A Guide to Credible Regenerative Agriculture Claims is designed to help brands, producers, and other stakeholders make effective and credible claims about their work supporting regenerative agriculture. 

Regenerative agriculture is place-based and context-specific, which means it doesn’t have a single “one-size-fits-all’ definition. This can make it challenging to communicate claims accurately and effectively and as such there is rising concern that the promise of regenerative is being diluted.  

To help address this and to protect and elevate the work of those that are committed to regenerative outcomes, Textile Exchange has created A Guide to Credible Regenerative Agriculture Claims. It help brands overcome such challenges and sets out the key principles to follow to make claims clear, accurate, and relevant, and supported by transparent and robust systems. 

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A Guide to Credible Regenerative Agriculture Claims includes sections on the different types of regenerative agriculture claims, how they should be managed and reported, and how to avoid issues such as greenwashing and greenhushing.  

Download the full paper

Why the guidance is needed

In recent years, interest in regenerative agriculture has grown among brands and customers, driven by increasing awareness of the impact the fashion, textile, and apparel industry has on the environment. Making credible, verifiable claims not only builds customer trust but also enhances brand value, promotes the beneficial impact regenerative agriculture can have, and helps drive the meaningful change we need to see across the industry. 

By following this guide, which aligns with best practices such as the ISEAL Credibility Principles and UN Principles for Sustainable Fashion Communication, brands can avoid reputational risks, enhance customer confidence, and help increase awareness of effective regenerative systems.  

What’s included in the guide

The guide has been created primarily for brands, while also addressing the needs of producers and other stakeholders. It has been designed to be easy to use, with clearly defined sections including: 

• Six takeaways for brands to follow when creating credible claims 

• The key challenges brands face when making claims 

• The different types of regenerative agriculture claims 

• How to effectively make, manage, and report on credible claims 

• The role of companies in supporting regenerative outcomes 

Textile Exchange’s regenerative agriculture tools 

The guide is the latest in a series of regenerative agriculture tools and resources from Textile Exchange, sitting alongside the Regenerative Agriculture Landscape Analysis and the Regenerative Agriculture Outcome Framework. They are designed to work together — helping brands understand regenerative agriculture, implement it in supply chains, measure outcomes, and communicate efforts credibly. 

Please note: The guide is not intended to be legal advice, but rather has been created in good faith as a service to the industry to help brands and others navigate what is needed to support crafting credible regenerative agriculture claims.

Learn more about Regenerative Agriculture Outcome Framework

Regenerative Agriculture Outcome Framework

April 2, 2025

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The post Annual Report 2023 appeared first on Textile Exchange.

The Materials Market Report has been the leading source for global fiber and materials production volumes for the last decade.

The Materials Market Report report helps inform the textile industry’s efforts to reduce emissions associated with raw material production in line with a 1.5-degree temperature rise pathway.

The 2023 edition of the report – which includes materials produced for the fashion, textile, and apparel industry as well as for other industries – shows that global fiber production increased from around 112 million tonnes in 2021 to a record 116 million tonnes in 2022. This is expected to grow to 147 million tonnes in 2030 if business continues as usual.

The percentage of natural fibers produced via programs with sustainability elements slightly increased in 2022, including cotton (25% in 2021 to 27% in 2022) and wool (3% in 2021 to 4.3% in 2022). However, the production of virgin fossil-based synthetic fibers also rose from 63 million tonnes to 67 million tonnes. Polyester continues to be the most widely produced fiber globally, making up 54% of production in 2022.

After years of growth, the combined share of all recycled fibers slightly decreased from around 8.5% in 2021 to 7.9% in 2022. This was mainly due to a decrease in the market share of recycled polyester – 99% of which was made from plastic bottles – from 15% in 2021 down to 14% in 2022. Reasons for this decrease include the growing competition for PET bottles as feedstock along with the systematic challenges in scaling textile-to-textile recycling. Less than 1% of the global fiber market came from pre- and post-consumer recycled textiles in 2022.

The findings illustrate a need to speed up the overall shift to fibers from preferred sources, to “double down” on efforts to rapidly reduce the use of virgin fossil-based materials, and to invest in strategies that decouple value creation from the extraction of new materials overall.

For many years, Textile Exchange reported on the total fiber and raw materials market, including programs for various levels of “preferred” fibers, as well as the conventional business as- usual. To better reflect this, in 2023, we decided to update the report’s name from the “Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report” to the “Materials Market Report.”

Download the report

Our Materials Market Report is freely available to all.

Download the latest report

Discover the key takeaways

• Global fiber production per person has increased from 8.3 kilograms in 1975 to 14.6 kilograms per person in 2022.
  
  
• Polyester production volumes increased from 61 million tonnes in 2021 to 63 million tonnes in 2022. Polyester continues to be the most widely produced fiber, making up 54% of the global market in 2022.
  
  
• Cotton from the programs recognized by the 2025 Sustainable Cotton Challenge returned to 27% of total cotton production in 2021/22. This followed a decline to 25% in 2020/21 due to a variety of factors, including weather variations, changes to the Better Cotton program, market conditions, and socio-political challenges.
  
  
• Wool produced according to the Responsible Wool Standard (RWS), ZQ, SustainaWOOL (GREEN and GOLD), and Climate Beneficial increased from around 3% in 2021 to 4.3% in 2022. This was as high as 74% in the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), 53% in South Africa, 35% in Uruguay, and 21% in Argentina.
  
  
• Manmade cellulosic fibers certified by FSC- and/or PEFC had an estimated market share of about 60-65% of all MMCFs in 2022.
  
  
• Recycled textiles’ market share slightly decreased from around 8.5% in 2021 to 7.9% in 2022. Pre- and post-consumer recycled textiles accounted for less than 1% of the total global fiber market in 2022.

The post Materials Market Report 2023 appeared first on Textile Exchange.

Fashion, textile, and apparel companies are intrinsically responsible for protecting biodiversity. 

The world is currently experiencing a severe “biodiversity crisis.” This is primarily caused by human activity, leading to what scientists refer to as the “sixth mass extinction.” In 2023, biodiversity loss was recognized as the fourth-biggest long-term global risk by the World Economic Forum.

While the industry’s sustainability efforts have mainly been focused on climate action, organizations are increasingly recognizing that climate and nature are two sides of the same coin. Since so many of the materials used by the fashion, textile, apparel, and footwear industry come from the land, companies have a vital opportunity to not only reduce harm and mitigate risk, but to actively protect, restore, and regenerate natural ecosystems. 

The Biodiversity Landscape Analysis for the Fashion, Apparel, Textile, and Footwear Industry was created by Textile Exchange and the Fashion Pact, in partnership with Conservation International and supported by Biodiversify – aiming to align companies on their journeys toward protecting and restoring nature.

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Read the full report

Focusing on raw materials produced in agricultural systems, the report synthesizes the broad state of play on biodiversity action in the industry. It aims to spur companies forward with relevant methods and actions by consolidating and condensing the wealth of tools, methods, frameworks, and standards available. 

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Discover the key takeaways

• Fashion depends on nature. While sourcing decisions directly impact biodiversity, companies also have an opportunity to protect, restore, and regenerate it. Doing so is vital to securing a more resilient future—not just for the sake of the industry and the fibers and raw materials it sources, but for Earth’s ecosystems too.
  
  
• Targets can help guide the direction of travel. The Biodiversity Landscape Analysis is intended to complement the initial and forthcoming technical guidance on setting biodiversity targets and strategies currently under development within the Science Based Targets Network (SBTN). 
  
  
• Diversity in perspectives and on-the-ground input is key. Drawing on interviews with a range of industry players, including farmers, suppliers, supplier groups, brands, certification organizations, consultants, and more, the report helps companies understand core definitions and concepts, as well as how to apply them to achieve positive biodiversity outcomes.
  
  
• There is no single solution, but there are some common next steps to take. Going forward, Textile Exchange, The Fashion Pact, and Conservation International call on companies to take a science-based approach to inform decisions; recognize the need to act on a landscape level – considering the areas in need of protection, restoration, and regeneration; accept that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for biodiversity; and take a continuous improvement approach, building strategic collaborations at all levels to enable impact at scale. 

Learn more about biodiversity

2022

Landing A New Deal for Nature: What the Global Biodiversity (…)

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2023

Learning From Climate Action to Successfully Finance Biodiversity

8 mins read

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