When Earth Action and The Nature Conservancy published From Shedding to Solutions in July 2026, the report filled a gap the textile industry had been working around for years: nobody had quantified, at system level, how much microfibre pollution manufacturing itself generates before a garment is ever worn. The answer, 92,000 tonnes lost each year with roughly 63% reaching the environment, travelled fast. The report was picked up in more than 30 outlets across four continents, from business and sustainability media to the textile trade press.
What the report found
Textile production loses an estimated 92,000 tonnes of microfibres every year, before a single garment is worn, or roughly 670 milligrams for every kilogram of textile produced. Around 58,000 tonnes of that, some 63%, reaches the environment. Losses concentrate in a limited number of producing countries, with Bangladesh, Pakistan and China together accounting for 54% of global intrinsic losses during production. The report also finds the problem tractable: coordinated action across manufacturing optimisation, wastewater treatment and controlled sludge disposal could cut production-phase leakage by approximately 95% by 2032.
Coverage highlights
Forbes covered the report through an interview with the Earth Action team, framing it as a direct challenge to the textile industry on manufacturing-phase emissions.
FashionUnited published an op-ed by Sarah Perreard, co-founder and Co-CEO of Earth Action, connecting the report’s findings to the regulatory timeline now facing brands: the EU’s ban on unsubstantiated environmental claims from September 2026, eco-modulated EPR fees from June 2027, and Digital Product Passports carrying shedding data by mid-2028.
Just Style ran an interview with Sarah Perreard alongside comment from Under Armour and Patagonia on the case for coordinated action across the value chain.
BusinessGreen, edie, Ecotextile News and Circular Online each took the practitioner angle, focusing on the interventions available to manufacturers now rather than the scale of the problem alone.
International pickup
The report reached readers well beyond the European trade press. In Indonesia, Lestari Kompas and Indotextiles both covered the findings, with Indotextiles framing waste management as the key to the solution. Coverage also appeared in Turkey, India, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, Singapore, the Philippines, New Zealand, South Korea and Kenya, largely through the Fashion Network and FashionUnited networks, several of which localised the story for their own textile-producing markets. That geographic spread matters for a report whose findings concentrate in a small number of producing countries.
Full coverage list
Business and sustainability media
Textile and fashion trade press
- FashionUnited, report coverage (also published in the US, India and New Zealand editions)
- Fashion Network, published across its UK, US, India, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, Singapore, Philippines and Turkey editions
Regional and national media
Read the report
From Shedding to Solutions is the first system-level assessment of microfibre losses during the production phase of the textile value chain, developed by Earth Action in partnership with The Nature Conservancy. Read the full report, or get in touch at contact@e-a.earth to discuss what the findings mean for your supply chain.