Unfortunately, this buffering, which is fine for protecting the paper from its own self-destruction, is not ideal for use in storing garments as the alkalinity can damage the fabric in other ways such as discoloration of dyes or the breakdown of proteins in natural fibers. Ideally, the storage medium for a garment should be "pH-neutral", i.e. be neither acid nor alkaline, and should stay that way.

Acidity or alkalinity is measured on the pH scale. This scale ranges in value from 0 for most acidic to 14 for most alkaline. 7 is pH-neutral:

So what makes a material acidic or alkaline?

In a word, hydrogen. Or to be more precise, hydrogen ions. A hydrogen atom is the simplest (and lightest) atom, composed of a single positively charged proton nucleus and a single negatively charged electron. A hydrogen ion is simply the positively charged proton nucleus stripped of its associated electron, as might occur when migrated from a hydrogen-bearing molecule in a chemical reaction. This leaves it with a net positive charge and the ion is usually represented by the symbol H⁺.  pH is a logarithmic measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a substance. In fact the letters "pH" are from the French "Pouvoir Hydrogéne" meaning "hydrogen power." What all this tells us is that to become acidic or alkaline, a substance has to at least be composed partly of hydrogen. It is the migration of hydrogen ions that make a substance either acid or alkaline. If a substance donates protons (hydrogen ions, H⁺), it becomes acidic. If it accepts protons, it becomes an alkali.

Paper, cardboard, wood, ...people... etc. are all organic.  Organic compounds are based on hydrocarbons.  Hydrocarbons are composed entirely of carbon and hydrogen atoms that are joined together in a myriad of different combinations.  So any organic material has the potential to donate hydrogen ions to create acidity.  Organically based storage materials that are pH-neutral now may not be so later.  Humidity or pollution in the air could react with the hydrocarbons and change the pH level towards acidic.  It all depends on the strength of the molecular bonds in the material which in turn depends on how the carbon atoms and hydrogen atoms are joined together.  Some hydrocarbons such as nylon have strong bonds.  Others such as those in paper are not so strong and more prone to becoming acidic over time.

So why use organic materials for garment storage if they have the potential to create a hostile environment for fabrics?  Why not substitute the hydrogen in the storage medium for something more stable?

Atomic lovers

There is an element whose atomic bond with carbon is much stronger and more stable than hydrogen. That element is fluorine. Fluorine by itself is very reactive due to its strong electronegativity. What that means though is that it bonds very strongly to carbon. Together they form a molecular bond that is so strong, they reject bonds with virtually every other atom. They act like atomic lovers, devoted to the exclusion of all others and can only be separated by extreme force! When combined in the very stable molecule polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), only the most extremely aggressive and antisocial chemicals will react with it at all.

PTFE is more commonly known by the tradename Teflon®. Teflon rejects hydrocarbons totally. This is why fats and meats will not stick to your Teflon-coated cookware. In fact it is so stable and non-reactive that it is commonly used by medicine inside the human body for things like artificial heart valves; an environment where alien substances are usually rejected by a very active immune system. Since PTFE is made only from carbon and fluorine, it can become neither acidic nor alkaline. This is a big improvement over the pH balancing-act situation with papers and cardboards where chemicals are added to adjust pH levels.

The properties of PTFE are well known, and do not change over time. PTFE has been around since April 1938 when it was discovered by DuPont research chemist Roy Plunkett. Tradenamed Teflon in 1945, its first commercial use was not until 1946 when it was used in machine parts for military and industrial applications. Teflon was first used to make non-stick cookware in the early 1960s. Sentinel Archiving, Inc. manufactures the Teflon®-coated Garment Sentry^TM line of storage bags to protect garments such as wedding gowns during long-term storage.

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