sheridancomputers

[iamthepulta]

It's suddenly very important that I estimate the price tags and availability of every possible fabric commonly available to normal middle-class Londoners in the Neath vs Albion. We are going to rank these based on cost and likelihood of availability.

10/10 availability means it's easy to produce, distribute, and useful. 10/10 price means it's expensive.

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LINEN: Antibacterial, breathable, durable, dries quickly. However, has a lengthy drying, curing process along with separating it from the flax fiber. Linen grows in wet, windy climates and needs water for processing.

Could probably be grown in the Neath with appropriate lighting installed(?) Likely has a high cost to export to the skies (if trade route exists). Could maybe be grown in the Reach?? Would require space and appropriate conditions.

Rating: 5/10 . Price: 4/10

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COTTON: Increasing prevalence due to the cheapness for nasty colonial reasons. However, requires extensive space and water to grow, along with a hot, humid climate. The textile itself is slow to dry and prone to mildew.

Requires a hot climate and plenty of water. I vote only the surface could produce it, and then, only Skies inhabitants would wear it because it's incompatible with the Neath.

Rating: 2/10 . Price: 10/10 after all the taxes.

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WOOL: Normal textile. Renewable, breathable, odor resistant. Available: Wherever sheep, goats, rabbits, alpacas, etc. can be bred.

Goats will eat anything man. Some wool animals do not necessarily require light, and can be bred over time for low light levels. Friendship work pets! Would thrive alright in the Reach and they're already on Shepherd's Isles if I remember right. I assume wool would be cheap after extensive cultivation.

Rating: 10/10 . Price: 2/10

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MUSHROOMS: I'm just researching this. Apparently it's a new, sustainable fabric people are exploring; mushroom textiles/mycelium is bacteria-resistant and breathable. However, I think the mycelium is literally grown to fit your body...? It seems like the company's selling point is the decrease in time from not sewing the object. (If I'm reading the website correctly.) This seems stupid honestly. You can already make plywood from mushrooms with some processing since the stems have cellulose similar to wood. Just treat it like you do bamboo textiles/rayon. I could be reading the articles wrong.

Mushroom fabric could be available both in the Neath and the Skies. Processing necessary unless you're doing it the stupid way, which you know what, I bet some rich fucker does want a one-piece mushroom suit grown to their body.

Rating: 4/10 . Price: 5/10 ... (One-piece: Rating: 1/10 . Price: 8/10)

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(Leather under the cut. Not a huge fan but realized it would also be available and was important at the time. Plus, I stumbled onto the development of chromium tanning in the 1850s so if anyone is interested there's a brief write-up on that. However, don't read otherwise. Wool is hands-down the best textile resource available. Leather is a 2/10 . 2/10.)

LEATHER: Leather requires processing since you have to remove water molecules from the collagen (proteins) of the skin. Only removing the water from the skin makes it dry and stiff, but if you soak the skin in tannin to replace the water molecules instead of just removing them, you can prevent the stiffening.

Tanning usually took 1-2 months until 1858 when chromium salts were found to also replace collagen. Chromium tanning only takes one or two days, but causes massive environmental and physical damage due to chromium being a respiratory tract irritant and carcinogenic. Vegetable tannins are frequently used now, but chromium tanning still makes up a majority of the industry due to it being so cheap.

The benefits of leather are primarily the longevity and repairability. It's not breathable, it's not... pretty much anything except tough, and it takes a lot of effort to produce. The only thing going for it in the Fallen London universe would be the potential use of a resource going to waste.

However, given this is Fallen London in industrial 1860s England and nobody cares about anything + the assumptions made about wool up above, I bet leather could be used for shoes and tools/items rather than wearable garments. It might not be as prolific as wool simply because it's not as suitable for the environment, but it would technically be a resource going to waste if they couldn't use it. Could also be more useful in Skies.

Rating: 2/10 . Price: 2/10