For years, the fashion industry has sold recycled polyester as a sustainability win — a way to cut waste, reduce virgin plastic, and “close the loop.” But new evidence shows this popular fix may be making the plastic pollution crisis worse, not better.
Independent testing by the Changing Markets Foundation of clothing from major brands, including Adidas, H&M, Nike, Shein, and Zar,a found that garments made from recycled polyester shed significantly more microplastic fibres than those made from virgin polyester. These fibres are also smaller and lighter, meaning they travel further through water, air, and living systems — and are more easily inhaled or ingested.
The problem starts upstream. Recycling plastic weakens polymer chains, producing more brittle fibres that fracture easily during washing. Each wash can release thousands of microscopic plastic particles, which slip through wastewater treatment and accumulate in rivers, soils, oceans, and human bodies.
Even worse, most recycled polyester isn’t made from old clothes. Around 98% comes from plastic bottles, removing them from closed-loop bottle recycling and downcycling them into garments that can’t be recycled again. The result? More plastic, more pollution, and a convenient green story for brands.
If fashion is serious about sustainability, it needs to move beyond recycled polyester and focus on what really matters: making fewer clothes, using less plastic, and designing garments that don’t shed pollution with every wash.
This study also highlights the need for more research on the impacts of using recycled plastics in consumer goods and vehicles – are these materials also shedding more microplastics?