‘Preferred’ Fibers Grow, Yet 52 Percent of Fashion Says Origins Unknown
Can consumers be certain of the origins of their cotton, polyester, wool, leather or any given material?
Not if the brand isn’t sure in its materials sourcing strategy.
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On Monday, Textile Exchange revealed its latest corporate fiber and materials benchmark tracing the 12-month sourcing and management practices of 292 brands and retailers, among them PVH Corp., Timberland, H&M Group, Inditex, Eileen Fisher and more. Giving a glimpse of the sector’s aims — representing about 30 percent of the industry or a sizable $680 billion — this report is a progress pulse point on the uptake for “preferred” materials. The term includes those materials that result in “improved environmental and/or social sustainability outcomes and impacts” compared to conventional counterparts, per Textile Exchange. While not conclusive, the nonprofit’s benchmarking processes are reviewed annually by Elevate, a third-party assessment firm.
Today, preferred encompasses everything from recycled polyester to organic and recycled cotton. The materials were assessed for their risks, investments, transparency, impact targets and general perceptions.
In a new milestone, preferred materials surpassed 50 percent, up from 44 percent industry-wide adoption in the previous year, per the report. Without question, Europe led the way in adoption.
By breakdown, preferred cotton leads and now represents 65 percent of overall cotton self-reported by participating brands, with recycled polyester jumping to 32 percent of polyester use, compared to 21 percent the year before. (Polyester, of course, still dominates materials production at 52 percent of the global fiber basket, with only 15 percent coming from recycled inputs in the grand scheme of things).
To that, Textile Exchange’s synthetics lead Kate Riley reiterated that synthetic materials growth is expected to continue.
“In order to remain within the 1.5-degree pathway and ensure climate goals are achieved, the impacts of synthetic fibers must be significantly reduced, and we must accelerate the transition away from fossil-fuel derived synthetics toward synthetics from recycled or regenerative sources,” she said.
In a self-elected leaderboard, Textile Exchange recognized a number of companies based on adherence to preferred fiber sourcing, circularity and participation. “Overall Leaders” or 47 companies — among them H&M Group, C&A, Puma, Levi’s, Norrøna Sport and Veja — placed among Textile Exchange’s top-performers across categories while, “SDG Leaders,” for example, are those 17 companies (including Asics and PVH) that aligned fiber sourcing with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Suppliers and manufacturers like Lenzing Group and YKK Corporation were also named in a special supplier section.
Textile Exchange accentuated the importance of drafting decisions off of a materials strategy, or one which provides a framework to identify risks to supply, focus investment and drive sustainability performance. Luckily, nearly all or 98 percent of companies have a materials strategy today.
Company business leaders also ranked their top risks, spanning climate change, human rights, chemical use, waste and textile waste. While climate was the top-ranked business risk, there are still companies (36 percent) yet to commit to climate action through target-setting.
Too, transparency still remains a gray area, with 52 percent of sourcing regions still stamped “unknown country of origin,” despite mild point improvements. More revealing is how each material ranks in known origins. Heading the material pack is down fiber at 91 percent known origins, cotton at 61 percent, wool at 45 percent, manmade cellulosics at 42 percent, polyester at 30 percent, polyamide at 19 percent and leather at 15 percent.
While there are early signs of brands decoupling from conventional production with the rush of resale, repair and other circular tack-ons, the data was not enough to warrant a deeper trend. Other discrepancies exist between mobilizing the SDGs and reporting on unsold goods. Only about 3 percent of companies are reporting publicly on how they are doing away with excess.
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