A Tough Fabric To Weave: The Sustainability Struggle In Technical Textiles
When a firefighter pulls on flame-resistant gear or a surgeon slips into a sterile gown, the last thing on anyone’s mind is sustainability. In these high-stakes environments, performance is non-negotiable. But behind the durability and protective power of technical textiles lies a mounting environmental challenge that few industries are willing to confront head-on.
Protective clothing and other technical fabrics are engineered to save lives. Yet their very strength, multilayered synthetics, water-repellent coatings, chemical barriers, makes them some of the hardest materials to recycle. Once their job is done, most end up in landfills or incinerators, leaving behind a toxic trail that the industry is struggling to clean up.
The rise of technical textiles has transformed sectors ranging from healthcare to defence. But it has come at a steep ecological cost. Polyester, nylon and aramid blends dominate production, fibres that resist degradation for decades, if not centuries. Healthcare is perhaps the most visible example of this waste stream. A study published in Springer Open projects that medical plastics will grow 20% every year from 2020 to 2025, reaching nearly 20.9 million tonnes by next year. Single-use gloves alone account for about a third of that mountain of waste. The numbers highlight a grim reality: the very fabrics that protect human health are overwhelming the planet’s own ability to cope.
In chemical plants, oil refineries and labs, protective clothing shields workers from invisible dangers. But sustainability does not come easy here either. To keep out corrosive liquids or toxic fumes, garments are often made of multilayered synthetics that do not breathe. Workers face heat stress, while the environment faces the burden of disposing off gear that simply won’t break down. And even with all this protection, workplace exposures persist. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration estimates that chemical exposures still cause more than 190,000 illnesses and 50,000 deaths annually. Skin diseases remain one of the most common occupational health problems worldwide, showing how difficult it is to balance protection with comfort, safety and sustainability.
One of the most pressing challenges for the sector revolves around PFAS – the “forever chemicals.” For decades, these substances have been used to give textiles resistance to fire, water and oil. They work brilliantly, but they don’t go away. The dangers became headline news when firefighting foams used on military bases were linked to cancers and other severe illnesses. That same chemistry is still woven into many protective garments, from rain gear to firefighting suits. Now regulators and activists are turning up the heat. Manufacturers are under pressure to move away from PFAS toward safer, bio-based alternatives. The challenge? Finding substitutes that can perform under the most extreme conditions without compromising the lives they are meant to save.
Even if safer materials become widespread, another question looms: what happens at the end of a garment’s life? Technical textiles are notoriously difficult to recycle. Multilayer structures, chemical coatings and blended fibres make conventional recycling almost impossible. A ScienceDirect study points out that while the textile industry produces 53 million tonnes of fibre annually, less than 1% is recycled into new clothing. The rest is burned, buried or shipped overseas, adding to the global waste crisis. For protective clothing, the picture is even bleaker. The qualities that make garments durable and resistant to hazards also make them resistant to breakdown.
Despite the challenges, there are signs of progress. Start-ups and research labs are experimenting with bio-based polymers made from renewable sources, aiming to replicate the performance of synthetics without the environmental toll. Chemical recycling an expensive but promising technology can potentially break down multi-material fabrics into their base building blocks, ready for reuse. Designers are also rethinking product lifecycles. By avoiding hazardous finishes, simplifying fabric structures and even embedding sensors that extend garment life, companies are slowly moving toward a “design for recyclability” mindset.
The business case for change is strengthening too. According to Market Research Future, the global green fibres market covering bio-based and recycled textiles was valued at US$ 48.12 billion in 2024 and is projected to nearly triple to US$ 140.62 billion by 2034. That 11.3% annual growth reflects not just consumer demand for sustainable products, but also the growing regulatory push for accountability.
For now, sustainability in technical textiles remains more of an ambition than a reality. Manufacturers are caught between uncompromising safety standards and mounting environmental pressures. But the cost of inaction is rising. As more evidence links materials like PFAS to health crises, and as landfills fill with mountains of synthetic waste, the industry faces a reckoning. The question is no longer whether protective textiles can evolve, it’s how fast they can do so without putting lives at risk.
