Fabric against skin

A gusset is the panel at the crotch of a garment, usually a separate piece and often a different fibre from the rest. Its purpose is to put an absorbent, breathable material against the most enclosed part of the body, whatever the rest of the garment is made of. A lace garment with a cotton gusset is a sensible design. A fully synthetic one without a gusset is a garment optimised for a photograph.

Chafing is caused by a seam under tension moving repeatedly against skin. The fix is structural rather than dermatological: flat seams, bonded edges rather than tight elastic, and a size that does not put the seam under load. A garment that has caused a sore patch once will cause it again, because the geometry has not changed.

Lace is an open network held together by tension between threads. That makes it breathable and fragile in equal measure, and it means the finish of the edge matters more than the pattern. A scalloped edge that is soft to the fingertip stays comfortable; a stiff cut edge does not, whatever the garment costs.

1. Cool water, no more than thirty degrees.
2. A mild detergent without optical brighteners or fabric softener.
3. Hand wash or a mesh bag on a delicate cycle.
4. Dry flat and out of direct heat.

Fabric softener is the least obvious mistake on that list. It works by depositing a thin film on fibres, which reduces absorbency in exactly the panel where absorbency was the point. Skipping it entirely improves both the garment and the environment against skin.

For anyone whose skin objects regardless of fibre, the wash routine is often the real culprit rather than the garment, and the allergies page works through the usual sources.

Colour comes from dye, and dye is a common source of contact reactions, particularly in dark shades on synthetic fibres. Anti odour finishes based on silver or similar compounds are another. For anyone reacting to garments regardless of fibre, undyed or pale cotton without a performance finish is the sensible baseline to test against.