tl;dr
I believe the usage of recycled polyester is not helping the real problems of the apparel industry and the marketing of it is greenwashing.
tl;dr
As immersed as I am in the world of sustainable fashion, I don't know every facet of it through and through.....yet ;) And there is ALWAYS more to learn.
This sector of the industry was invisible to me for quite a while, so when a new take on "sustainability" emerges I like to dig deep.
This particular "sustainable solution" has been around for a bit but has recently gained quite a lot of traction. I'm talking about recycled polyester.
You know, billboards boasting, "Used once, worn forever."
Tags hanging proudly on clothes at H&M, Zara, or Adidas: "Made from 100% recycled polyester." An eco-conscious shopper's Google search: "shopping; recycled polyester t-shirts."
Seems like a great way to buy more thoughtfully right? Or to be apart of solutions to the impending issues of the apparel industry right?
Maybe not...
Even though I'm a little embarrassed to admit, I'd rather be honest and share that I was under the impression that recycled polyester was......"more sustainable." Though I hadn't made up my mind entirely, I thought,
"Hmmm, it doesn't seem like the best idea, but it's gotta be better than not using it right? Or better than virgin polyester? And brands are doing a great, commendable thing by collecting all this plastic waste and turning it into clothes; keeping it out of the oceans and landfills."
I consider myself to have pretty good greenwashing goggles, but this had me fooled.
Oh boy.
Let's go back to the basics:
What is (virgin) polyester made out of?
Petroleum.
What is petroleum?
A liquid mixture of hydrocarbons that is present in certain rock strata and can be extracted and refined to produce fuels like gasoline, kerosene, diesel, and oil.
Ok, so now we know what polyester is made from. It already doesn't sound great.
What is polyester fabric?
"Like other polymers, there are many variations of "polyesters." The most popular is polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, which is widely used in both packaging and clothing.....
.......Plastics makers produce polyethylene variations under distinctive trade names- thus Terylene, Dacron, and Kodel mentioned above.
To make polyester into fibers, the plastic is melt-spun, meaning the plastic is heated and forced through spinnerets into fibers, (a spinneret is essentially an industrial mechanism similar to a spider's silk-spinning organs). The fibers are stretched to five times their length, typically combined into yarn and then weaved or knitted into polyester fabrics."
So where does polyester come from?
"Polyester plastic was discovered in a DuPont lab in the late 1930s, but scientist W.H Caruthers set it aside to work on his newly discovered nylon. A group of British scientists applied for Caruthers' work in 1941 and created the first commercial polyester fiber in 1941 called Terylene. DuPont purchased the legal rights in 1946 and created another polyester fiber: the now familiar Dacron. Eastman Chemical created another polyester fiber in 1958 called Kodel.
The polyester fabric market rapidly expanded, to include by the late '70's the ubiquitous and much-maligned double knit polyester pantsuits, leisure suits, golf pants, and other fashion atrocities."
When did it become popularized?
It was introduced to the American public in 1951 from a marketing standpoint of convenience; specifically, the campaign of: “It can be worn for 68 days straight without needing to be ironed and still look fresh”. This, of course, appealed to women since they were the primary homemakers. And with women also being the primary buyer of goods- sales soared. Its ease and convenience were highly sought after ....until the 1960s.
For about 20 years, (60s-80s), sales and popularity went up and down due to the negative image teens and college kids gave the loud, itchy double-knit apparel.
But when the '80s came, big name designers like Oscar de la Renta and Calvin Klein decided to help the damaged perception. They began designing with it; selling the perception of luxury.
Today's polyester no longer reflects that of the 70s, due to today's technology. It has gotten so good, that you can barely tell the difference between a chiffon scarf made from 100% silk and a chiffon scarf made from 100% polyester. And as we know, it's used in a wide variety of apparel- anything from socks, casual-wear, undergarments, activewear, accessories, denim, swimwear, etc.
Why did it become so popular and what's so great about it?
Cheap to manufacture
Doesn't crease or wrinkle
Can be washed at low temperatures
It drys quickly
Resistant to mildew, abrasions
Stain resistant
Easy to clean
Resistant to stretching and shrinking
It is extremely versatile design-wise, as mentioned above. It can be used across various categories in the apparel industry such as swim, intimates, athleisure, denim, footwear, ready to wear, baby & kids, suits, and of course activewear.
The characteristics of the fiber itself are substantial. Depending on what type of fabric it's woven or knitted into, you can get almost any look you're going for.
What are the disadvantages in polyester garments?
Tends to stick to perspiring skin
Not as breathable as natural fibers
Tends to hold odors. (I once had a polyester faux-leather jacket from forever21 that I'd wear on my scooter rides all over town. If it was even a little bit hot out, (70 degrees or hotter), that jacket, along with my pits, REEKED.
What is virgin polyester?
Virgin polyester simply refers to new polyester being made for the first time.
What are these highly advertised 100% recycled polyester clothes made from?
These garments are garments whose fiber comes from (mostly) plastic bottles. Instead of the clothing's fibers being made from virgin polyester, the polyester is coming from plastic bottles, because plastic bottles are made out of polyester. You might recognize the acronym PET. This stands for polyethylene terephthalate. And if you've seen the advertised acronym rPET, this stands for recycled polyethylene terephthalate. AKA recycled plastic.
How are plastic bottles recycled into clothes?
The process:
Collection of plastic bottles (from collection points or from littered beaches, waterways, oceans, ecosystems, or communities)
Crushing up bottles
Melting them down
Extruding them through spinnerets
Spinning the fibers into yarn
Weaving or knitting the yarn into fabric
What downsides does manufacturing virgin polyester have on people and the environment? In other words, why is polyester so bad for us or the environment?
Oh boy. Here we go.
Polyester is made by a chemical reaction between ethylene glycol and therephthalic acid, and these chemicals are derived from fossil fuels, air and water.
Fossil fuels are hydrocarbon-containing materials formed naturally in or on the earth's crust from the remains of dead plants and animals that are extracted and burned as fuel. The main fuels are coal, crude oil, natural gas, and peat.
Fossil fuels are so bad for the environment because they produce carbon dioxide when burned. And because fossil fuels are produced in such large amounts, this means there is A LOT of carbon dioxide being released and emitted into the atmosphere. The carbon dioxide gets trapped in the atmosphere, leading to the big ol', still debated, heated topic of: climate change.
Harmful chemicals such as carcinogens are released during the process of manufacturing polyester fibers. Carcinogens are substances that promote the formation of cancer, or substances capable of causing cancer in living tissue. If these are emitted into waterways and into air untreated, they pose an obvious, enormous threat to humans and living creatures, as well as significant damage to the environment.
Most polyester is produced in countries where environmental regulations are very lax, like Bangladesh, Indonesia, and China. This results in significant pollution to local communities and their surrounding areas, i.e. their environment. Water pollution is allowed to be discharged untreated- enabling consequential harm.
Not being able to dye polyester with natural dyes just furthers the continued use of highly intensive manufacturing processes: energy, labor, water and chemicals. Natural dye attempts have not gone into mass production because any small scale experiments have not shown to be as effective as chemicals dyes. Not have they been able to achieve the same look as chemical dyes. The mere concept of color is one of thee most important design factors in the process of fashion design as well as the product development process. Big brands have departments dedicated just for color.
Do I need to say it again......? Ha! Polyester is not biodegradable! This means that all the polyester filled clothes in landfills will stay in the landfill for YEARS. Like 200-500 YEARS! And when they do decompose, (if humans are still here on planet Earth ;), those synthetic, plastic fibers stay in our ecosystem, leaving the undesired chemicals in the land.
According to CO (Common Objective), it takes about 125 MJ per kilogram to produce polyester and 14.2 kg of CO2 per kilogram produced; classifying it as a high-impact process.
Polyester also requires high intense, non-renewable recourses to generate the energy needed to manufacture it AND to feedstock it. (the raw material used to make the fiber).
More than 70 million barrels of oil are used to make polyester each year. And that fact is from an article written 6 years ago....the number of barrels has probably only increased since then.
What does this mean? Well, when you wash your clothes, every single piece of clothing (whether synthetic or natural), sheds tiny little microfibers into the washing machine, which goes into the water systems. Since these microfibers are full of harmful chemicals, they harm not only the animals in the waterways, but also land animals, the air we breathe, and our bodies. Additionally, it's been well documented that microfibers are often mistaken for food by sea animals.
So...after all this....why do we still use it? Why do companies continue to make fabrics with this fiber? Why do fashion brands choose fabrics with this fiber?
Because it's cheap and it's versatile. It's more affordable than natural based fibers for brands to use. And because the manufacturers who produce it aren't planning on stopping any time soon because it makes money. At the end of the day, doesn't it all come down to money, power, and giving the customer what they want? (A pretty depressing and pessimistic view but....that's where this is at, in my opinion :/
So after accounting for allll the negatives that polyester fiber production has, is recycled polyester here to save the day? Isn't it a good thing for brands to take all the plastic bottles sitting in landfills or oceans and turn them into clothing? Aren't they helping people in third-world countries make money by adding them to their supply chain?
In my opinion a little bit yes.... but the scale is definitely tipped towards no.
My few reasons for yes:
1. If the plastic is already there, it does truly seem like a noble cause to collect it. This cleans up areas, obviously creating happier, healthier, and prettier communities.
2. Recycling plastic bottles is practicing being more resourceful- using what's already here instead of making more.
3. If people in developing countries can earn money in a way that maintains good ethics, values, and morals and provides for their families, then I think that's a good thing. First Mile includes people in the plastic collection part of their supply chain. Founder and CEO Ian Rosenberger says:
"When we get to the point where there isn't enough PET to go around and we're forced to find recycled alternatives, then we can have this conversation. Until then, we should quit speaking in theoreticals and get to work cleaning up the mess, and the mess. Is. Enormous."
I understand his sentiment but you'll see why I also don't agree with it:
Here are my reasons as to why recycled polyester is not any more sustainable than virgin polyester.
I think it's actually another road to hell paved with good intentions.
1. Taking plastic bottles away from its own industry takes away the opportunity for the plastic bottle industry to create a closed-loop, fully circular system. It seems like the wasted plastic bottles are being put to good use by being turned into clothing but if it was kept in its own industry and were turned into plastic bottles again, that would make that industry circular. When a specific industry is circular, or very close to it- it means companies have designed their businesses to keep products in circulation for as long as possible; out of the landfills. When systems are closed-loop or fully circular, they are leaving less waste on our planet and local communities.
2. A recycled polyester garment cannot be recycled again. Right now plastic bottles are mostly recycled mechanically, not chemically, because it's cheaper. Mechanical recycling today is used for making plastic bottles and turning them into garments, not for turning those garments into other garments. And recycling bottles chemically is not only more expensive but poses huge energy-intensive practices as well as releasing more toxic chemicals into the air.
3. During the process of recycling plastic bottles, the fiber is weakened and many time needs to be mixed with additional virgin polyester fiber. Meaning this process is still relying on the making of polyester.
4. High consumption mentality. Further advertising of recycled polyester only furthers our society's throw-away mentality. "If this 100% recycled polyester jacket can be recycled over and over- why not buy more and more and not feel bad about it?"
5. Recycling textiles is not quite here yet. Boasting that a 100% recycled polyester garment can be infinitely recycled doesn't do any good when people don't recycle textiles in the first place! (Only 1% of all clothes are recycled currently).
Most people don't know that textile recycling is possible, and on top of that the execution of it is very difficult due to the mixed fiber blends. The end-of-life reality for that of an rPET garment would likely be the same as any other garment today. (Landfills, incineration, burned, or dumped in nature).
6. rPET garments still shed microfibers in the laundering process. (Refer to previous explanation of the shedding of microfibers above).
7. It is currently still impossible to trace the origins of recycled polyester. One facet of the sustainable fashion world is being able to retrace how garments are made. Companies like Retraced exist to provide transparency for consumers in fashion's supply chain. Premiere Vision said it very well in a 2021 article: "Smart Keys: Is polyester recycling a sustainable solution?"
"To ensure their production volumes in recycled polyester, brands thus require access to a large and stable pool of raw materials. They must therefore necessarily use recycled PET from the selective sorting of private individuals. It is important to be wary of brands making assurances to the consumer of the "recycled from ocean waste" nature of a material or finished product."
So, should we commend brands for diverting plastic waste so it's at least not sitting there? Should we be apathetic to brands using recycled polyester instead of virgin polyester to ensure customer satisfaction with the quality that this fiber brings to clothing? And chalk it up to:"At least it's better than nothing."
Or should we not be so quick to applaud them since all that plastic should be going back into its own industry? Should fashion focus on shedding its use of oil-made products?
99% of people can't and wouldn't take the time to dive into this homework before shopping. We're all busy with our own lives! And most people just don't think about this kind of stuff. I think Maxine Bedat hit the nail on the head with this one. In an article from CO (Common Objective: "Is Recycled Polyester Green or Greenwashing?"
"If we take them away from bottling, we're taking away from a closed-loop system. Much of the marketing-speak around rPET - as a virtuous act that will fix everything wrong with fashion - is tantamount to greenwashing, particularly when textile suppliers such as Unifi, which owns Repreve, remains one of the world's largest manufacturers of virgin polyester."
So, in conclusion, my opinions are:
The usage of recycled polyester, though well intended, is not doing anything to help the bigger problems of the apparel industry.
The marketing of recycled polyester is greenwashing.
Recycling plastic bottles is the norm but recycling textiles is not. It is in its infancy! Advertising that a garment can be recycled over and over doesn't do any good or make any sense if no one can recycle their clothes!
Fashion brands shouldn't aim for using recycled polyester. I think they should aim higher. AND at the same time, we need to recognize that revolutionizing an industry isn't going to happen overnight. But it does need to start somewhere. I feel that fashion brands think they are getting away with appearing as "sustainable" by marketing small runs of recycled polyester; in turn making most people feel good about their purchases.
If given the choice and if I had to choose- would I buy a recycled polyester garment over a regular polyester garment? Yeah, cause it's better than nothing. But this shouldn't be offered in the first place. Brands should not be feeding society a narrative of "help save the planet: buy recycled polyester." It only adds to the false mindset that we're making real change.
So.......some big questions......
Can we find a natural fiber comparable to the performance of polyester?
Can the machinery for recycling garments scale in proportion to the need? Can it become highly accessible? Can it become popularized?
What can we do to get fashion brands to see that using recycled polyester will not help solve the other much more impending issues of the industry?
I plan on pursuing answers to these questions throughout my career ;)
I want to give a special thank you to Kestrel Jenkins, George Harding-Rolls and Amy Nguyen.
"Kestrel Jenkins is a storyteller & conscious style maven who believes fashion + ethics can jive, and maybe even thrive together."
She hosts the popular podcast Conscious Chatter, and on one particular interview, discussed greenwashing with George and Amy. "Fashion's Greenwashing Problem and the Need for Mandatory Measures & Regulation."
About 40 minutes into the episode, Amy says, ".....you can be a really educated person and think that you're really educated on this topic and go on greenwash.com and be absolutely floored. So many of the population still think that recycled polyester leggings are great...."
This sentence alone is what made me second guess the marketing that has been pushed on this topic and inspired the hours of personal research, as well as touching back to my prior Instagram post of polyester not being biodegradable.
Thank you Amy, George and Kestrel!
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