Plastics were invented long before this research was done. The 3 studies cited here were published in 1992, 1993, and 2008 for reference. Polyester was invented in 1941 and widely marketed by DuPont starting in the 1950s.
If you look at textile companies today and ask them why they choose to use it, or Spandex, or Lycra, or nylon, or any of the others, they'll describe the particular properties of the fibers that make their products better. If you are making yoga pants for example (Lululemon got into trouble with this ~10 years ago), you need something which is stretchy, but which does not thin when stretched. A few years after coming to widespread popularity, Lulu switched to a Chinese manufacturer who got clever about cutting costs and changed the fiber mix. Lulu ended up buying and reselling yoga pants that when women went into "down dog" or "dragonfly" (straddle) or certain other positions in class, the fabric in the crotch made your undergarments (or lack thereof) visible. Lawsuits were filed. Outrage was swift. Lulu switched that shit in a hurry and refunded recent purchases to make it right with their customers. They use what they use so the products looks good, feels good, washes clean, doesn't smell, performs through intended use and wear and tear, etc. They're trying to sell products we want to buy and wear.
I guarantee you practically no one knows about this fertility issue unless you're a GYN or GU specialist or you've been a patient seeking fertility treatments to try and conceive.
Polyester is a petroleum product and basically a glorified plastic.
It also has the unique privilege of being far cheaper than wool or cotton. Hence all the large companies adopted it.
Gotta get that extra 5% on the quarterly earnings report. Make the investors happy. Damn the long term consequences
Plastics were invented long before this research was done. The 3 studies cited here were published in 1992, 1993, and 2008 for reference. Polyester was invented in 1941 and widely marketed by DuPont starting in the 1950s.
If you look at textile companies today and ask them why they choose to use it, or Spandex, or Lycra, or nylon, or any of the others, they'll describe the particular properties of the fibers that make their products better. If you are making yoga pants for example (Lululemon got into trouble with this ~10 years ago), you need something which is stretchy, but which does not thin when stretched. A few years after coming to widespread popularity, Lulu switched to a Chinese manufacturer who got clever about cutting costs and changed the fiber mix. Lulu ended up buying and reselling yoga pants that when women went into "down dog" or "dragonfly" (straddle) or certain other positions in class, the fabric in the crotch made your undergarments (or lack thereof) visible. Lawsuits were filed. Outrage was swift. Lulu switched that shit in a hurry and refunded recent purchases to make it right with their customers. They use what they use so the products looks good, feels good, washes clean, doesn't smell, performs through intended use and wear and tear, etc. They're trying to sell products we want to buy and wear.
I guarantee you practically no one knows about this fertility issue unless you're a GYN or GU specialist or you've been a patient seeking fertility treatments to try and conceive.