Fabric Sustainability: Future Trends for Sustainable Synthetics

Currently, fabric manufacturers are working on creating new, exciting, innovative fashion trends and fabrics. If you own a textile company or use materials to manufacture your items, you must keep up with all the latest trends.

We’ve compiled a handy go-to guide covering everything happening in textiles right now, from new materials being created to fabulous designs on fabric, trends in style, texture and adornment, and the latest materials everyone’s talking about.

Upcoming Trends in Natural Textiles

Natural Fabrics & Environmental Impacts

Renowned French company Première Vision holds various events and trade fairs for the global creative clothing industry, showcasing trends in fabric and their environmental impacts. These prestigious events attract a huge international audience. At their February 2024 trade show in Paris, which concentrated on Spring-Summer 2025, they discussed natural fabrics like hemp, linen, regenerative cotton, and wool. They also discussed the policy to mix various textiles with wool created to adapt to “climate variations worldwide”. These fabrics allow the fashion industry to create timeless collections for year-round use.

Dead-Stock: Are They Synthetic Fabrics?

Another interesting sustainability initiative used globally is using dead-stock fabrics repurposed from leftovers from clothing manufacturers and designers like Louis Vuitton and Chanel. The fact that these are limited in quality makes the fabrics sustainable and unique and helps reduce textile waste. The advantages of using leftover materials are numerous: we need less water and energy to produce these materials, as they don’t need to be manufactured; this reduces pollution and textile waste, and it’s a very eco-friendly way to use the textile.

Sustainable Manufacturing Methods

The textile industry continues its quest to find more sustainable methods of producing fabrics. The aim is to continue to reduce chemical manufacturing, energy, and water consumption. To do this, they will use textile certifications to ensure that the materials are produced in the most sustainable ways possible. For instance, when it comes to wool production, the issue of animal welfare is being addressed.

Synthetic textile standards on materials such as polyester and nylon are also under the microscope. Manufacturers are trying to create more eco-friendly synthetic fibers for polyester and other materials. They’re also attempting to reduce plastic in their manufacture and increase recycling and biodegradability.

1. Dyeing Fabric More Sustainably

Manufacturers are finding ways to colour materials without using harmful chemicals in the dyes. Natural dyes are being produced that create stability in the colours, are more colour-fast and thus more suitable. An effective way to dye fabric is solvent dyeing, where dyes are dissolved in solvents rather than water. This standard method penetrates the fabrics better than dyeing in water.

Companies are finding alternative ways to colour materials, including waterless dyes that transfer colours via heat and others that use much less water and energy in the dyeing process. Natural dyes are already being used to colour fabrics, but other innovative dyeing methods are surfacing, too. A Netherlands company called Living Colour, is researching using bacteria that produce pigments to dye material. Sports giant PUMA says they have used this method to colour a new sports collection.

2. Green Textile Innovations

As the year progresses, manufacturers have developed a great selection of natural fabrics that won’t have an environmental impact for consumers to use instead of synthetic fabrics. According to Première Vision, these include:

• CIRCULOSE®: This is just one of the fabrics made from textile waste. It’s produced from worn-out jeans and leftover scraps of other natural materials. Manufacturers are producing new natural materials by dissolving cellulose pulp (the content of most plants and trees, cotton included). These materials include acetate, lyocell, modal and viscose.
• Fabrics made from food: Fibres from fruits like pineapples and bananas are used to make materials. Piñatex is one of these, and we also discuss banana fibres in our blog, Innovative Sustainable Fabric & Materials: Textile Innovations for the Future. We explain that these fabrics are made from what we call ‘waste products’. By using them to produce material, we’re reducing waste and manufacturing materials sustainably. Other examples of waste items being used include recycled linseed oil and hemp.
• Brewed Protein™ filaments: These are fibres and fabrics created by the company Spiber, by fermenting or brewing plant-based ingredients. This revolutionary textile production method is similar to the brewing method we use to make beer!

Synthetic Materials: Polyester

Aside from synthetic materials like recycled polyester, manufactured from recycled plastic bottles, there is another green textile innovation –  polyester fabric made by capturing carbon emissions: The brainchild of biotech brand LanzaTech, this is the first yarn and material in the world made by capturing carbon emission resources. The company works with an Indian petrochemical manufacturer and a Taiwanese textile company focusing on processes that don’t harm the environment. They produce ethanol from more than one waste carbon source to create this polyester material.

Read our Sustainable Textile Guide for more data on synthetic fibres considered ‘green’, including the benefits of synthetic fibers. We have also compiled an extensive guide to Textile Certification that includes plenty of valuable information.

Eco Trends in the Fashion Industry

The eco-textile industry is constantly growing; research shows that by 2027 it is expected to reach over $755 billion. Because of the massive global awareness regarding sustainability, this industry is also transforming, ensuring that manufacturing materials do not harm the planet. The emphasis is on recycling leftover fabrics, creating new materials and finding better ways to produce fabrics sustainably, with less energy and water, to help the sustainability problem.

Here are some of the trends taking place in materials:

1.        Technical Materials

Manufacturers worldwide, including in the UK, also in India, Germany and other countries in the EU, have increased the production of technical materials. Many of these ‘next-generation’ materials are specifically aimed at businesses that produce clothing for freezing climates. Other businesses are adding essential oils to create natural therapeutic materials – watch this space!

2.        Intelligent Fabrics

US designers like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger are researching ‘intelligent materials’ that care; materials that manage our body temperatures, monitor our health and even charge an electronic device. In a recent report, we learned that Hilfiger is creating solar-powered jackets. Sunlight powers the jackets that can then charge small appliances (mobile phones and tablets). Of course, tech businesses are also looking into this subject, and with their technological research, this type of material will be a major future trend.

3.        Wearable Technology

We’re living in the future and can watch, firsthand, as research reveals incredible developments in textile technology. The most mind-boggling of these is a textile that takes the energy we expend when we move our bodies and transforms this into electrical power! These energy fabrics have been developed by research carried out in Singapore. The ‘smart textile’ can keep energy for up to 5 months.

4.        Recycled Fabrics Including Synthetics

Reusing existing materials (see our data on dead-stock fabrics, above) is already a much-used technique to combat waste management. Currently, manufacturers are concentrating on recycled synthetics like polyester fabrics. One of these is the France-based company, Carbios, which uses a specific enzyme called ‘Cutinase’ to break down used polyester fabrics. The method creates a perfectly usable material that can be recycled many times. In 2023, designer Stella McCartney partnered with recycling company Protein Evolution (PE) to recycle waste polyester and nylon fabrics using ‘enzymatic technology’. And that’s just the start. 

For more inspiration, look at our comprehensive guides on sustainability claims, the blogt Sustainable Innovation: The Way Forward for Business in 2024 and Environmentally Friendly Fabrics UK Businesses use for Their Textile Products.

 Coming up: Data on Fabric Trends for 2025

Trend forecaster Peclers Paris compiled a list of upcoming trends for spring/summer 2025. It focuses on textile technology, colours and patterns and blends science with nature to create extraordinary looks. Check it out:

• With the emphasis on creating garments one can wear all year, manufacturers are experimenting by blending natural fabrics like cotton, linen, and wool.
• Businesses use the latest technology to create luminous fabrics with exceptional translucent and fluid textures that play with light and feel.

• Fashion brands adorn materials with 3D elements using old-fashioned techniques like smocking, pleating, and embroidery.
• Materials are sparkling with reflective touches like sequins, beads, and glossy elements, created with artistic flair and precision.
• According to the latest advertising, colours that are prominent in the 2025 autumn/winter season will be warm, rich, and earthy. The inspiration derives from the cold weather looks shown on the runways of New York and London Fashion Weeks in February this year. For 2025, shades include a beautifully deep green, orange, gold, purple, and light blue. Combine these brighter tones with soft natural hues like grey, brown, and dark blue.

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