Fashion has a petroleum problem. Here’s how we can solve it.
CBA CEO Marc Palahí and Trustee Federico Marchetti explain in Reuters how the fashion industry has long treated sustainability as a marketing tool. Geopolitics is about to make it a survival one.
Right now, 70% of the textiles used to clothe the world’s eight billion people are made from petroleum products. The fashion industry is tied to the fossil fuel system – subject to the volatility, geopolitical risk, and structural fragility that entails. As surging crude oil prices due to the Iran conflict push prices of petroleum-based raw materials up by over 10%, we have new, convincing proof that the synthetic-based fashion model is fracturing. So why persist with this model, when it’s no longer predictably cheaper and contributes roughly 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, 20% of global industrial wastewater, and 14% of plastic pollution?
In their op-ed, Marc and Federico explore the work of the Apulia Regenerative Cotton Project, a collaboration between the Sustainable Markets Initiative’s Fashion Task Force, the CBA and the Armani Group. Launched in 2023 in southern Italy, it was designed to test regenerative agriculture scientifically and bring it to market.
Cotton remains the most important natural fibre in fashion. Yet, its conventional production is still largely extractive: depleting water, degrading soil, increasing climate exposure, and relying on synthetic inputs derived from fossil resources.
Instead, the Living Lab integrates cotton into an agroforestry system, restoring biodiversity and building resilience in a water-scarce Mediterranean climate, replacing synthetic inputs with biological ones. Over three growing seasons, land-use efficiency improved by 35%. Soil health and water retention measurably improved. And the project moved from field to finished product in under three years, proving regenerative fashion can operate at commercial pace.
The project shows the model works, the technology exists, and the market signal is real. And the learnings can be adapted across similar landscapes. Now we need to scale.
Read the full article: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/land-use-biodiversity/fashion-has-petroleum-problem-heres-how-we-can-solve-it–ecmii-2026-04-28/
Read more about the outcomes from the Apulia Regenerative Cotton Project
