Is synthetic or faux fur made of nylon or polyester?

Name: Paula G.

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Dye polyester and poly/cotton blends

Country or region: South Africa

Message: Hello, I don't know whether Synthetic or Faux Fur is nylon or polyester. Please help, then I can go into your site properly. I use the fabric for making Teddy Bears.

Where do you buy it? If you buy it from a fabric store, the end of the bolt should have the fiber content listed on it—that is, if things are done in South Africa the same way that they are done in the US. The manufacturer or retailer should always be able to tell you the fiber content.

The reason why I can't just tell you outright is that there are different fur materials that are made of different fibers. It's always best to find out from the source if possible. If there is no other way to find out, you can snip a small fragment of the material and try a burn test, but it can be difficult to distinguish some synthetics from one another. (See the Ditzy Prints Burn Test Chart.)

A popular natural fiber fleece for making teddy bears is mohair, made from the hair of the Angora goat. It's more expensive than the synthetic alternatives, so a teddy bear made from mohair plush is a luxury item. Since mohair is an animal fiber, it is dyed like wool, using a type of dye called acid dye, named because it is applied with the use of a mild acid such as vinegar. See "About Acid Dyes"

There are fake furs and plush fabrics made of modacrylic, such as Kankalon; others are made of polyester, such as Silky Furry Fleece, or made of nylon, such as Antron fleece. To know what you have, you must consult whatever source sold you the material.

Finding dyes that work on synthetic fur will be much more difficult than finding good dyes for mohair and other natural fibers, in South Africa. As a general rule, the type of dye known as disperse dye will work on almost any synthetic fiber (not counting viscose rayon, which is essentially cellulose, like cotton). Disperse dye is good on acrylic, modacrylic, polyester, acetate, nylon, and other synthetics. You cannot use dyes that work on natural fibers on any of these fibers except for nylon. Nylon and rayon are the only easy-to-dye synthetic fibers. Nylon can be dyed with acid dyes or all-purpose dyes, and viscose rayon can be dyed with fiber reactive dyes, direct dyes, or all-purpose dyes, but other synthetics cannot be dyed with any dye other than disperse dye.

I do not know of any retailer who sells small quantities of disperse dye in South Africa. However, you might be able to find a retailer who sells dyes made by Jacquard Products, in suitably small quantities. The Jacquard Store Locater does not list any specific sources for their iDye Poly in South Africa, but, for South Africa, they say, "Too new to list! Give us a call and we'll make sure you find what you're looking for!". Their telephone number is (707) 433-9577, plus the country code for calling the United States.

Also see the October 10, 2010 entry in my blog, "Where to get dye for teddies in South Africa".

That answer is oriented more toward dyeing natural-fiber teddy bear fleece, rather than synthetic fleeces, because it is so much easier to dye a natural-fiber fleece.

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Posted: Tuesday - July 26, 2011 at 03:22 PM All About Hand Dyeing Q&A Previous Next

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