And as hair glides over silk (as opposed to creating friction with cotton), it is also less prone to forming knots and tangles.

WSJ: Better Beauty Sleep

Nano-Tex, a leading company in the field, has developed processes that make traditional cotton and silk fabrics resistant to spills that would normally ruin clothing.

NPR: Nanotech in Fashion: The Trend in New Fabrics

In addition to natural fibers like cotton, silk and wool, there are now a wide variety of synthetics on the shelves.

NPR: Nanotech in Fashion: The Trend in New Fabrics

There, she scooped up swatches of cotton, linen, denim and imitation silk--the real stuff is unkind to silkworms--and took them to Italian shoemakers.

FORBES: Magazine Article

The techniques, symbolism and culture surrounding hand-dyed cotton and silk garments known as Indonesian Batik permeate the lives of Indonesians from beginning to end: infants are carried in batik slings decorated with symbols designed to bring the child luck, and the dead are shrouded in funerary batik.

UNESCO: Culture

Produced in cotton, rayon and parachute nylon, as well as silk, the scarves were intended to brighten up post-war wardrobes with bold colours and patterns.

ECONOMIST: Henry Moore's fabrics

And understand that even a single wearing (or probably a lot of try-ons with your new sweater) means your natural-fiber clothes (wool, silk, cotton, cashmere, fur including blends) are no longer sterile when it comes to insects.

WSJ: Ask Teri: How to Keep Moths From Eating Sweaters