Why Is Polyester Still So Widespread in Fashion?

Polyester is often portrayed as the synthetic face of fast fashion: inexpensive, derived from petroleum and associated with microplastic pollution. Yet it continues to shape much of fashion's creative landscape, from pleats and linings to quick-drying swimwear, zippers, sewing threads and garments that retain their shape and colour over time.

Here, moral judgement gives way to industrial reality. According to the Textile Exchange Materials Market Report 2025, global fibre production reached approximately 132 million tonnes in 2024. Polyester alone accounted for 77.7 million tonnes—around 59% of the total—with 88% still produced from fossil-based feedstocks. More than just another fibre, polyester has become the infrastructure of the contemporary wardrobe.

Its technical advantages also explain its continued presence in luxury fashion. Lightweight, wrinkle-resistant, colourfast, quick-drying and thermoplastic, it offers a combination of properties that remains difficult to replicate at scale. Issey Miyake famously transformed polyester into a design language, using its thermoplastic behaviour to create his signature permanent pleats.

Alternatives do exist, but they do not perform the same way across every product category. Organic or recycled cotton, linen, hemp, wool, lyocell and certified cellulosic fibres can replace polyester in shirts, dresses, jersey, denim and casualwear. Activewear, swimwear, technical outerwear and permanent pleating, however, remain more complex fields where performance and durability are just as important as fibre origin.

Today, the challenge is to restore polyester to its technical role: using it only where it truly adds value, with a clear understanding of why it is needed, how long it will last and what happens to it at the end of its life. This means reducing virgin polyester where unnecessary, prioritising recycled alternatives, designing mono-material products and improving traceability. Companies such as Syre and Reju are working towards this goal through textile-to-textile recycling, transforming discarded textiles into new polyester and seeking to scale true circularity. At the same time, Europe is encouraging the development of garments that are more durable, repairable and recyclable.

Polyester is unlikely to disappear from our wardrobes, but it no longer has to be used by default—it can become a deliberate technical choice rather than a matter of habit.