---
title: "What is a Button made of?"
description: "Usually cast polyester resin; the good ones are shell, nut or horn, and you can tell by touch and temperature. Every component, the material it uses, and the constra"
url: https://atoneplace.net/made-of/button/
site: "At One Place"
---

# What is a Button made of?

**What is a Button made of?: Usually cast polyester resin; the good ones are shell, nut or horn, and you can tell by touch and temperature.**

The fastest test for a natural button is temperature: shell, horn and corozo feel cool and take a moment to warm, while polyester and nylon are at room temperature immediately. Shell buttons are also noticeably heavier than plastic and have subtle variations in grain across a card of them. The other giveaway is the way a garment is finished — a spare button and hand-sewn shanks on a jacket suggest the maker paid for materials elsewhere too. Buttonholes are a separate craft: the tiny keyhole shape on a jacket sleeve exists to let the shank of the button sit without straining the fabric.

## Component by component

*Every material is a choice, and the third column is the constraint that drove it.*

| Part | Material | Why that material |
| --- | --- | --- |
| standard buttons | unsaturated polyester resin, cast in rods and sliced | It can be pigmented and patterned to imitate almost any natural material, then drilled and polished cheaply. |
| cheap buttons | urea or melamine resin, ABS, or nylon | Moulded thermoplastic buttons are the cheapest possible, but they scratch, and ABS ones melt against an iron. |
| shell buttons | mother of pearl, cut from trocas or river mussel shell | Nacre is hard, cool to the touch and iridescent; each button is slightly different because each shell is. |
| corozo | the dried seed of the tagua palm, sometimes called vegetable ivory | It is dense, takes dye deeply and machines like ivory, which is why it is the traditional choice on good tailoring. |
| metal buttons | zinc alloy, brass, or a covered shell over a base | A shank button holds the fabric off the garment so a thick coat can close without the button being levered off. |

## Other clothing and kit objects

- [Velcro (hook and loop)](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/velcro/) — Two nylon tapes — one of stiff hooks, one of soft loops — copied directly from burdock burrs.
- [Leather](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/leather/) — Animal hide whose collagen has been chemically stabilised so it cannot rot — usually with chromium salts.
- [Gore-Tex](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/gore-tex/) — A stretched PTFE membrane whose pores are far too small for a raindrop and far too big for a water vapour molecule.
- [Denim](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/denim/) — A cotton twill with indigo-dyed warp and undyed weft — the dye sits on the fibre surface, which is why it fades.
- [Helmet](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/helmet/) — A hard shell to spread the blow over a crushable polystyrene foam liner that is destroyed by one impact.
- [Bulletproof vest](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/body-armor/) — Many layers of woven aramid or polyethylene fibre that catch and deform a bullet; rifle threats need a ceramic plate.
- [Zip (zipper)](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/zipper/) — Teeth of metal, moulded acetal or nylon coil on a polyester tape, forced together by a wedge inside the slider.
- [Synthetic leather](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/synthetic-leather/) — A polyurethane or PVC skin on a textile backing — including the plant-based ones, which still need a plastic binder.
- [Running shoe](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/running-shoe/) — A knitted synthetic upper over a foam midsole and rubber outsole — about a dozen materials, all glued together.
- [Shoe sole](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/shoe-sole/) — A rubber outsole for grip, a foam midsole for cushioning, and increasingly no clean way to separate them.
- [Wetsuit](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/wetsuit/) — Closed-cell neoprene foam full of nitrogen bubbles, faced with stretch jersey — the gas insulates, not the water.
- [Life jacket](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/life-jacket/) — Closed-cell foam or a CO2-inflated bladder, in a nylon cover — rated in newtons of buoyancy, not in size.

## Common questions

### What is a Button made of?

Usually cast polyester resin; the good ones are shell, nut or horn, and you can tell by touch and temperature.

### What is the standard buttons of a Button made of?

Unsaturated polyester resin, cast in rods and sliced. It can be pigmented and patterned to imitate almost any natural material, then drilled and polished cheaply.

### What is the cheap buttons of a Button made of?

Urea or melamine resin, ABS, or nylon. Moulded thermoplastic buttons are the cheapest possible, but they scratch, and ABS ones melt against an iron.

## Related pages

- [Velcro (hook and loop)](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/velcro/)
- [Leather](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/leather/)
- [Gore-Tex](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/gore-tex/)
- [Denim](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/denim/)
- [Helmet](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/helmet/)
- [Bulletproof vest](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/body-armor/)
- [Zip (zipper)](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/zipper/)
- [Synthetic leather](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/synthetic-leather/)
- [Pencil](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/pencil/)
- [Tennis ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/tennis-ball/)
- [Banknote](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/banknote/)
- [Golf ball](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/golf-ball/)
- [Paper](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/paper/)
- [Glass](https://atoneplace.net/made-of/glass/)

## Sources

- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)