Fashion Moving in ‘Completely Wrong Direction’ With Synthetic Fibers

Major fashion brands such as Boohoo, Lululemon, Shein and Zara owner Inditex are doubling down on synthetic textiles, according to a new report by the Changing Markets Foundation, creating a form of “plastic paralysis” that the corporate watchdog says relies on both distraction and delay to perpetuate the overproduction of cheap, disposable clothing.

“Polyester, especially, has been the driving force behind fast fashion,” said Ursa Trunk, campaign manager at the organization, now in its third year of assessing how the industry’s so-called “addiction” to fossil fuels undermines claims of sustainability at an inflection point in the climate crisis. The environmental problems aside, there is also a mounting health risk from the microfibers that slough off such materials, she said. It was only this week that scientists in Brazil said they’ve found microplastics from polypropylene, polyamide and nylon in the brain tissue of human cadavers. Microplastics have also been discovered in human blood, human breast milk and every human placenta tested.

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Despite growing recognition by civil society, policymakers and even industry groups like Textile Exchange that this is a problem, brands “are not getting it,” Trunk said. In fact, the level of “corporate secrecy” has more than tripled since its surveys began in 2021, which she called “highly problematic” in this day and age.

Of the 50 global apparel purveyors the Changing Markets Foundation wrote to in April requesting disclosure on subjects such as their use of and commitments to phase out synthetic fibers, more than half (54 percent) failed to respond in part or in full, compared with 44 percent in 2022 and 17 percent in 2021. But equally disappointing, Trunk said, was the fact that all but a handful of those that did reply admitted to increasing their use of synthetic materials.

Even companies that say their synthetic fiber volumes have held steady need to have their claims interrogated if their production numbers keep rising because “they’re basically masking their growth of this very material,” she said.

Inditex divulged the highest use of synthetics by volume at 212,886 metric tons in 2023, a nearly 20 percent uptick from the 178,030 metric tons it stated in the 2022 survey. Shein, in turn, touted the highest share of synthetic fibers within its total garment production portfolio at 82 percent, followed by Boohoo with 69 percent (compared with 64 percent in 2022) and Lululemon with 67 percent (an increase from the previous year’s 62 percent).

“They’re all moving in the completely wrong direction,” Trunk said. While Shein did not share specific volumes, the fact that it outlapped H&M and Inditex to grab one-fifth of the global fast fashion market in 2022 means that it’s also “highly likely” to be the highest user of synthetics overall, she added.

In response to the report, Shein said that it’s undertaking several efforts to reduce its reliance on virgin polyester and has set a goal to transition 31 percent of all polyester used in its branded products to recycled versions by 2030. It noted that recycled polyester comprised 7.9 percent of the polyester it sourced for branded products in 2023, an increase from less than 1 percent the year before.

The Singapore-headquartered firm also said that it’s beginning to focus on the use of textile-to-textile recycled polyester through a multiyear research partnership with Donghua University that began in 2023. Last year, Shein put 100,000 kilograms of textile-to-textile recycled polyester fabric into its branded garments. It’s also contributing to research into fiber fragmentation as a member of The Microfibre Consortium, it added.

Inditex said that while it’s committed to reducing the use of synthetics that “don’t have a specific functionality,” it has been challenging to phase them out without compromising fabric performance in specific garments such as jackets and other high-durability outerwear.

“To maintain performance and durability, and to not compromise the environment, Inditex is looking for innovative textile-to-textile solutions and bio-based alternatives from second- and third-generation feedstocks,” a spokesperson said. This includes earmarking 70 million euros ($78 million) to secure a supply of Ambercycle’s textile-to-textile-recycled polyester, Cycora. By 2030, Inditex said, roughly 25 percent of the fibers in its products will hail from next-generation sources that do not yet exist on an industrial scale but “that we are helping to develop.”

Boohoo declined to offer a statement, and Lululemon did not respond to a request for comment.

In the broader scheme of things, only one brand can be categorized as “leading the shift” without caveats, the Changing Markets Foundation said. That would be Reformation, which has pledged to phase out virgin synthetics by 20230 and reduce both virgin and synthetics to less than 1 percent of total sourcing by 2025. Hugo Boss is also ahead of the pack with its plans to rid itself of polyester and polyamide by 2030, though the 143 percent increase in its use of synthetics from 2020 to 2023 puts it on shakier ground if clearer milestones and steadier progress aren’t forthcoming, the report said.

Brands frequently raise the use of recycled synthetics as a pathway to reducing their reliance on fossil-fuel-derived materials, but Trunk said that the Changing Markets Foundation doesn’t actively differentiate between virgin and recycled sources. The vast majority of recycled polyester—99 percent—stems from castoff plastic bottles, which she characterizes as a “false solution” that takes away feedstock from an existing and more efficient closed-loop system of recycling old bottles into new ones. Because textile-to-textile recycling of materials like polyester isn’t currently available at scale, this means that such garments largely end up in the landfill or incinerator.

“It is definitely a greenwashing tactic that fashion brands are employing, and it does nothing in terms of solving the plastic pollution problem because it still sheds the very same microplastics,” Trunk said.

The Changing Markets Foundation has offered a slew of recommendations, chief of which is setting measurable and time-bound targets to slash the use of synthetics: 20 percent (against a 2021 baseline) by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030. It also wants to see brands establishing clear strategies to dial back pollution from microplastic generation, investing in “true circularity” and openly supporting legislation to improve circularity and transparency in the industry.

It’s Trunk’s hope that overproduction becomes less of a problem if fashion tamps down its use of synthetics, since doing so will rein in the quantities it can produce. Most of all, she’d like legislation to create a level playing field for brands that seek to do the right thing by shifting away from fossil fuels and those that are lagging in ambition because the status quo is more profitable. Much is still in flux: The EU’s proposed Product Environmental Footprint, which measures an apparel or footwear item’s environmnetal impact, hasn’t yet settled on including microfiber pollution as an indicator, which some critics say could uplift synthetics to the detriment of their natural counterparts. Any effort by the bloc’s green claims directive to blackball bottle-to-textile recycled polyester as “eco-friendly,” too, could face a discharge of industry blowback.

“We’ve been calling for a tax on virgin plastic materials because that would basically force the industry to prioritize quality over quantity,” she said. “If we have weak legislation, it will just continue the cycle of fast fashion. But there is an opportunity to have strong measures.”