World fibre output climbed to an estimated 139 million tonnes in 2025, against 132 million tonnes in 2024, up 7 miilion tons or 5.3%.
Textile Exchange’s Materials Market Report 2026 informs that virgin fossil-based fibre volumes rose from about 81 million tonnes to 86 million tonnes. That five-million-tonne addition made up around 71% of total growth.
Polyester stayed the dominant fibre at 82.5 million tonnes, holding a 59% share of the market. Of that, virgin fossil-based material accounted for 72.8 million tonnes, close to 88% of polyester production.
Recycled polyester rose from roughly 9.4 million tonnes in 2024 to 9.7 million tonnes in 2025. Used plastic bottles provided 97% of that recycled volume, underlining the gap between bottle-sourced polyester and genuine textile-to-textile recycling.
Across all fibres combined, recycled material from textile-to-textile routes made up only 0.76% of worldwide production in 2025, up from 0.61% in 2021.
Cotton held second place with 25.7 million tonnes, while manmade cellulosic fibres contributed about 7% of output.
Textile Exchange’s separate Materials Benchmark covered 384 participating brands and retailers, subsidiaries included. Within this group, recycled polyester’s portion of polyester sourcing grew from 67% to 76% between 2024 and 2025.
Yet textile-to-textile feedstocks accounted for only 2% of what these companies reported using across cotton, polyester, nylon, viscose and wool.
Respondents also could not name the country of origin for 79% of raw materials, pointing to lasting traceability shortfalls. The findings reflect reporting companies and not the wider industry.
