A report from the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) has accused fast fashion retailers of not meeting their commitments on sustainable fashion. The report analyzes more than 10,000 items from UK's leading fast fashion websites, including Asos, Boohoo, Misguided and PrettyLittleThing. As per Fashion Network, it reveals nearly half of the clothes listed in these e-stores are made entirely from new petrochemicals. The RSA report states, nearly 80 per cent of the items listed on the fashion websites surveyed contained new plastics. It cites the example of PrettyLittleThings with around 89 per cent of its clothing made from new plastics.

Around 49 per cent of clothes on these websites are made entirely from new petrochemicals, the report says further. This figure increases to 60 per cent in case of fast fashion brands.

Further, the RSA report reveals, though some fast fashion giants have focused their recent marketing on sustainability and circularity, with more recycled materials, in reality, these represent only a tiny fraction of the fibers used to manufacture clothes. On average, only 3 per cent of the clothes listed were made with recycled materials. And for some brands that falls as low as 1 per cent. Across all websites analyzed, certain garments containing both recycled and virgin plastics were still found to feature the term "recycled" in the product title, the report adds. It concludes by saying, only 49 per cent of fast fashion shoppers admit buying clothes made from synthetic materials.