Dear Gigante: why don’t you just use acrylic like everyone else?
By Fernando Santos
“Dear Gigante, honest question: why don’t you just use acrylic like everyone else? It’s cheaper, it’s washable, half the giant-knitting world runs on it. Are you making life hard for no reason?”
Great question, and I’ll answer it straight, starting with a confession: I sell wool, so weigh everything that follows accordingly. But I’ll give you the honest maths, including the bits that don’t flatter me.
First, in acrylic’s defence
Acrylic is genuinely good at things. It’s cheap, it’s everywhere, it’s easy-care, it’s vegan, and it’s brilliant for a first make, a kids’ blanket, or a fast, joyful project you want finished by the weekend. Anyone who tells you acrylic is beneath them is telling you more about themselves than about the yarn.
I know, because I’ve been on the wrong end of exactly that. I once tried to offer acrylic alongside my wool, so people would simply have the choice. I reached out to a big supplier to partner up, and the reply I got was so faintly sneering that I quietly closed the tab and never pursued it. The irony still makes me laugh: I’ve built my whole business on natural wool, and it was the acrylic company that turned its nose up. So if you think yarn comes with a side of snobbery, I’ve tasted it too, and I’ve no interest in serving it to you.
So why do I stick with wool? Because of what happens after the make
Here’s the honest maths. A big acrylic cardigan is cheaper on day one, no argument. But acrylic has very little memory, so at this scale, under its own weight, a chunky acrylic piece tends to stretch, sag and go bobbly over time. Wool springs back. It holds the shape you knitted, it breathes, it keeps you warm, and it ages into something you hand down rather than something you replace.
So it really comes down to what you’re buying for. If the deciding factor is the price on the day, acrylic is a smart, sensible choice and I’d never talk you out of it. If the deciding factor is keeping the thing for years, that’s where wool quietly pays you back, one wear at a time.
Acrylic for fast, cheap and cheerful. Wool for the one you’ll still be reaching for in ten years.
Natural, responsible, and certified to prove it
Here is the reason that matters to me most. Wool grew on a sheep, it is renewable, and one day it will quietly return to the earth. Acrylic is essentially plastic: made from oil, shedding tiny plastic fibres into the water every time you wash it, and lingering for a very long time after you are done with it. Given the choice, I will take the fibre that grew over the fibre that was drilled.
And “natural” is not just a nice word on a swing tag here, because I can show my working. Our Corriedale is independently certified to Oeko-Tex Standard 100 and meets EN71-3, the same safety standard used for children’s toys. In plain terms: it has been tested for harmful substances and it passed, so it is safe against your skin, and against a child’s. That is what responsible actually looks like. A natural fibre you can trace, certified kind to you now, and kind to the planet later.
So no, I’m not making life hard for no reason. I’m making a considered choice, and inviting you to make yours with your eyes open. Both are honest answers. Pick the one that fits the maker you are.
Keep reading
Why We Turned Down Merino for This Weird, Springy Wool Instead
The hardy fleece behind every Gigante knit, and why it holds its shape when others sag.
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