Gotta love how really soft t-shirts can make it easy to represent your interests in total comfort! Recently, I wanted to buy a couple of new shirts specifically to show my pride in living in St. Louis to wear as I went to SXSW (some tips I wrote for SXSW attendees).

I did a lot of searches for local companies and found some great designs and immediately went to see what styles of shirts they could put it on. There were shirts that proclaimed a love of St. Louis foods (so many great ones!) and our pride in diversity.

As I looked through the details though, it looked like all the shirts were a cotton-polyester blend. This has become more common than I want to acknowledge since I am a huge fan of the breathability of cotton and prefer natural fibers.

It was the same on some other big websites recently.

Somewhere along the line, marketing and positioning of certain blends have been taken to be the softest t-shirts. I get that in the store on day one it may feel softer than some cotton t-shirts but I take the broader look.

Quality cotton t-shirts only get softer and comfier as they get worn whereas blends can tend to pilling showing the wear. And ring-spun cotton has such an amazing feel just because of the type of machine that makes the fabric!

I decided to reach out to the small business knowing they print shirts to order. They said they would check the possibilities. I never got options from that company, but I did find some soft t-shirts sharing my love of cotton & St. Louis that I am going to enjoy for the long term.

And I will keep asking for 100 percent cotton options… and sharing the love of soft t-shirts old and new!

The post In Search of Really Soft T-Shirts appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

I’ll confess, I love the casual wear that cotton has turned me onto. You may know how Lee Jeans won my heart and hips. But for work and other occasions that tend to need a different look, I frequently turn to cotton dresses. Sadly, as I am shopping far too often the fabric doesn’t live up to my touch test so I have found trusted sources to return to. 

Some links in this post may result in my getting a commission if you make any purchases. 

Why cotton dresses?

There are a range of fibers available these days for sure. Cotton dresses are the way to go for several reasons.

• Wash & wear — Being able to wash and wear these from home or even quickly launder them when I’m on the road.
• Breathability — Whether you are dressing for a hot & humid summer day or headed to a conference where you need to wear a blazer, having the ability to be comfortable and better regulate your temperature is good. Layering always works well when you talk natural fibers.
• Travel friendly — When you travel as much as I do, you think about how well your clothes travel — that means both how they do when you are pulling them out of a suitcase to wear and that you don’t mind darting through an airport in if needed.
• Layers work well — Lots of people put these away as fall and winter arrive. Not me! With a denim jacket or a blazer, it takes the look up a notch and is still comfortable. That works with air conditioning or if someone has way too much heat blowing, that jacket slides off and I still look good.

I have tried a variety of brands and while a few times I’ve bought something. In the last few years though, I have found a brand that offers good styles & colors with a reasonable price tag. And I love that I can simply drop by a local store rather than buying them in a limited time sell online. Though I also love ordering a few online from time to time, love knowing what to expect in sizing, quality, etc. 

The Best Cotton Dresses

I have two favorites. One I order online and one I can stumble into in a store locally. 

There are a few things that stand out for me with both:

• Diversity of cuts — In the past few years I have found sundresses, maxi dresses and several other cuts. I’ve also found denim skirts and dresses all through the product line.
• Quality that lasts — I’ve found the quality of the fabric and dyes stick with me. In fact, people sometimes ask if what I’m wearing is new because the colors are sharp and the fabric shows no wear despite numerous runs through the washer and dryer.

Online, my go to dress site is Svaha. I go back time and time again. They have smart and fun patterns in their line. I have some that people think are cool prints and when they look closer they get cooler cause it shares something related to science, writing, etc. And their dresses all have pockets ya’ll. And I probably bought more than half a dozen dresses and several pairs of leggings before I realized I could make a commission of any kind!

Locally, the brand I’m talking about is Chaps by Ralph Lauren and it is sold at Kohl’s. (This post isn’t sponsored but they are welcome to reach out as I wear so much of it I’m definitely an authentic ambassador. I could use more though!) For me, I like that the dresses both look fresh and classic. The colors are in the parts of the color spectrum that stick with you season after season. Classic blues, reds, greens, etc rather than the hot new fluorescent.

And as anyone who goes to Kohl’s knows, it is possible to find things on sale or where Kohl’s cash is part of the equation.

What’s your favorite cotton brand for business / nice casual dresses?

The post Finding Great Cotton Dresses for Year-Round Wear appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.

It been a couple of years since a college kid seemed to stumble into my social media world. Okay, other college kids stumble in, but this one — Kelly Rivard took up residency! I got to know Kelly through Twitter (@kmrivard) and before long she was appearing all around me! Facebook, Skype, the now nearly forgotten Google Buzz and blogging (you really should check out https://kellymrivard.com). Its been great watching her grow as a person, as a communicator and as a member of a dynamic social media community I love being part of.

When I put out the request for guest posts about cotton, Kelly let me know early she was trying to decide which direction she wanted to go with it. She had a few ideas she was mulling around and she wanted to settle in on just the right one. Well, she hit this one out of the park if you ask me! She’s found a way of showing who she is and how cotton is the fabric of her life in a way that nobody else could do. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I’m at a stage in my life where I am almost constantly on the go. I juggle different jobs and career-building gigs, a heavy class load, homework, and all the mental strain of wondering where life will take me. There’s of course the demands and desire for a fairly functional social life, too, and volunteer projects, and family obligations. College is exhausting. I think I figured out that at one point in time in my senior year, I was regularly putting in a 70-hour “work week” with jobs, homework, and class. Needless to say, sleep is rare.

I have these “happy places” that allow me to escape from the stresses of college life. They allow me to shut off the world and just “be.” One such place is the creek on my parents’ property. Another is the westward facing deck on my childhood home, where I can watch storms roll in and the sun sink down. My most consistent de-stressing location?

My bed.

I’m a college kid. Let’s be serious here: if I could get paid to nap, it would be my full-time job. If I could take all my classes from here, you betcha I would. As much as I love to get gussied up and impress the world, sometimes sweatpants and a flannel hand-sewn quilt from my grandma just sounds “right.”

I’m picky about my sheets. I like the “t-shirt sheets.” You know, the ones that are pre-softened and a little thicker than normal cotton sheets? It’s like wearing your favorite worn-in t-shirt from that concert you went to years ago, every time you crawl into bed. And my quilt here at school? It’s one of those hand-sawn grandma quilts. You know the type…you can use them forever and ever, even when there’s a split seam or two. They just seem to get warmer and more fluffy with age. I’ve got two of them here at school with me, one made of a lighter cotton and one made of the softest most cuddliest flannel on the face of the earth.

Yeah, you’re jealous.

(Sidenote: my sister is notorious for stealing other people’s grandma quilts. My grandma made about 20 of them in one year and give a quilt to everyone in our family for Christmas. Grandma quilts abound, and if you can’t find one it’s normally because my sister has stolen it.)

Cotton really is the fabric of my life. It’s my safe little warm cocoon of happiness here at school. My cotton grandma quilts are always here to offer a warm hug of comfort and support, even when my family is a hundred (or more) miles away. And, my relationship with cotton goes much further than this. I’m a jeans-and-t-shirt kinda gal, so in a way these cotton articles are a part of my identity. Some of my favorite keepsakes from my late father are the paisley cotton hankies that he always had poking out of one (or more) pockets. (He didn’t always remember if he had one or not, so he’d accrue them in different pockets over a working day as he happened across them.)

On that note, I should probably shake myself out of my “cocoon” and face the day. Sorry, cotton comfiness, until laying in bed is a high-paying professional sport, I need to find other ways to pay the bills!

You can read more stories of people sharing how cotton is the fabric of their life or read about how cotton is produced by checking out some of the other things on the blog.

The post Wanted: Job that Pays Well for Napping / Cocooning in Comfort appeared first on Hundred Percent Cotton.