Fibre encyclopedia
Polyester
Also called polyester · poliester · PES · PET · PE
Fibre spun from molten plastic. It takes almost no water into the fibre, it dries fast, and it releases microfibres when washed.
Class
Synthetic
Comes from
From oil or gas
Where it comes from
Polyester is made from oil or gas into polymer chips, then melted and drawn through fine holes into continuous filament. Labelling rules use the name polyester when the chain is at least 85 per cent an ester of a diol and terephthalic acid. On Indonesian hangtags the same fibre appears as PE and as PES.
How it feels to wear
Air
Decided by the knit or weave, not by the fibre
Water
Water stays on the surface
Heat
Neither holds nor sheds heat
Stretch
A little stretch of its own
Wear
Holds up to hard rubbing
Polyester barely takes water into the fibre: its agreed moisture allowance is 1.5 per cent. Water sits between the yarns rather than inside the fibre, which is why polyester dries quickly and why it feels wet against the skin while it is still holding sweat. How much air moves through a polyester cloth is decided by the knit or the weave, not by the fibre.
Care
- Wash cold. Body oil held in the fibre is what holds smell.
- Skip the hot dryer. Heat glazes the fibre surface.
- Iron on the lowest setting or not at all.
- A wash bag holds back part of the fibre that comes loose.
Polyester takes heat damage before it takes water damage, so temperature is the setting that matters on the label.
End of life
Recycling route
Mechanical recycling
Polyester releases microfibres when washed. That is a statement about the fibre class, not about any one garment, and the measurements behind it counted fibre coming out of domestic washing machines rather than off a particular piece. Bottles and cloth are two separate recycling streams: a bottle can become fibre, and fibre does not go back to being a bottle.
In a blend
Pure polyester can be melted and spun again. Polyester blended with cotton cannot be separated mechanically, and the chemical separation of blends is not running at scale.
Skin notes
Mechanical
Melt-spun filament is smooth and has no cut ends at the surface unless it was cut into staple, so there is no diameter-driven prickle route.
Chemical
Polyester polymer itself is close to unreactive. What sits against the skin is the disperse dye used to colour it and any water-repellent or wrinkle-resist finish above that. The label declares none of them.
If your skin reacts to a garment, a dermatologist and patch testing are what can answer it. A label cannot, and neither can this page.
What the label cannot tell you
The label says polyester. It does not say which dye class was used, what finish sits on the surface, or whether the polymer was new.
Sources
- Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011 on textile fibre names and related labelling, Annex I. Checked 22 August 2026
- Regulation (EU) No 1007/2011, Annex IX, agreed allowances. Checked 22 August 2026
- Napper and Thompson, Marine Pollution Bulletin 112, 2016, on fibre release from domestic washing machines
- De Falco and others, Scientific Reports 9:6633, 2019, on washing processes of synthetic clothes
- Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH), Annex XVII entry 72, substances in textile articles in contact with skin, applying from 1 November 2020. Checked 22 August 2026
Written from primary sources and in our own words. Where a figure could not be traced to a source anyone can open, it is not printed here.
Read the label you are holding
The scan surface reads one care label and names which questions it answers and which it leaves out. A passport says for one specific piece what a label cannot: the composition with its percentages, where the cloth came from, who worked on it, how to repair it and where it goes next.