
Sustainable Textiles – The Way Forward
High dependence on fossil carbon, associated high carbon footprint, low recycling rates and microplastics: several solutions are emerging
Michael Carus and Dr. Asta Partanen
The evolution of the demand for textile fibres from 1960 to the present day (see figure 1 and table 1) shows how the textile industry found itself in this dilemma. In 1960, around 95% of textile fibres were of natural origin, from bio-based carbon, and there was no problem with microplastics, all fibres were biodegradable. The explosion in demand – 650% between 1960 and 2023 – could only be met by synthetic fibres from the chemical and plastics industries. Their share grew from 3% in 1960 to 68% in 2023 and from less than 700,000 tonnes to 85 million tonnes/year (The Fiber Year 2024). The new fibres covered a w