New pledge for zero impact from textile fibre fragmentation by 2030

The Microfibre Consortium (TMC) facilitates the development of practical solutions for the textile industry to minimise fibre fragmentation and release to the environment from manufacturing and the product life cycle.

“There is an urgent need to position this topic within the larger sustainability agenda and enable a no-regrets decision to be made,” Mather said last week .

Up until now, Mather said, stakeholders have not had a ‘distinct global agenda’ within which to work, which means that research funding has not been allocated in sufficiently strategic ways that can deliver coherent results and promote progress. The Microfibre 2030 Commitment and its accompanying Roadmap seek to change that. 

TMC, a multi-stakeholder initiative whose members include Adidas, Gap Inc., Patagonia and Zara owner Inditex, is hoping to get buy-ins from 100 brands, retailers, manufacturers and research organisations by the end of next year and 250 by 2030.

Birla Cellulose, Finisterre, H&M, Helly Hansen, Hohenstein, Jack Wolfskin and SGS are some of the agreement’s early adopters. Both The Nature Conservancy and the ZDHC Foundation have also thrown in their support, a press release from TMC said. 

With the publication of several unified test methods for evaluating microfiber release, including TMC’s own, the fashion industry has resolved one of the biggest bottlenecks in tackling the issue, which means the real work can begin in earnest, Mather said.

By next year, TMC plans to roll out a process to test and quantify pre-consumer microfibre loss from the manufacturing sector, build out a Microfibre Data Portal where these results can reside and pilot a Microfibre Knowledge Hub where brands, retailers and suppliers can access useful information. 

In 2023, the Roadmap will release its first progress report, determine a fibre fragmentation baseline for signatories and put out a call to action to stakeholders to tap this shared knowledge to mitigate fibre fragmentation.

The year 2025 will see the launch of a Microfibre Global Rating system, which the Commitment’s signatories will adopt to create a more consistent approach. When 2030 comes around, TMC hopes to see 80 per cent of pledgees adopt and implement microfibre limits. 

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)