Do you know how much plastic you wear every day? You might not think about it, but most of your wardrobe is made of synthetic materials. According to the Textile Exchange Materials Market Report 2024, 64% of the world’s textile fibers are synthetic, and 57% of them are polyester.
Convenient and ubiquitous: polyester is the most produced and consumed fiber in the world. It has taken over fashion, especially in the fast-fashion industry. But behind its apparent practicality hides a huge environmental and social cost.
Since we decided to gradually eliminate polyester from our production, we’re often asked: “Why is polyester a problem?” After all, it’s vegan and inexpensive. So why not use polyester, maybe recycled? Here are our reasons.
Polyester: What It Is and Why It’s So Common
Polyester is a synthetic fabric derived from petroleum — in other words, plastic. It was developed in the mid-20th century, when the American company DuPont (the same that invented Nylon) purchased the rights to mass-produce polyester and launched it under a new commercial name: Dacron®.
Since then, it has become the textile industry’s favorite material.
Why do brands use it so much?
- It’s cheap to produce
- It’s durable and easy to wash
- It’s easy to process and dye
That’s why polyester fabric is the symbol of fast fashion: it allows for low-cost, high-volume clothing production. For example, polyester yarn costs around €1–1.5 per kg, while cotton costs €2.5–3 per kg.
Why Polyester Is Harmful to Health and the Planet
1) Fossil Origin and High-Impact Production
Polyester is literally plastic — PET, the same material used for plastic bottles. It comes from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. That alone gives you an idea of how harmful its production is. But its impact also stems from the huge energy use and CO₂ emissions required to produce it — far higher than for natural fibers like cotton or wool.
2) Waste and Circularity: A Non-Biodegradable Fiber That Hinders Recycling
What happens when we no longer want polyester in our wardrobes? A polyester garment can take hundreds of years to break down — it’s not biodegradable. Meanwhile, textile waste keeps growing fast: in Italy, each person produces about 25 kg of textile waste every year.
And what about recycled polyester? rPET — recycled polyester — has an environmental impact 30–60% lower than virgin polyester, but it’s still far more polluting than natural fiber recycling. It requires energy-intensive chemical processes, such as melting plastics like PET to extrude new fibers.
Moreover, polyester’s dominance in fashion reduces circularity. When blended with natural fibers like cotton or wool, it makes mechanical recycling difficult, since it requires pure fiber compositions.
3) Washing Polyester = Microplastic Pollution
Here’s the most well-known issue: every time you wash a synthetic garment, thousands of invisible microplastics are released. These microplastics from clothes end up in wastewater and eventually in the ocean, harming marine ecosystems. You can reduce this by using washing bags that capture microplastics, but that’s only a partial solution.
4) Skin Health and Breathability
Polyester isn’t just an environmental issue — it’s also a personal one. Being non-breathable, polyester fabric causes heavy sweating. While easy to wash, it needs to be washed more often than natural fibers, leading to more microplastic release and higher energy use.
Natural fibers like wool or cotton allow heat and moisture to escape, offering greater comfort and fewer odors — you can simply air them out instead of washing frequently.
Moreover, low-cost polyester garments often contain harsh chemical residues (dyes, anti-mold agents, fixatives) that can cause irritation or polyester allergies.
How to Eliminate Polyester: Our Plastic-Free Fleece
We’ve always believed in challenges and circular alternatives to what already exists. That’s why we decided to create a truly sustainable alternative to polyester — a garment that didn’t exist before: Margaret and Richard, our 100% recycled wool fleece. Here are its key benefits:
- No synthetic fibers = no microplastics in the wash
- Completely biodegradable, breathable, and warm
- Requires fewer washes — simply air it out to remove odors
- Made from recycled fibers, drastically reducing its impact thanks to color-sorted textile recycling
- Locally produced in Tuscany, from fiber to finished garment
The success of our sustainable fleece — with over 400 pre-orders just two months after launch — proves that a slower, more responsible fashion model is possible, especially when it meets a real market demand.
Even when it requires more care from consumers.
Even when it means waiting longer for a pre-ordered production that avoids waste.
Discover all the benefits of Rifò’s plastic-free fleece and join the pre-order campaign.
FAQ - Frequently asked questions about polyester and synthetic materials
What exactly is polyester and why are polyester clothes bad for the environment?
Polyester is a synthetic fiber derived directly from petroleum. In other words, it is plastic. Its environmental impact is devastating right from the start: producing it requires huge amounts of fossil energy and releases tons of CO2. What's more, since it is not biodegradable, a polyester garment takes hundreds of years to break down in a landfill. That's why Rifò's philosophy is built on rejecting virgin synthetics, choosing only natural, regenerated and biodegradable fibers (such as cashmere, cotton and wool) processed in the Prato textile district.
Is wearing polyester or synthetic fabrics bad for your health and skin?
Yes, wearing polyester regularly can cause skin problems. Because it is a plastic fiber, polyester is not breathable: it traps body heat and sweat, creating a damp environment where bacteria and bad odors thrive. In people with sensitive skin, constant contact with these synthetic fabrics can trigger irritation, allergies and contact dermatitis.
Do polyester clothes release microplastics in the washing machine?
Absolutely. Every time you wash a polyester, acrylic or nylon garment, the synthetic fibers break down and release thousands of microplastics into the water. Washing machine and wastewater treatment filters can't capture them, so they end up straight in rivers, oceans and, inevitably, the food chain. To stop this invisible pollution, Rifò makes garments from 100% natural fibers.
Is recycled polyester (rPET) made from plastic bottles really a sustainable solution for fashion?
Recycled polyester reduces the extraction of new oil, but for a truly circular company like Rifò it is not the final answer. The main problem remains: recycled polyester still releases harmful microplastics with every wash. On top of that, turning a plastic bottle into a garment breaks the bottle's own recycling loop, creating a blended fabric that will be extremely hard to recycle again at the end of its life. Real sustainability means using regenerated natural fibers and keeping plastics out of our wardrobes.
