Is recycled polyester a sustainable material for fashion? No, and it's not circular either.

This might ruffle a few feathers but hear me out. Recycled polyester isn’t sustainable because it solves one problem and creates another.

It's a complex problem too. A plastic bottle can be recycled up to six times but when we take a plastic bottle and turn it into polyester and make a shirt out of it, that shirt can’t be recycled into fabric again. We don’t have the technology to do it.

So it’s made with recycled materials but it can’t be recycled. That’s the end of the line.

It’s not circular which means it’s not sustainable which means it’s a bandaid.

Let’s stop using fossil fuels to make plastic.

Let’s stop consuming so many plastic bottles.

Let’s use better fabrics to make clothes.

Are recycled materials better than virgin materials? Absolutely.

But is recycled polyester or recycled PET fabric the best way forward for fashion? Maybe not.

What are your thoughts? Tell me here.

Want to create a sustainable strategy to phase out polyester in your supply chain and run the best slow fashion brand you can? Join my Slow Fashion Circle to learn how. 

Claire x

Is recycled polyester sustainable material for fashion? No, and it's not circular either.
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