Does fibre swapping matter for textile sustainability?

‎Regularly, our Secretary General Lutz Walter shares his insights and knowledge through his blogposts, covering a wide range of topics related to textile sustainability and innovation. Follow his blog to gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that the textile industry is facing today.

"Since we know that the carbon footprint differences between different fibre types are not that massive, we have to conclude that swapping fibres around in an attempt to lower the carbon footprint of a textile product or a whole collection is pretty much a fool’s errand. What is way more impactful is to tackle the production energy emissions, through more modern energy-efficient manufacturing equipment, with a shift of production to sites that have reliable access to low-carbon electricity"

 In his latest blog post, our Secretary General Lutz Walter highlights the complexity of life cycle assessments, particularly for synthetic fibres like polyester, and argues that real progress mainly lies in enhancing production energy efficiency, reducing waste, and prioritising garment durability over superficial fibre swaps.