Amazing Fleece

This week we are celebrating products made from fleece -- one of my favorite materials.

This stuff is really amazing. It's a soft, napped, insulating synthetic fabric usually made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Lightweight, it's highly breathable and machine washable.

It's been around since 1979 and was created to be a light, strong fabric meant to mimic and in some ways surpass wool. It has some of wool's best qualities but weighs much less than even the lightest wools.

According to Wikipedia.org it's inventor, Aaron Feuerstein, intentionally declined to patent fleece so that the material could be produced cheaply and widely by many manufacturers, promoting the fabric's acceptance.

It worked.

Fleece is a very popular material for a wide range of products -- jackets, hoodies, hats, shirts, workout clothes and blankets. Many of the members of my son's high school band bring the hooded, robe-like Snuggies to wear during down time at competitions. Keeps them nice and warm and are easy to pack away.

Mind you, they look a little dorky.