Conceptual display: Polyester fleece from soda bottle to finished cloth, ca. 2005
date: label: date made
content: ca. 2010
name: label: maker
content: ExPlus, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: Display case; conceptual display showing the stages of making synthetic fleece-type textiles, with plastic bottles, finely chopped plastic chips from recycled plastic bottles, culminating in the pelletization of the plastic chips all shown in a three-tiered plexiglas bin. This case is one part of a display that includes the following samples, catalogued separately, of soda-bottle-derived eco-fiber polyester fleece manufacturing processes: 1. undyed fiber; 2. dyed (red) fiber; 3. sliver (red dyed fiber ready for spinning); 4. yard goods (red, knitted and finished); 5. jacket (hooded fleece fabric outer jacket; Patagonia brand).
label: Description
content: This is a concise display that graphically, with the associated fiber, fabric, and jacket, conveys the “soda bottle to clothing” history of this American invention, which is a staple of American life today. First introduced by Malden Mills of Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1979, owner Aaron Feuerstein chose NOT to patent the invention, allowing it to be copied around the world. Malden Mills was devastated by a fire in 1995, and although Feuerstein tried to keep the company afloat and operating in New England until 2001, through some bankruptcies, reorganizations, and sale of assets, production was finally relocated to Tennessee and New Hampshire in 2015, under the name Polartec LLC.
label: Description
content: Polyester fleece from recycled plastic bottles was at first considered an ecological boon as it kept these plastics out of the landfills and the oceans. Recent scientific inquiry has found that the microfibers that are washed off of fleece materials in daily use find their way into the world’s waterways and since they do not degrade, have also begun to show up in fish. This is an important story of invention, evaluation, reassessment; the importance of science and scientific inquiry, and the importance of continued review of the impact of human actions on the environment.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: American Textile History Museum Collection
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2017.0232.01
label: catalog number
content: 2017.0232.01
label: accession number
content: 2017.0232
objectType: label: Object Name
content: display, synthetic textile