Changing Markets Report Finds Russian Oil Makes Its Way to Main Street in Polyester
PARIS — A report from the nonprofit Changing Markets Foundation is calling attention to the source of much of the apparel industry’s polyester, tracing it to embargoed Russian oil.
Titled “Crude Couture,” the Netherlands-based Changing Markets report examined trade data and alleged that India’s Reliance Industries, which claims to be the world’s largest polyester producer, bought more than half of the Russian crude that was imported to that country in 2023.
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The complex supply chain unfolds like this: India, which does not have a ban on Russian oil like the U.S. or the European Union, became the world’s biggest buyer of the country’s oil. Mumbai-based Reliance Industries bought more than half of India’s Russian imports, according to trade data. Reliance is the world’s biggest polyester producer.
China, which also does not have an import ban on Russian oil, also increased its imports of Russian oil by 11.7 percent, much of which was acquired by Hengli Petrochemical, according to shipping data. Hengli is also one of the world’s largest polyester producers.
While many countries — including the U.S., U.K. and the 27-country European Union — banned Russian oil after the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the report highlights how the oil is finding its way to main street through textiles.
Both firms sell to manufacturers that supply some of the world’s biggest brands, including H&M, New Look, Next and Zara parent company Inditex.
Using shipping data, supplier lists published by brands or by the Open Apparel Registry, information published by fashion brands, and through responses to direct inquiries to companies about their supplier lists, Changing Markets traced Reliance or Hengli polyester to 43 brands. In October, it asked for comment or clarification from the companies.
Hong Kong-based Esprit said it had cut ties with Hengli and Reliance, while G-Star Raw said it had cut ties with Hengli.
Other brands did not respond to request for comment, including Gap, Mango, Levi’s, Lululemon, Patagonia, PVH Corp., Balenciaga parent company Kering and Target Corp., among others. As a result, it could not be determined whether they still use polyester from Reliance or Hengli.
Uniqlo said they didn’t have enough visibility into their supply chain, and H&M and Zara parent company Inditex said they plan to move away from virgin polyester altogether by 2025.
“It was not hard for us to uncover this ugly truth, but the biggest brands continue to look the other way. Decades of textile scandals and still their own supply chains are a mystery to them. It is willful ignorance,” alleged Changing Markets campaign manager Urska Trunk.
Trunk discussed some of the report’s key findings at the European Parliament’s “Fashionscapes of Transformation” panel earlier this month.
The report also delves into the fashion industry’s increasing reliance on polyester, which is in about 56 percent of textiles in the industry today and expected to increase to 73 percent by 2030, based on projections from petrochemical industry analyst Tecnon OrbiChem.
Changing Markets released the report on the last day of the COP28. “As the international climate negotiations draw to a close, this investigation underscores the pivotal role the fashion industry plays in perpetuating fossil fuel dependency and signals a concerning lack of action to break ties with Russian oil — through which the fashion brands are indirectly funding petrochemical expansion and the war in Ukraine.”
The report is part of the nonprofit’s ongoing research on the issue, aiming to highlight how “brands’ dependence on [polyester] risks jeopardizing climate targets, as well as exacerbating microplastic pollution, and the waste crisis.”
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