// 49% of women’s clothes on fashion websites are made entirely from new plastics
// Numbers varied by outlet with Asos using comparatively less new plastic than others
// Just 3% of clothes contained any plastics using recycled plastics
A new report has found that nearly half of women’s clothes for sale on some of the UK’s leading fashion websites are made entirely from new plastics.
The Royal Society for the Arts (RSA) looked at 10,000 items being sold by Boohoo, Prettylittlething, Missguided and Asos.
It found on average 49 per cent were made of polyester, acrylic, nylon and elastane.
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The RSA said the numbers varied by outlet with Asos using comparatively less new plastic than the others.
At least 60 per cent of Boohoo’s women’s clothing and 57 per cent of Prettylittlething’s clothing were made entirely from new plastics.
Missguided had 42 per cent of its items made entirely from new plastics and Asos 36 per cent.
The RSA also said that the study found that on average that just three per cent of clothes contained any plastics using recycled plastics.
Missguided head of sourcing and product technology Paul Smith said the company was “proud of the progress it had made”.
The company said it had “committed to making sure 10 per cent of our products will use recycled fibres by the end of 2021 and 25% by the end of 2022”.
The RSA said the plastic used large amounts of energy and created environmental damage.
It is now calling on the government to introduce a plastics tax on clothes imported into or produced in the UK.
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