Fabric & Care
The label on most premium scrubs reads something close to "72% polyester, 21% rayon, 7% spandex." LumiScrubs sits inside that band. Mandala lists 75/19/6. FIGS does not state a specific percentage publicly. These are not random ratios. They are the result of a few decades of trial-and-error in performance workwear. Here is what each component actually does, what goes wrong when the ratios are off, and what to look for past the marketing words.
Polyester — 70-76%
Polyester is the structural backbone. It does the un-glamorous work: it does not shrink, it holds color in commercial laundering, it resists pilling, it dries quickly. The reason almost every modern scrub blend lands in the 70-76% range is that this is where polyester does enough of the lifting without making the fabric feel plasticky to the hand. Below 65% you start to feel rayon dominance — nicer hand, worse durability. Above 80% you start to feel slick and stiff, and the moisture pickup gets uncomfortable on long shifts.
Rayon (viscose) — 18-22%
Rayon is the softness layer. It is what makes a polyester-heavy fabric feel like clothing instead of a tablecloth. It also takes dye beautifully — rich, deep, well-defined colors usually have a rayon component. But rayon has two weaknesses worth knowing:
- Wet strength. Rayon loses about 50% of its tensile strength when wet. That is why washing inside-out matters, and why high-heat dryers wear scrubs out faster than the percentages on the label suggest.
- Pilling. Rayon is the main contributor to thigh-area pilling on scrubs — the surface friction breaks short fibers and they ball up. ISO 12945-2 is the standard test method that grades fabric pilling 1 (worst) to 5 (best). Premium scrubs should test at Grade 4 or above. Most do at the start; the question is whether they hold up to 30 wash cycles.
Spandex (elastane) — 6-8%
Spandex gives the fabric its four-way stretch. Below 5% you can tell — the fabric does not move with you when you crouch by a patient or reach overhead. Above 9% the fabric starts to lose recovery (it sags after a wash). 6-8% is the sweet spot, which is why nearly every premium scrub blend lands in that band.
One thing to watch: spandex degrades under heat. Hot dryer cycles, hot iron, even very hot wash water gradually destroy elastane. This is the real reason scrubs "lose their shape" over time — it is not the polyester or rayon, it is the spandex slowly failing.
Finishes matter as much as the fibers
The fiber blend is roughly the same across the premium category. What differentiates premium scrubs from cheap white-label scrubs is the finishing chemistry applied after the fabric is constructed:
- Water-repellent treatment. A surface coating that makes liquid bead off rather than absorbing. The chemistry families to look for are PFAS-free fluorine-free repellents (DWR alternatives such as BIONIC-FINISH ECO class treatments). PFAS-free matters environmentally and increasingly to procurement teams.
- Anti-pilling. A silicone-based softening finish or a fiber-twist optimization that resists pilling. Premium scrubs should test Grade 4 or above on ISO 12945-2 after 30 wash cycles, not just at first use.
- Lint resistance. A small but real factor — especially in vet and pediatric environments. Smooth-twist polyester picks up far less lint than rough-twist.
What we deliberately leave out, on purpose, is any claim about killing surface bacteria. Regulators have been increasingly aggressive about quantitative bacteria-control claims on workwear that is not registered as a treated article. We will not litigate the way some brands have. If you want surface bacteria control on your scrubs, follow your facility’s washing protocol — that does the actual work.
How to read a scrub product page
When you look at a product page from us or a competitor, ask:
- Is the exact fiber percentage listed? If not, the fabric quality is undisclosed.
- What finishes are stated, in plain language?
- Is the wash care label aggressive (cold only, no softener) or permissive (any wash)? The strict label is usually the more honest one.
- Does the brand state pilling test grade, or just "wash-tested"?
Our PDPs follow the same checklist. If a spec is not on our page, it is because we will not put a number on it that we cannot stand behind. That is the honest direction.
