Tackling the microfibre challenge

“We know that microfibres are widespread as a pollutant,” said Sheridan. “They affect biodiversity loss, climate change and are polluting water, air and land. The scientific evidence demonstrates that, providing a strong link to the key three pillars of the triple planetary crisis, as described by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).”

According to Sheridan, there is a common misconception that fibre fragmentation is a synthetic only problem, due to the amount of research and studies that have been conducted on microplastics. 

To illustrate this, she used the example of being able to see bottles in the ocean and plastic bags in animals. However, because we cannot see microfibres, there is an “apathy” about it, and it can be tricky to grasp the full scale of the problem. 

“Fibres, once treated or processed, regardless of their sources, where they come from, whether it’s a cotton fibre, an animal fibre, a manmade cellulosic fibre or a synthetic fibre, they can all negatively impact the environment,” continued Sheridan. 

She added that this is a product of another huge challenge, which is a lack of data when it comes to the toxicological impacts on the environment and on human and animal health. 

“I think there’s a lot of shifting responsibilities across the industry and value chain, which always causes a barrier to progress. And that is a priority area TMC is now focused on – to move fibre fragmentation from a niche topic to mainstream sustainability agendas,” she explained.

The Microfibre Roadmap sets the strategic direction, pace of activity and specific steps required to meet the commitment. It sets out clear milestones against three key pillars – to align, understand and mitigate. Key features include communication and building awareness, reducing formation, and reducing emissions. 

Launched in 2021, it has been split into three stages – to activate, implement, and scale. In 2024, it reached the implementation phase. 

The solution Sheridan said is: “We need to collaborate to be able to provide science-led expertise to policy development and regulatory action, and partner with suitable groups we have complementary visions with to amplify that effort. This is something we cannot do on our own, and we need to drive collective understanding across the broad community.”

Already, TMC has seen success in its journey, highlighted in its progress report between June 2022 and June 2024. Entering the new era of implementation the report recognised success from activations such as The Microfibre Data Portal, which is the largest data set globally that TMC is able to draw from to understand and complete comprehensive root cause analysis. 

In May 2023, TMC launched its policy committee to support policymakers by delivering the best academic research and technical insights from the industry. 

Academic research is deep and detailed but often moves at a slower pace than what the industry requires, according to Sheridan. However, industry doesn’t have the time or resources, often, to undertake that level of deep research. 

TMC aims to sit in the middle of this.

“I am really proud of the work that we’ve done with the collection of data,” said Sheridan. “We’ve collected data from nearly 1,000 fabrics, and that has allowed us to undertake comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the entire data set, which has led to key findings on the causes of fibre fragmentation.”

TMC has then been able to share these findings with signatories. Through the power of this collective – brands and retailers committing to testing their fabrics – the organisation is able to supercharge what it can do in terms of both analysis and action. 

Additionally, TMC, in collaboration with The ZDHC Foundation (ZDHC), is developing a test methodology to determine and measure fibre fragmentation release in wastewater with a view to reduce that in the future. 

Another key thing that TMC is working on is the development of a fabric shedding rate indicator. 

Sheridan explained: “The collective testing signatories to the Microfibre 2030 Commitment undertake to measure fibre fragmentation from finished fabrics provides us with a body of data that can use to better understand the root causes of fibre fragmentation. But how else can that data be used by signatories to take action to mitigate fibre fragmentation?”

TMC wants to be able to provide brands with resources that enable them to use the data collected to assess their fabrics against a measurement indicator. 

“I think it is a two-pronged approach,” said Sheridan. “We need to develop a fabric shedding rate indicator as a globally aligned methodology to support brands with making product change to make sense of their data they are collecting in addition to developing root cause understanding.”