Overview

• Global fibre and raw-material production hit 132 million tonnes in 2024, up nearly 6 percent year over year, as raw-material GHG emissions rose more than 20 percent over five years.
• Polyester reached 59 percent of global fibre output and accounts for about 43 percent of fibre-production emissions, with roughly 88 percent of polyester made from fossil feedstocks.
• Synthetics as a category rose to 69 percent of output, reflecting continued expansion of virgin fossil-based materials despite industry pledges to curb their use.
• Recycled polyester volumes grew to roughly 9.3 million tonnes in 2024 but its market share slipped to 12 percent, with about 98 percent coming from plastic bottles and textile-to-textile recycling still under 1 percent.
• Among 423 reporting brands, certified material use increased from 58 percent to 67 percent and reported virgin polyester use fell to 560,029 tonnes, yet Textile Exchange warns these gains are being eclipsed by overall market growth and now projects business-as-usual volumes near 169 million tonnes by 2030; coverage also links polyester growth to ultra-fast-fashion platforms such as Shein and Temu.