Sustainability

The Environmental Impact of Clothing

Discover how your wardrobe affects the planet and what small changes can actually make a difference. 

Most of us scrutinise our food, our skincare, and our energy use. But our wardrobes? Rarely. Yet what your clothes are made from, how often you wash them and how long you keep them all have a real impact on people and planet.

Here are six things about the environmental impact of clothing that might just change how you shop.

1. Most synthetic clothing is essentially wearable plastic

We’re rightly moving away from fossil fuels in our cars and homes. Yet many of us wear plastic against our skin every day – without a second thought. 

Fabrics like polyester and nylon are made from oil. They’re the same fossil-fuel derivatives we’re trying to reduce elsewhere, just spun into thread.  Over time, these materials have become completely normalised in clothing, especially in activewear and everyday basics.

2. There are already enough clothes to dress the next six generations

This sounds unbelievable – but it’s true. There are already enough garments on the planet to clothe the next six generations of humans, without making a single new item.

The real challenge isn’t production. It’s what we do with what already exists.

Recycling sounds like the answer, but clothing is far more complex than a plastic bottle. Most garments are made from blended fabrics, which makes them difficult to recycle at scale.

The most advanced recycling systems focus on polyester, melting it down and turning it into new fibres. While this is progress, it also means plastic is being recycled back into more plastic clothing – extending our reliance on fossil fuels rather than ending it.

Until better solutions exist, the most powerful thing you can do is simple: make the clothes you already own work harder. Wearing items for longer, buying second-hand, repairing what we love, and choosing quality over quantity. That’s where well-made, nature-based fabrics really matter. Our Pre-Loved marketplace is a great place to start. 

3. Natural fabrics don’t shed microplastics – and that matters more than you’d think 

Synthetic fibres release an estimated 200,000-500,000 tonnes of microplastics into oceans every year, just through washing. Every time you launder a polyester top, tiny plastic particles flow into waterways.

Fabrics like bamboo, organic cotton and wool don’t release microplastics into our waterways when washed, simply because there’s no plastic in them. That’s a quiet but powerful difference. 

They also tend to feel better on the skin: breathable, soft, temperature-regulating. We do add elastane to some of our more active pieces to help give them the stretch needed to perform. This is our way of giving you as much of the natural fibre as possible, without compromising on performance.

4.  Water is the biggest hidden cost in your wardrobe

When people think about the environmental impact of clothing, they often focus on carbon emissions or factory conditions. But water matters more than we realise.

The biggest water footprint usually comes at the very beginning, when raw materials are grown and again during processing of that fibre. That’s why there’s no such thing as a perfect fabric. Every option involves trade-offs but how a fabric performs day to day has a water impact. With most synthetic tops, moisture sits on the surface of the fabric. After exercise, sweat has nowhere to go, which is why the fabric feels damp and starts to smell – meaning you wash it more often. 

Bamboo fibres work differently. Its structure absorbs moisture and draws it away from the skin. It’s around 40% more absorbent than organic cotton, and because the moisture is held within the fibre, odour-causing bacteria struggle to develop.

The result: clothes that stay fresher for longer, needing fewer washes. That saves water, energy – and money. 

Learn more here.

5. The UK can no longer export its clothing problem

For years, the UK has managed unwanted clothing by shipping it abroad. That system is now breaking down. Many countries no longer want our discarded fast fashion, because new clothing has become cheap everywhere and not just here. 

It’s an uncomfortable reality, but an important one. We have to take responsibility for what we buy, wear and throw away.

The most effective response is to slow down what we put into the system in the first place: buy less, choose better, keep things longer.

One of the most effective solutions right now? Resale. Keeping clothes in circulation works across all fabric types and dramatically extends their life. You can explore our online marketplace to buy and sell pre-loved BAM items and help keep great clothing in use for longer. 

6. The simpler the supply chain, the more you can trust it

“Sustainably made” is a claim almost any brand can make. What’s harder to verify is whether it’s actually true – because most brands only know their direct supplier. Digging deeper into the supply chain is complex, fragmented and often deliberately opaque.

Bamboo has a structural advantage here. There are only two major bamboo fibre farms globally, which makes the supply chain unusually short and traceable. Fewer layers means greater transparency and greater accountability. 

We made it our mission to trace our supply chain right back to the bamboo growers. Learn more here.

So, what can you actually do?

There’s no single “right” fabric – only trade-offs and choices. But a few shifts, made consistently, add up: 

  • Wear what you already own for longer before replacing it.
  • Buy second-hand where you can – our pre-loved marketplace keeps great clothing in use.
  • When buying new, prioritise natural fabrics for anything that sits next to your skin.
  • For outerwear, look for certified recyclable options – not just made from recycled materials, but designed to be recycled at end of life.
  • Repair what you love instead of replacing it