Record Levels of Polyester Production Are Making Fashion’s Emissions Worse

Global textile production rose to record levels last year, helping to drive up the fashion and footwear industries’ planet-warming emissions. This comes as plastic-based polyester continued to dominate the material mix, according to a report published Thursday by non-profit Textile Exchange.

Over the last five years, the greenhouse gas emissions associated with raw material production for the fashion, footwear and home textile sectors have risen by more than 20 percent, according to Textile Exchange’s modelling.

Total material production reached a record-breaking 132 million tonnes in 2024, up nearly 6 percent from a year earlier, the report found. Most of this growth was driven by fossil-fuel-based polyester, which continues to be the world’s most widely used fibre.

Polyester alone accounts for 43 percent of emissions from fibre production, with a large chunk of global output used for apparel, according to Textile Exchange estimates.

Growing output of the material comes alongside the rise of ultra-fast-fashion businesses like Shein and Temu, which have pumped up production of cheap, synthetic fashions. Earlier this year, a report from the Apparel Impact Institute noted that fashion’s overall carbon footprint rose for the first time since 2019 in 2023, accounting for nearly 2 percent of global emissions.

Many fashion brands have pledged to increase their use of recycled polyester in an effort to reduce the material’s impact, but increasing volumes of recycled fibre have been outpaced by the continued growth of virgin production. The result is an overall decline in recycled polyester’s market share, Textile Exchange found.

Fashion’s growing environmental footprint comes as scientists warn that time is running short to stave off catastrophic levels of climate change. Fashion is currently off track to reach its goal to halve emissions by 2030.

“These latest insights show we’re at a critical moment,” said Beth Jensen, chief impact officer at Textile Exchange.“The time we have to transform our systems is running out.”

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