Fashion brands use a significant amount of fossil fuel like oil to create synthetic materials such as polyester, says Changing Markets Foundation. Each year, production of synthetic fibers, such as polyester, produces the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as 180 coal power plants and this is set to nearly double by 2030. Synthetic fibers represent over two-thirds of all materials used in textiles. This amount is expected to reach nearly three-quarters by 2030.

Cheap synthetic fibers have become the most significant driver of fast fashion’s overproduction and overconsumption. Polyester – fast fashion’s preferred fiber – is half the price of cotton and its use has more than doubled since 2000. As production has boomed, the average person now buys 60 per cent more clothing items than 15 years ago and almost as much clothing produced every year is thrown away.

Heavy use of plastic fibers has also seen an exponential rise in invisible microfibers, which are damaging to human and environmental health. Airborne microplastics from synthetic clothes get into the human body, becoming engulfed by immune cells, which can cause significant inflammation.