Non-profit Textile Exchange has published a report
outlining strategies for the fashion and textile industry to transition away
from using virgin fossil fuels as a feedstock for materials if it is to meet
the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets currently associated with synthetic
fibres.
Textile
Exchange’s recent The Future of Syntheticsreport suggests the
domination of synthetic materials in global fibre production since mid-1990 has
contributed to climate change.
The report estimates that polyester alone
contributed the highest amount of GHG emissions of any single fiber in 2022,
with 47 million tonnes of fiber responsible for an estimated 125
million tonnes of CO2e.
The report aims to help the fashion and
textile industry transition away from virgin synthetic materials and towards
“preferred solutions such as textile-to-textile recycling, biosynthetics, and
carbon capture”.
However, the report also noted that a total
shift away from synthetic materials in favour of land-based raw materials –
particularly at current production rates – could lead to an overreliance on and
depletion of natural ecosystems.
Instead, the fashion and textile industry
will need to find ways to repurpose existing synthetic textile waste,
acknowledging the energy and emissions spent making these materials, the report
suggests.
According to Textile Exchange, there is a
two-pronged approach to these issues: identifying and investing in alternative
ways to create synthetic materials using recycled or sustainably sourced
renewable feedstocks, while also reducing the volume of new materials produced
overall.
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The report stated that the mechanical
recycling of PET plastic bottles is the most common alternative to virgin
polyester. However, it advised the industry to invest in “scaling
textile-to-textile recycling technologies” for synthetics to create a truly closed-loop
system, rather than relying on feedstocks from another industry.
In addition to textile-to-textile recycling,
the report looked at the more nascent opportunities associated with
biosynthetics and carbon capture technologies, and their potential to help
fashion brands divest from fossil fuel extraction.
Textile Exchange is advocating for increased
interest and investment into the technologies that will facilitate the rapid
substitution of fossil fuel-derived synthetics. It also believes that having
viable alternatives available will enable the industry to realistically divest,
unlocking this critical emissions reduction opportunity.
In December 2023, Textile Exchange launched the Materials Directory tool to
identify raw materials suppliers alongside the unveiling of the 10th edition of
its annual Materials Market Report, which offered a snapshot of global fibre
and materials production trends that year.
