What Is Viscose? Is Viscose Fabric Good, Safe and Sustainable?

October 22, 2026 C.B. Shaw

What is viscose fabric? Viscose is a man-made fiber that starts as wood. Wood pulp gets dissolved in chemicals and squeezed out through tiny holes into a bath that turns it back into solid thread. The thread is then spun and woven or knit into cloth. Because the raw material is plant cellulose, people call it “plant-based,” but because it takes a chemical factory to make it, it is not the same as cotton or linen. Rayon is the other name for it. Viscose and rayon are the same family of fiber with two different names, and the rest of this post explains why.

If you have ever stared at a clothing tag and wondered whether viscose is good, bad or somehow both, you are in the right place. The honest answer is “both, depending on how it was made,” and we are going to show our work, because fiber marketing is one of the most confusing corners of shopping.

How do you turn a tree into a shirt?

Explained like we are ten: imagine making spaghetti out of sawdust. You cannot just squish sawdust into noodles, so you first dissolve it into a thick, honey-like goo, then push the goo through a showerhead into a bath that hardens it into strands. Viscose works the same way, with more chemistry and fewer carbs.

Here is the actual process, in plain steps, based on Wikipedia's description of rayon:

Wood pulp is treated with sodium hydroxide, a strong alkali, to make alkali cellulose.
That is treated with carbon disulfide, which turns it into a thick goo called sodium cellulose xanthate. This syrupy stuff is where the name “viscose” comes from, since viscous means thick and sticky.
The goo is pushed through tiny holes (like a showerhead) into a bath of sulfuric acid. The acid turns the cellulose back into solid fiber, a step called regeneration.

That is why the fiber is called “regenerated cellulose.” The European Union's textile rules define viscose as a regenerated cellulose fiber obtained by the viscose process. Wikipedia calls rayon a “semi-synthetic” fiber, and that is the best word for it: not plain natural like cotton and not plain synthetic like polyester. It is a natural material that has been chemically remade.

A short history: artificial silk with a wood habit

The viscose story starts in Britain. Charles Cross and Edward Bevan took out a British patent in 1892, and Wikipedia names Clayton Beadle as a collaborator. A museum guide to synthetic garments says viscose rayon was patented in 1892 by Cross, Bevan and Beadle and became commercially available in 1905 from Courtaulds, a British textile company. Wikipedia dates Courtaulds' first commercial viscose rayon to November 1905. The very first uses were humble: braids and trimmings.

Marketers soon found a better pitch. Because viscose has a high sheen, it was sold as “artificial silk.” A conservation reference from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston lists a pile of other names for the same material: rayon, viscose, regenerated cellulose, artificial silk and wood silk. So if you ever wonder how many different words the fabric world can invent for the same thing, the answer is at least five.

Viscose, rayon, modal and lyocell: who is related to whom?

This is the part that confuses everyone, so here is the family tree.

Name	What it is	Key difference
Rayon	The general name in the US for regenerated cellulose fiber	Includes viscose
Viscose	Rayon made by the viscose process	Uses carbon disulfide and a sulfuric acid bath
Modal	A modified viscose fiber with high strength when wet	Made by a modified viscose process. “Modal” is a Lenzing trademark.
Lyocell	Regenerated cellulose made by a different process	Pulp is dissolved directly in a solvent called NMMO. No carbon disulfide. Tencel is the Lenzing brand name (from 1992).

On labels, US rules (the FTC) use generic fiber names, and “rayon” is a recognized one. The FTC says the international term “viscose” is the predominant form of rayon and that you may use either name, and it lists lyocell as a subcategory of rayon. In the EU, the rules list viscose, modal and lyocell as separate named fibers. So a tag that says “rayon” in a US store and “viscose” in a European one is probably describing the same sort of fiber.

Wikipedia adds two useful notes on lyocell. About 99 percent of its solvent is typically recovered and reused, which is the “closed loop” people mention. But it also says the process is energy-intensive, that the solvent is a petrochemical, and that claims of better wrinkle resistance are unsupported. In other words, lyocell is a different and in some ways tidier process, not a magic one.

How does viscose feel and wear?

Viscose is loved for its drape and its softness. A museum source describes it as having a high sheen, a soft handle and good drape. Wikipedia describes rayon as soft, smooth, cool and highly absorbent. It absorbs moisture well: a conservation reference lists its moisture regain at about 11 to 16.6 percent, which is more than cotton's 7 to 8.5. If you want the full explanation of moisture regain, our post on cotton vs polyester blends covers it.

It has weak spots too, and they are worth knowing before you buy:

It loses strength when wet. The museum source says viscose loses about half its strength when wet, and the conservation reference lists wet strength at roughly 1.0 to 1.5 grams per denier compared with 2.0 to 2.6 when dry. Treat wet viscose gently.
It can shrink and wrinkle. Wikipedia says rayon has the lowest elastic recovery of any fiber, which is the closest thing in our sources to a wrinkling statement, and notes that stronger “polynosic” rayons do not shrink or get pulled out of shape when wet like many rayons, which implies regular ones can.
Care can be fussy. The museum source recommends dry cleaning for viscose, and Wikipedia says regular viscose is dry-clean only while high-wet-modulus rayon can be machine washed. Always follow the garment's own care label.

Is viscose biodegradable?

Better than polyester, as far as the evidence goes. A 2024 peer-reviewed seawater study (Hassan et al., in Water, Air, & Soil Pollution) found that viscose degraded readily, while polyester, nylon and polypropylene showed virtually no biodegradation. A museum source adds the fine print: viscose is biodegradable under optimum conditions, but dyes and finishes can slow that down. So “biodegradable” is a fair description of the fiber, with the usual caveat that a dyed, finished garment is not the same as raw fiber, and one seawater study is not the whole story.

The part nobody puts on the tag: forests

Here is where viscose gets complicated. The raw material is wood, and wood comes from forests. Canopy, an environmental group that campaigns on this exact issue, reported in 2016 that all of the top ten viscose producers had been linked to ancient or endangered forests between 2010 and 2016, though nine of the ten had since committed to ending that kind of sourcing, and together they make about 70 percent of production. Canopy also says more than 120 million trees a year are logged for textiles.

The story has improved since. Canopy's 2018 “Hot Button” ranking gave its top rating to Lenzing, Birla Cellulose and ENKA, which together made up 28 percent of supply, found that producers with policies covered close to 75 percent of capacity, and said 54 percent of supply had been audited through its CanopyStyle program, which launched in 2013. By October 2020, a trade outlet reported Canopy saying more than half of global viscose supply, 52 percent, was verified low risk for ancient and endangered forest, though the article did not explain the method.

Two honest caveats. Canopy is an advocacy group, so these are its findings and rankings, and we did not find a newer set of numbers than 2020. And “verified low risk” is a lot better than “unknown,” but it is not the same as “no impact.” What it does tell you is that the sourcing of viscose is a real, tracked issue, and that it varies a lot by producer.

The part nobody puts on the tag: the factory

Remember the carbon disulfide in the recipe? It is a chemical with a real health record. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), part of the US Centers for Disease Control, says long-term breathing of it at work has been linked to nervous system effects, cardiovascular disease, retinal damage and impaired male sexual function, and notes it is mostly used to produce rayon.

That does not mean every viscose factory is dangerous. A 1976 report from the US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on one American viscose plant found no evidence of excessive exposure. Outcomes depend on how well a plant controls the chemical. Wikipedia notes that recovery systems using carbon beds can cut emissions by about 90 percent, and gives an older figure of about 250 grams of carbon disulfide emitted per kilogram of rayon from a 2004 source, which we could not confirm against a primary source.

The more troubling reports come from places where controls are weaker. In 2017, the consumer magazine Ethical Consumer reported on an investigation by the Changing Markets Foundation in Indonesia, China and India that found factories dumping toxic wastewater, villagers worried about their well water and fishermen affected, and linked carbon disulfide to serious illnesses in workers. It named factories belonging to Aditya Birla and Lenzing in West Java. That is an NGO's investigation as relayed by a magazine, from 2017, and we are passing it along as a reported concern, not a proven finding about any single company today. Ethical Consumer also reported that about 7 percent of clothes are viscose and that 11 companies control 75 percent of production.

So is viscose “bad”?

No, and it is not “good” either. It depends on who made it and where the wood came from. Here is the fair summary:

Plus: it is made from a renewable plant material, it feels soft and drapes beautifully, it absorbs moisture well, and it biodegrades better than polyester in the one seawater study we found.
Minus: it is weak when wet, can be fussy to care for, depends on forests that were once sourced badly, and is made with a chemical that is hazardous without good controls.
The honest middle: the better-managed producers and the lyocell process address some of these problems, but those claims come from the producers and from advocacy groups, and we cannot independently verify any one mill.

Viscose myths, busted

Myth: “Viscose is plastic.” No. It is regenerated plant cellulose. It is “semi-synthetic,” which is not the same as petroleum-based polyester.
Myth: “Viscose is a natural fiber like cotton.” Not quite either. It comes from a natural material but needs a chemical process to become fiber.
Myth: “Viscose, rayon and artificial silk are different fabrics.” Same fiber family, different names.
Myth: “Tencel is totally different from viscose.” Half true. Tencel is Lenzing's brand name for lyocell, which is made by a different process (see the table above). But lyocell is still regenerated cellulose, so it is a cousin, not a stranger.
Myth: “All viscose is destroying forests.” Overstated. Sourcing has been improving, and more than half of supply was reported as verified low risk in 2020.
Myth: “All viscose is eco-friendly.” Also overstated. Outcomes vary by producer and wood source.

What do we sell with viscose or lyocell in it?

We believe in telling you exactly what is in a shirt. In our store, viscose shows up in one piece: the unisex striped panel boxy long sleeve tee, which is 42.7 percent viscose, 39.3 percent cotton, 12.8 percent acrylic and 5.2 percent spandex, at 250 gsm (7.4 oz). We also use lyocell, the cousin made through a different process, in the women's quiet minds boxy raw hem tee (80 percent cotton, 20 percent lyocell, 310 gsm) and the women's vintage wash wide leg jeans (80 percent cotton, 20 percent lyocell, 420 gsm). We do not have producer-level sourcing information for these fibers, and we would rather tell you that than make up a green claim.

Questions people ask

What is viscose fabric made of?

Wood pulp. The pulp is dissolved in chemicals, pushed through tiny holes into an acid bath that turns it back into solid fiber, and then spun into thread. The result is called regenerated cellulose.

Is viscose the same as rayon?

Yes, essentially. Viscose is the most common type of rayon. The US Federal Trade Commission says you may use either name on a label.

Is viscose natural or synthetic?

Neither, exactly. Wikipedia calls rayon semi-synthetic. It starts from a natural material, wood pulp, but takes a chemical process to become fiber.

Is viscose plastic?

No. Viscose is made from plant cellulose, not petroleum. Polyester is the plastic fiber.

What is the difference between viscose, modal and lyocell?

All three are regenerated cellulose. Modal is a modified viscose with higher strength when wet. Lyocell uses a different process that dissolves pulp in a solvent called NMMO and does not use carbon disulfide, with most of the solvent typically recovered and reused.

Is viscose biodegradable?

A 2024 seawater study found viscose degraded readily while polyester, nylon and polypropylene showed virtually no biodegradation. Dyes and finishes can slow breakdown.

Is viscose sustainable?

It depends on the producer. Canopy reported in 2020 that more than half of global supply was verified low risk for ancient and endangered forest, but it also found that the top producers were linked to such forests between 2010 and 2016.

Is viscose bad for your health?

We did not find a source showing that wearing finished viscose clothing is harmful. The documented health concern is carbon disulfide exposure for factory workers over the long term, according to the CDC's ATSDR.

Is viscose breathable?

Wikipedia describes rayon as soft, smooth, cool and highly absorbent, and a conservation reference lists its moisture regain at about 11 to 16.6 percent.

Does viscose shrink?

It can. Wikipedia notes that stronger polynosic rayons do not shrink or get pulled out of shape when wet like many rayons, which implies regular ones may. Follow the care label.

Can you machine wash viscose?

It depends. Wikipedia says regular viscose is dry-clean only, while high-wet-modulus rayon can be machine washed. A museum source recommends dry cleaning. Always check the care label.

Why does viscose get weak when wet?

A museum source says viscose loses about half its strength when wet. A conservation reference lists wet strength at roughly 1.0 to 1.5 grams per denier, compared with 2.0 to 2.6 when dry.

Is viscose the same as Tencel?

No. Tencel is Lenzing's brand name for lyocell, which is made by a different process from viscose.

Who invented viscose?

Charles Cross and Edward Bevan patented the process in Britain in 1892, with Clayton Beadle named as a collaborator. Courtaulds began commercial production in 1905.

Do you sell viscose clothing?

One piece: the unisex striped panel boxy long sleeve tee, at 42.7 percent viscose. We also use lyocell in two other pieces. Every fiber percentage is on the product page.