Durability of materials

Looking at the costumes as a part of the whole production, it is imporant to consider how they would fit into the schedule of the performance.
The Nutcracker for example is usually performed only in December, arround Christmass because thats the main heme in the performance. Here, in West side story we are looking at a two year long tour.
Looking at budget of a production which is the main aspect of my project, the durability of the material can also emerge questions such as: If the materials arent durable enough to last the period of production, would it be more expensive to recreate them instead of creating more durable and more expensive costumes from the begining? Therefore, while creating my concepts I've been researching the durability of each recycled material.
 Plastic bags for example the highest durability from used objects, they are also don't fall apart and damage through different weather condition. For that reason, I've chosen plastic bags as the only material for extending layer of a skirt as eventual draging wouldn't affect the material. And also it's the only material which has a contact which the skin - in the upper layer for the work dress. Therefore, I've chosen that smaller size of the upper layer of the work dress as a bigger one can cause discofort at the dancer.
Cellophane has also good level of durability as it is also used for packaging of frozen food. That means it could resist at least an year in frozen conditions and for other types of food such as rise it lasts years. Ive chosen cellophane for the wedding veil as it also resists to different foldings without damaging the material
Camera roll tape - Like the other plastic materials it has high durability.
Drinking straws - they can be made of paper, silicon or plastic.. I've chosen plastic ones, as paper is less durable and the silicon ones are more exprensive. They also provide good durabilityy
Camera Film Roll. Glueing them to a dress could affect their durability and they might fall but sewn on, they can't easily be damaged
CD material - the cd is the more sensitive one. For that reason I've used it only for  the decoration on the top and as the doople skirt's consistant movement could easily affect the material and it will fall.

Materials most likely to be damaged through the 2 years tour:
CD material which ,however, wouldn't affect the budget as a package of CDs cost only 1£ and consists of 5 CDs enough  to be made 2 decorations like this one. As a substitude glitter can also be used which is also as the same price, but a pack contains enough material for making 3 or 4 decoration. I personaly prefer CD material because you can manipulate the size of the needed pieces and is more untypical to use in costume making.


References:
Logomasini, A. (2008) The Whole truth about plastic bags, [online] Competitive Enterprise Institute. Available at: http://cei.org/op-eds-and-articles/whole-truth-about-plastic-bags [Accessed September 15 2014]
McKeen, L.W., Massey, L,k. 2004. Film Properties of plastics and elastomers. [book] William Andrews