What does your wardrobe really cost the planet? Clothing may account for up to 8% of global carbon emissions, and a third of the microplastics in our oceans are thought to come from our synthetic clothes. Polyester, dubbed “the queen fibre” by author Elizabeth Cline, now dominates our wardrobes. Wearing something already worn remains, in her view, the most eco-friendly thing you can do.
A single garment: how much carbon, and how much plastic in the water?
Elizabeth Cline describes polyester as "the queen fibre": according to her, it outweighs every other fibre combined, and on its own makes up the largest share of the synthetic materials used today.
Before judging our wardrobes, let's look the numbers squarely in the eye. Clothing may account for up to 8% of the world's carbon emissions: a garment is never a neutral object: it carries an invisible footprint long before it reaches a hanger.
The other half of the bill is settled in the water. Around a third of the microplastics found in our oceans are thought to come from our clothes: synthetic fibres that shed with every wash and travel, unseen, all the way to the sea.
Why has polyester taken over our wardrobes?
If your wardrobe feels dominated by a single material these days, it’s not just your imagination. Elizabeth Cline describes polyester as “the queen fibre”: according to her, it outweighs every other fibre combined, and on its own makes up the largest share of the synthetic materials used today. Derived from petroleum, it has crept in gradually, without any of us really choosing the place it now holds in our wardrobes.
None of this is down to chance, or to any fault of yours: the fibre is produced mostly in China, on a scale that dwarfs our individual shopping habits. Wearing polyester simply reflects an industry built around this material long before it ever reaches our shops.
Does second-hand really change anything?
Wearing something already worn remains, in author Cline’s view, the most eco-friendly move you can make with your wardrobe. Putting an existing garment back into circulation means one less new one has to be made, with everything that implies in raw materials and energy.
Textile recycling, meanwhile, is often more of an optimistic promise. What goes by that name usually ends up with a duller fate: the fibre downgraded into rags or turned into insulation, far from the image of a garment reborn in another form. Of the two options, only one deserves your trust: the already-worn, not the promise of recycling.
Do brands keep their promises on the circular economy?
In 2017, in Copenhagen, the Ellen MacArthur Foundation launched a circular economy programme for textiles, since renamed Make Fashion Circular. The initiative asked brands to commit to new practices, though the detail of those commitments isn't spelled out here. Since then, the question deserves to be asked without naivety or suspicion either way: does a commitment made on an international stage really change what comes off the production line?
We won’t settle here whether this is a promise kept or just greenwashing. The record doesn’t give us, brand by brand, proof of what has actually changed since Copenhagen. What remains certain is that the programme publicly set a circular economy as the industry’s horizon. It’s up to us, as readers, to keep this question alive rather than close it too quickly, in either direction.
Nobody's asking you to burn your wardrobe, or to make confession in front of it: wearing what you already own for one more season remains the move that carries the most weight against an industry that sells you new as redemption. Recycling makes beautiful promises on glossy paper, and so do circular economy programmes: it's up to you to hold them accountable rather than trust them blindly. Polyester never consulted you before settling into your drawers; nothing stops you from deciding what stays there next season.
More from La Sultane
The Tunisian Sea in July: Freedom, Celebration and Mourning
Jalapeño: Discover This Mexican Pepper’s Many Virtues
Strawberries: A Small Fruit With Big Benefits for Your Health
