Mothballs

Factual Questions
1

For some reason, the ancient memory of smelling mothballs surfaced in my conscience. A memory going back 50 years.

I have the sense that people don’t use them anymore for clothing preservation. however I get no confirmation googling. I’ve never seen them in the stores. Just recently, my wife gave a 30 year old veil to my daughter for her wedding which wasn’t mothballed, yet in perfect condition.

Are mothballs really not neccessary for clothing storage?

Why has the practice fallen into disuse if my sense is correct?

2

My WAG is that the rise of synthetic materials has reduced the need for mothballs. You can still buy them, however, and they are still useful - I’ve used them when I discovered holes in my wool socks…