practical guide about minimalism,
sustainability and a bit of fashion
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5 most popular fibers /materials
and their sustainable alternatives

Almost 60% of a garment's environmental impact happens during fiber and fabric manufacturing.

Large numbers of the materials that are commonly used today in the fashion industry are resource-intensive.

Most of the familiar fibers and raw materials in the fashion and textile industry today, including cotton, wool, viscose, polyester, and more, come from farming, forests, or fossil fuels. These are three of the biggest focus areas in the challenge to limit global warming and mitigate the most serious impacts of climate change.

But I  believe in materials sourcing that respects our planet, its ecosystems, and its communities!

Let's dive into this subject!

Polyester
Cotton
Viscose
Wool & Other Animal Fibers
Leather
Polyester
Polyester is the most widely used fiber worldwide. Polyester alone had a market share of around 54% of total global fiber production, with approximately 63.3 million tonnes produced (synthetic fibers - around 76 million tonnes, and approximately 65% of global fiber production).*
Problems
Sustainable polyester alternatives
    Cotton
    Cotton is the second-most important fiber in terms of volume.
    At about 25 million tonnes, it had a market share of approximately 22% of global fiber production.*
    Problems
    caused by the production of cotton fiber
    Sustainable cotton alternatives
      Viscose
      With an annual production volume of around 7.3 million tonnes, manmade cellulosic fibers (MMCFs)— including viscose, acetate, lyocell, modal, and cupro—had a market share of about 6% of total fiber production volume.
      Viscose is the most important MMCF, with a market share of around 80% of all MMCFs and a production volume of around 5.8 million tonnes.*
      Problems
      caused by the production of cotton fiber
      Sustainable MMCFs alternatives
        Wool & Other Animal Fibers
        Wool had a market share of around 1%, with a global production volume of around 1 million tonnes.
        Global cashmere production came to about 26,801 tonnes of greasy fibers,
        global alpaca fiber production was around 6,250 tonnes,
        approximately 4,550 tonnes of greasy mohair fiber were produced globally.*


        Problems
        caused by the production of cotton fiber
        Sustainable Animal Fibers alternatives
          Leather
          Problems
          caused by the production of cotton fiber
          Sustainable leather alternatives
            *Data taken from 2022 report ”Materials Market Report”