Fabric Blends in Girls' Dresses – Why Are They Used?
In many parenting guides, you'll read that children's clothing should be made exclusively from natural materials. This is, of course, true – the more natural fibres in a fabric, the better its breathability, which reduces the risk of skin irritation.
However, are synthetic material blends something you should completely avoid in your child's wardrobe, including girls' dresses? Why do manufacturers add other fabric blends? Read on to find out!
What Materials Are Used to Create Clothing, Such as Girls' Dresses?
Fabrics are made from fibres, which we divide into natural and synthetic. Learn what's found in each category and their main characteristics.
Natural Fibres
Natural fibres come from two sources – plant and animal. They're very comfortable to wear, breathable, and help maintain proper body temperature. Moreover, natural fibres are a renewable resource, meaning they can be harvested multiple times from the same source. They're divided into the following types:
Cotton – one of the most popular materials used in girls' dresses and children's clothing due to its breathability and softness. Additionally, cotton doesn't create static and takes dye well, though it holds dark colours least effectively. Contrary to appearances, it's quite a temperamental fabric – it likes to shrink, dries relatively slowly, and wrinkles easily, so it requires special care.
Linen and hemp – these materials are particularly used in creating traditional European-style dresses for girls. Regarding their characteristics, they dry somewhat faster than cotton, don't create static, don't shrink, wrinkle considerably (though many consider this an asset), and sometimes suffer damage at fold lines.
Sheep's wool and merino, mohair from goats – these are highly durable fibres with excellent thermal insulation properties, making them suitable for autumn-winter clothing. They also tend to stretch and bulge at elbows and knees, take a long time to dry, and shrink easily.
Cashmere, camel wool, alpaca wool – increasingly popular materials characterised by high heat retention. They're lightweight. Unfortunately, they shrink easily and tend to wear through, so special care must be taken during washing and daily use.
Silk – a very soft fabric with high lustre. It's characterised by great moisture absorption capacity, making it sensitive to perspiration. It's not resistant to friction.
Synthetic Fibres
Although much is said about these fibres due to the negative environmental impact of their production process, they find wide application in the clothing industry. Particularly as technology continues advancing and more varieties are created that are not only renewable resources, but their production also has less environmental impact.
What types of fibres do we find in this group?
Elastic fibres (elastane, spandex, lycra) – these fabrics are valued for their elasticity, light resistance, and friction resistance.
Cellulose (viscose) and lyocell fibres – with these fibres, you'll find materials ranging from matte to lustrous. They take colours well, are friction-resistant, and don't create static. However, they have several drawbacks. Primarily, they wrinkle heavily and can only be washed at low temperatures. When wet, they can be easily damaged. Lyocell is somewhat more durable compared to its viscose counterpart.
Polyester – polyester clothing is very durable and wear-resistant, as well as easy to keep clean – it dries quickly and doesn't shrink. Unfortunately, nothing is perfect, and this material easily creates static and isn't breathable, making it unsuitable for hot days.
Polyamide – like other materials, polyamide is characterised by high durability and wear resistance, as well as easy maintenance. Besides low breathability, it's also sensitive to sun fading.
Acrylic – in terms of properties, acrylic is very similar to wool. Additionally, it doesn't wrinkle. However, due to its structure, it's not breathable and easily pills.
Why Are Fabric Blends Added?
As you can see, every fibre has its advantages and disadvantages. When it's breathable, it's also usually stiff and tends to wrinkle. If it's durable and friction-resistant, it tends to create static. Therefore, mixing fabrics in appropriate proportions allows you to retain the advantages of each.
In the clothing industry, mixing materials in garments isn't a new practice. The primary goal is to give the material new properties that make chosen garments, such as an elegant dress for girls, more comfortable for daily wear. Very often, this also reduces production costs. However, in the final analysis, the customer benefits most.
How does this work in practice? Here are a few examples:
- Adding elastane to cotton or linen clothing makes them less stiff and more durable, whilst also providing better body fit
- Models with wool blends wrinkle less during wear
- Adding polyester reduces the tendency for garments to shrink
Of course, such solutions aren't perfect, and adding synthetic fibre will reduce the material's breathability, for instance. However, the benefits of using it are significantly greater. Sometimes it's worth sacrificing one hundred percent breathability for the other advantages of synthetic material.
So are synthetic fibres in children's clothing something completely forbidden? No, as long as they don't constitute the majority of the material composition. The most important thing is to buy girls' dresses where natural fabrics still dominate. This way, you can have wonderful and comfortable garments.
Also, take a look at our other articles on similar topics:
- Girls' Wedding Dress Colours 2025 – Ireland
- Boho Wedding Dresses for Girls – Ireland 2025
- Elegant Dresses for Girls: Style Guide – Ireland
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