If you search the word "polyester" in Anthropologie's online site, 1,149 results come up. Search it at Sundance Catalog, & 287 results appear. Search Zara, & you'll find 2,872 poly items. Even at GAP, 1,585 items come up. Once shunned for its often-shiny, artificial texture, polyester has again come into its own over the past decade.
I roamed through polyester tops & dresses in the store at Anthropologie last weekend & was surprised to see how easy it is to confuse silk with polyester. It seems like polyester should cost a fraction of the cost of polyester, but they are priced similarly.
Variations on the theme Polyester is sometimes called crepe or chiffon. There's also "polyester cotton," "polyester silk," & "polyester velvet," all of which are not material mixes but different weaves of polyester that feel like cotton, silk, & velvet. And then there are all the athletic varieties--from high-tech, dry-fit fabrics down to good ole polar fleece.
The benefits of polyester are that it's strong & often super thin, & it doesn't wrinkle, making it the ideal fabric for layering, packing, & traveling. You can throw it in the wash, & it dries fast. Sometimes polyester is styled into sheer styles, which are pretty, cool, & feminine. It's become the norm for much athletic wear, jackets, vests. Polyester is vegan.
The drawbacks of polyester are that it's almost impossible to remove stains from it, & if it snags, you can't repair it.
Polyester is humanmade from a chemical process; you are putting chemicals against your skin, & polyester may pollute the environment. Producing most fabrics requires a huge expense in production, water, & waste.
I think poly's ok as long as you pair it with items made of other materials like cotton.
Do you own much polyester? Here are some of items I wear regularly that are 100% poly...