Editor’s note: Resource Recycling, Inc., is hosting a free webinar on used textiles in the global circular economy at 11 a.m. ET Sept. 29. It’s also hosting the 2027 Textile Recovery Summit March 1-3, 2027, at the Gaylord National in National Harbor, Maryland. The summit will be co-located with the Plastics Recycling Conference and Resource Recycling Conference.
The latest report from the Textile Exchange nonprofit shows progress toward the organization’s environmental goals, but its leaders say more work is needed on several fronts to further boost sustainability in the industry.
The organization’s Materials Market Report 2026 found that more of the companies taking part in the Exchange’s Materials Benchmark are making progress in sustainably making items. The report found that the 384 companies increased their use of cotton, polyester, nylon, viscose and wool through verified, preferred practice to 72% in 2025, up from 68% in 2024. Industrywide, that number stands at 20%.
Benchmark participants also decreased their use of virgin-based polyester, from 0.54 million metric tons to 0.48 million. In contrast, that number increased 7% across the textiles industry in 2025, to 73 million metric tons. Helping Benchmark members lower that number was their increased usage of polyester from recycled sources; their share of recycled polyester reached 76% in 2025, up from 67% the year prior.
Guiding these companies, in most cases, are the formal climate targets they have in place. The report found 92.4% of Benchmark members have such targets and are making the requisite progress toward those goals.
“Our latest annual data offers evidence of the progress that can be made when companies are committed, engaged and willing to work together to accelerate the transition to preferred
production systems,” said Beth Jensen, chief impact officer for the Exchange. “Those who are part of the Textile Exchange community are demonstrating their leadership, outpacing the trends seen across the global production volume data.”
Globally, the report found a record 139 million metric tons of fiber was made in 2025, up from 132 million metric tons the year before. Polyester accounts for 59% of that total (82.5 million metric tons), with 88% of that number being virgin material. Cotton (18% of the market share) and man-made cellulosic fibers (7%) were the second- and third-most prevalent materials. Notably, 82% of the cotton sourced by Benchmark participants came from preferred systems, as opposed to 38% industrywide.
The report found that even as recycled polyester use went up, the usage of textile-based recycled polyester didn’t. About 1.5% of the recycled polyester Benchmark participants used came from textiles; most of the total volumes came from nontextile sources such as PET bottles.
Traceability remains a challenge, the report’s authors said. Among Benchmark participants, 79% of all materials used were described as having an unknown country of origin.
“We must continue to work collectively toward scaling preferred production systems such as regeneratively and organically grown natural materials and textile-to-textile recycling,” Jensen said. “We’ll continue working with our members to accelerate these efforts, through alignment around shared aggregate targets, pathways to preferred production systems and collective action opportunities.”
To that end, the Exchange will require members of its Action Cohort, a group of retailers and manufacturers, to report raw material usage annually starting in 2027. It will also require members to set targets for sourcing materials through verifiable systems.
A lack of progress was seen on at least one other front. The Exchange set a goal in 2019 to reduce the emissions that come from producing fibers and raw materials by 45%. In 2025, the report found greenhouse gas emissions hit a new high of 325 million metric tons, up about 30% from the 2019 baseline. Virgin fossil fuel-based polyester accounted for the highest share of that total, at 43%.
The report covers global production volumes across all end uses, including automotive, construction and medical, as well as fashion, textiles and apparel.
