Mad about Modal

We’re often asked by our customers if our nightwear is made from 100% cotton and the
simple answer, in most cases, is no it isn’t. We’ve got nothing against pure cotton fabrics
but a long time ago, we realised there’s a better way. One of our preferred alternatives to
100% cotton is modal and we tend to use it in blended with cotton or viscose.
We realise many of our customers may not be familiar with modal and a quick google search
will reveal that it’s a semi-synthetic fabric, which may sound like an unusual fabric to use,
instead of natural cotton. So, what’s all the fuss about and what is modal?

Modal was developed in the 1960’s by an Austrian company called Lenzing who’ve been
producing it for over 75 years. It’s what technical people would call a cellulosic fibre which
means it starts from a natural source. It’s made using wood pulp, mostly from Beechwood,
but is produced in a similar way to synthetic fibres such as nylon. The big difference is that
the processes and chemicals used to make modal are environmentally friendly.

So why would we use modal mixed with cotton in our fabrics, rather than just use cotton on

its own? To help our customers understand why we choose to and firmly believe in using
modal, we’ve pulled together a quick low-down on the great benefits it can offer you, as the
customer.

Bright colours and beautiful shine – Modal takes colour really well and you get a really
great depth of shade rather than the flat appearance, often associated with cotton or linen.
It also has a lovely shine. Not the kind that you can almost see your face in but a subtle
lustre that gives it a similar sheen to silk.

It goes with the flow – Fabrics made with modal tend to have good drape, which means
they have a very fluid feel to them. For those of us making garments, this is a great quality.
It means that it gently falls around the body, moves with you and is very flattering.

It stands the test of time – Those beautiful colours we talked about earlier are here to stay
because modal fabrics not only take colour very well, they hold onto it too. This means that
even after repeated washing and tumble drying, pyjamas with modal content will still look
great. If you missed it above, the other great news is that modal is also tumble dryable and
what’s more, it has really low shrinkage rates in comparison to its natural competitors.
Modal is also a bit of a tough cookie and is unlikely to break down through wash and wear.

Comfort and softness come as standard – Naturally soft and comfortable, modal fabrics
also have benefits that you can’t see but can definitely feel. It’s naturally a cool fabric to
wear and is breathable. For nightwear, these are great qualities and can help to get a great
night’s sleep. In our book, there’s not much worse than feeing hot and uncomfortable at
night. Anecdotally, many of our customers with irritated skin tell us that the gentle, cool
feel of our modal blend fabrics really help and many eczema sufferers have also told that
they feel the benefits too.

It’s kind to the world around us – As we mentioned at the start, modal is made from
sustainable wood pulp and produced using environmentally friendly chemical processes but
it goes further than this, in its impact on our world. Modal is also compostable and
biodegradable making it one of the kindest fabrics to our environment. If you add it that it
also has a tendency to last longer than some of its rivals, modal really does make a great
ethical choice.