Textiles

Each year, approximately 83 mio tonnes of textile waste are produced globally – 65% of which are made from fossil-fuel derived synthetic fibres. This resource provides an accessible overview of how textile waste affects people and the environment in Africa. It also explores the global systems driving the crisis and outlines practical steps toward lasting, equitable solutions.

International fashion brands are doubling down on their use of synthetic fibres – a key driver of microplastic pollution – while employing distraction and delay tactics to protect their fast fashion business model. This report uncovers the industry’s lacklustre support for meaningful legislation and underscores the urgent need for strong action from regulators.

A recent analysis found that the overall plastic trade is more than 40% higher than previous estimates, and even this number fails to reflect the trade of plastics and wastes in textiles, rubber, plastic contamination of paper bales, and other sources. The real amount of plastics and plastic wastes, and of toxic chemicals contained in plastics and wastes that move globally via trade is likely to be even higher.

Greenpeace reveals what lies beneath the green sheen and investigates self-assessed marketing labels. What is the basis of the claims that are made, how reliable are they and what do they actually cover? Can consumers take these labels at face value, and are they independently verified?

The Chinese online fashion brand SHEIN has promoted fast fashion to ultra fast fashion. It’s built on the exploitation of the environment and people, relying on the lack of enforcement of protection regulations for the environment as well as workers and consumers.

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.

Global fashion brands are promoting circularity, but in reality that's still a myth. Nowhere is the failure of fast fashion more visible than in the countries where many of these cheap clothes end up: on huge dump sites, burnt on open fires, along riverbeds and washed out into the sea, with severe consequences for people and the planet.

The study shows that under the right conditions including a supporting policy framework, reuse can thrive in the EU, and more importantly, it can reduce the environmental impacts of packaging and save companies as well as consumers money.