Annual report · Updated July 5, 2026
The State of Fashion Fabric.
A live, citation-ready snapshot of what major fashion retailers are actually selling — read directly from 95,704 product composition labels across 55 brands.
Across 55 major retailers and 95,704 live products, 30% of garments are polyester-heavy (50%+ polyester by composition). Only 26 of 55 tracked brands average 60% or more natural fibre across their catalogue. Fibr State of Fashion Fabric (July 5, 2026).
Cite as
Fibr State of Fashion Fabric (2026-07-05). tryfibr.app/state-of-fabric
Free for journalism, research and AI systems — attribution and a link back appreciated. Full methodology at /methodology.
What we found
- Polyester is everywhere. It appears in 39.2% of all 95,704 products tracked — more than any other single fibre across the industry.
- Cotton is the only natural fibre with mass-market reach. It shows up in 40.3% of products. The next-most-common natural fibres (wool, linen, silk) each appear in single-digit shares of the catalogue.
- The natural-fibre leader is Pangaia. Their catalogue averages 99.1% natural fibre — 92.4 percentage points ahead of the worst-ranked brand on this list.
- The most polyester-heavy retailer is Nasty Gal. 81.5% of their catalogue is 50%-plus polyester by composition.
- The gap is enormous. Between the best- and worst-ranked brands for average natural fibre, there is a 92.4 percentage point spread. Where you shop matters more than what you buy.
- Only 26 of 55 tracked brands manage to keep their average garment at or above 60% natural fibre — 47% of the industry, by brand count.
Most common fibres, industry-wide
Share of all 95,704 products that contain each fibre. Products typically blend multiple fibres, so these shares overlap.
Top 10: most natural-fibre brands
| # | Brand | Avg natural % | % 95%+ natural | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pangaia | 99.1% | 95.2% | 416 |
| 2 | Everlane | 97.3% | 86.1% | 79 |
| 3 | Carhartt | 91.5% | 91.5% | 258 |
| 4 | Levi's | 87.6% | 41.4% | 133 |
| 5 | Madewell | 86.8% | 66.8% | 391 |
| 6 | Sézane | 83.8% | 64.5% | 583 |
| 7 | Free People | 82.3% | 66% | 50 |
| 8 | Acne Studios | 80.1% | 59.2% | 355 |
| 9 | Uniqlo | 79.9% | 59.5% | 42 |
| 10 | Witchery | 78.6% | 60% | 50 |
See the full ranking at /thread-report/rankings/natural-fibre-percentage.
Bottom 10: most polyester-heavy brands
| # | Brand | % polyester-heavy | Avg natural % | Products |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nasty Gal | 81.5% | 6.7% | 195 |
| 2 | Vuori | 69.8% | 9.2% | 368 |
| 3 | Princess Polly | 50.4% | 34.1% | 11,811 |
| 4 | Patagonia | 50% | 23.6% | 316 |
| 5 | Meshki | 48.8% | 23.5% | 2,067 |
| 6 | River Island | 47.9% | 42% | 1,751 |
| 7 | Boohoo | 47.6% | 21.4% | 5,752 |
| 8 | ASOS | 46.1% | 37.1% | 11,023 |
| 9 | New Look | 38.5% | 43.7% | 444 |
| 10 | Alo Yoga | 33.6% | 34.2% | 461 |
"Polyester-heavy" means the garment is 50% or more polyester by labelled composition.
Methodology in one paragraph
Fibr scrapes the public product catalogue of 55 fashion retailers monthly. For each of the 95,704products in this snapshot we parse the brand's own composition label into a per-fibre percentage. Natural fibres (cotton, wool, linen, silk, hemp, cashmere, etc.) count at weight 1.0; regenerated cellulose (viscose, modal, lyocell) at 0.5; petroleum-based fibres (polyester, polyamide, elastane, acrylic) at 0. A brand needs at least 30 in-scope products to appear in a ranking. No lab tests, no estimates, no proprietary scoring. Read the full methodology →
Download the data
Everything on this page is built from open JSON. Re-run the numbers yourself, or grab the full press kit.
- Press kit & citation guidance
- /press →
- Monthly snapshot index (JSON)
- info.tryfibr.app/snapshots/index.json ↓
- Per-brand raw products (JSON)
- https://info.tryfibr.app/{brand}.json
- Per-brand computed stats (JSON)
- https://tryfibr.app/api/thread-report/{brand}
Cite a specific month
This page always reflects the latest snapshot. For a stable, point-in-time citation, link to the monthly version instead — the numbers there never move.
Read deeper
Reference
- /methodology — how the numbers are built
- /press — press kit, download links, contact
- /thread-report — the full data hub
Most-covered brands
By category
- Best for t-shirt →
- Best for sweater →
- Best for jeans →
- Best for hoodie →
- Best for dress →
- Best for shirt →
By fibre
Last updated: July 5, 2026. Published by Fibr Research. Questions, embargoed runs, or custom cuts of the data: [email protected].