The Environmental Impacts of Fashion & Textiles – is the Noise Greater than the Signal?

This paper has been prepared for the Back to Baselines in Circular Fashion and Textiles programme, to give an overview of Thematic Area 1 - determining environmental target areas.

It describes how the carbon and water impact of the textile industry is poorly understood, which can lead to ineffective green strategies and distorted policy. It underscores how reuse, combined with properly audited low-impact fibres and recycling, is the only route to a circular economy in textiles.