Lack of Circularity in the Textile Industry
The textile industry is at the forefront of a global resource consumption crisis, with a glaring lack of circularity in its material flows. Currently, the world consumes a staggering 100 billion tonnes of materials annually, and of this, 3.25 billion tonnes are attributed to the textile industry. Alarmingly, only a mere 9.6 million tonnes of these materials come from secondary sources, highlighting the industry's overwhelming reliance on virgin materials. This unsustainable, linear model of production—where vast quantities of new resources are extracted, used, and discarded—has entrenched a cycle of waste, further exacerbating the environmental toll.
The report, The Circular Gap Report - Textiles, illustrates the extent of the industry's material dependency. The majority of core inputs, totalling 104 million tonnes, are derived from virgin feedstock, with a significant 63% (65.4 million tonnes) coming from synthetic sources, primarily oil-based polymers like polyester. The remaining 37% (38.4 million tonnes) consists of natural fibres, such as cotton, hemp, and linen. The amount of material sourced from secondary sources—often from external waste streams like PET bottles—remains minimal at just 10 million tonnes. Even more concerning, a mere 0.27% of the secondary materials come from fibre-to-fibre recycling within the textile industry itself, underscoring the lack of circularity in the system.
This issue is compounded by the industry's rapid production pace. In 2022, fibre production hit a record 116 million tonnes, up from 112 million tonnes in the previous year, with per capita fibre consumption rising from 8.3 kilograms in 1975 to 14.6 kilograms in 2022. The textile market, valued at €1.7 trillion (US$1.8 trillion) in 2023, is projected to grow by 7.4% annually through 2030. As demand for textiles increases, the environmental burden grows heavier unless circular strategies are adopted on a large scale.
The linear system, which has been entrenched over decades, relies heavily on cheap fossil fuels and inexpensive labour. These factors have enabled mass-market brands to release up to 24 collections per year, further driving overproduction and waste. Despite producing an estimated 100 to 150 billion garments annually, major brands fail to disclose production figures, contributing to the industry's lack of transparency. This system of fast fashion is coupled with a decline in garment quality, as brands focus on maximising volume rather than durability. As a result, around 30% of the garments produced each year remain unsold, compounding waste.
The inefficiencies of the textile value chain are starkly visible in the materials lost during production. Approximately one-fifth (21.9%) of the materials used in the production process are discarded as pre-consumer waste. Moreover, 61.4% of discarded textiles end up in landfills or are incinerated, with only a small fraction being reused (8%) or recycled through cascading systems (6.3%). This wasteful model is clearly unsustainable, as it continues to fuel resource extraction without meaningful attempts to reuse or recycle materials.
There are huge environmental and social implications of the industry's material flows. Fibre production consumes large quantities of energy and chemicals—on average, 0.6 tonnes of chemicals, 0.7 tonnes of coal, and 1.25 tonnes of natural gas are required to produce each tonne of fibre. These ancillary inputs, totalling 286 million tonnes in 2021, result in the production of only 88.6 million tonnes of final textile products, further illustrating the inefficiency of the current system.
To address these issues, the industry must embrace circular practices that focus on reducing material consumption, reusing resources, and enhancing the longevity of products. With only 0.27% of materials recycled back into fibre production, the potential for improvement is vast. The growing environmental impacts, combined with the projected increase in textile demand, make it urgent for the industry to adopt more sustainable and circular strategies, such as increasing the use of recycled fibres and shifting towards more sustainable production methods. The time for change is now, as the current linear system is proving to be both ecologically and economically unsustainable.