Suitable
What is Viscose?
Viscose is a fine, smooth fabric with the wearing comfort of cotton and the softness of silk. That is why the fabric is sometimes also known as artificial silk or rayon. To make viscose, wood chips from beech, pine and eucalyptus wood are treated with chemicals. The result is a semi-synthetic fibre: the raw material is natural, the processing is not.
Properties of viscose
From this fibre you make airy, supple and absorbent garments. The fabric is also colourfast, glossy and anti-static. Viscose, however, does not resist creasing well and can shrink in the wash, which is exactly why the fabric is often combined with polyester. You mostly find viscose in sweaters, T-shirts, trousers and shirts.
Viscose or cotton?
It is not that one is better than the other; they do different things. Viscose falls more softly and has a sheen, so it drapes more beautifully than cotton. Cotton, on the other hand, is sturdier, can take more washes and creases less quickly than viscose. For an airy summer shirt that falls nicely viscose is a fine choice; for a garment you wear daily and wash often, cotton is the more obvious choice.
How sustainable is viscose?
The starting material is renewable, because wood grows back. The objection lies in the processing: heavy chemicals are involved, and these can end up in the environment if a factory does not handle them carefully. It is also not always clear where the wood comes from. If you want to avoid that caveat, look at lyocell: the same raw material, but produced in a closed system in which the solvents are reused.