underwear is 90% cotton, 10% spandex. The spandex is a small percentage included for stretch and shape retention — the primary fabric is cotton, which means the primary fabric is not shedding microplastic fibers against your skin all day.
We didn't design the cotton underwear collection around the microplastics conversation specifically, but it's one of the reasons cotton was never a compromise for us. It's better for your skin, better for your vaginal environment, and it doesn't have a shedding problem that the industry is only beginning to take seriously.
The research on microplastics and human health is still developing, and we're not going to overstate what's confirmed. What's confirmed is that synthetic fabrics shed microplastic fibers, that dermal contact is a recognized exposure route, and that the skin in your underwear zone is not the place to be cavalier about what's touching it.
Cotton isn't a perfect fabric. But it's not plastic, and right now that distinction matters more than it used to.
Not medical advice. For health concerns related to fabric or chemical exposure, consult a healthcare professional.
Sources
Acharya, S., Rumi, S. S., Hu, Y., & Abidi, N. (2021). Microfibers from synthetic textiles as a major source of microplastics in the environment: A review. Textile Research Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/0040517521991244
Balasaraswathi, S.R., Rathinamoorthy, R. (2022). Synthetic Textile and Microplastic Pollution: An Analysis on Environmental and Health Impact. In: Muthu, S.S. (eds) Sustainable Approaches in Textiles and Fashion. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-0530-8_1
Emenike, E., Okorie, C., Ojeyemi, T., Egbemhenghe, A., Iwuozor, K., Saliu, O., Okoro, H. K., & Adeniyi, A. (2023). From oceans to dinner plates: The impact of microplastics on human health. Heliyon, 9, e20440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e20440
