fashion is a 1.3 trillion dollar industry,

but it comes with a hefty environmental price tag.

Cotton production is being blamed

for depleting water sources and contaminating

the environment with pesticides.

Chemical waste from clothes manufacturing

has devastated rivers in Asia,

and some estimates suggest the fashion industry

is on course to create 1/4 of projected

global carbon emissions by 2050.

If you take design, a lot of it is

take, make, dispose.

There's another looming threat

for the fashion industry,

and it's going to put clothing materials

under the microscope like never before.

This man is known as the godfather of microplastic research.

In fact, Professor Richard Thompson invented the term.

Microplastics are basically just small fragments

of plastic that are accumulating in the environment.

His latest research has uncovered something

that has sent shock waves around the fashion industry.

The data we've collected show

significant increase in the quantities of microplastic

in the environment,

and a lot of what we found in that study was plastic fibers.

Synthetic materials like polyester,

nylon, and acrylic are made of plastic fibers.

These degrade and break up in a washing machine cycle.

If we take a domestic washing load,

that could release up to 700,000 fibers in a single wash.

Now that's gonna go to waste water treatment.

Some of those fibers will be intercepted

in waste water treatment,

but a good number will potentially

escape to the environment.

The data suggests that they are accumulating year on year.

Between 2000 and 2016,

the use of polyester by the global garment industry

increased from 8.3 to 21.3 million tons annually.

1/3 of the fish that I collect from a sample

in the English Channel near to here,

have got synthetic pieces in their guts.

10, 20, 30 years time, the quantities in those organisms

is only going be greater.

The long term effects of these plastics

in the food chain, and even in humans, are still unknown.

But Professor Thompson's discovery is ringing alarm bells.

When I talk to designers, they tell me that

shedding of fibers, and indeed, end of life recyclability

was never part of the design brief.

Environmental considerations like these

are making some fashion brands go back to the drawing board.

Tom Kay has spent his life around the ocean.

In 2003, he launched a brand that creates

functional and sustainable products

for those that share a love of the sea.

His company is experimenting with different design processes

in order to lessen it's environmental impact.

If you take design, a lot of it at the minute,

is take, make, dispose.

That is totally unsustainable.

We really have to address the root of the problem,

and that's redesigning out harmful fibers, harmful fabrics,

harmful processes.

The company uses only organic cotton.

It's developed a recycled polyester insulation for jackets,

and has created its very own wetsuit recycling program.

Polymer, polyester, you can take it back

and recycle it time, time and time again.

Finisterre's design team has also returned

to one of the oldest materials known to man.

This is really nice.

[Deep Female Voice] I actually really love it in the navy.

We've been big fans of wool since we started.

It's a great fiber.

It's a natural fiber.

It's biodegradable and it's fully traceable.

Finisterre is one of 2,700

B Corp approved Companies.

Members, spanning many industries,

are assessed on their environmental performance

and have a legally binding commitment

to put sustainability before profit.

It isn't a done deal,

we want fifty years to deliver this.

It's the thing we work at every day

to kinda improve on and get better at.

One designer is turning fashions

plastic problem on it's head.

Javier Goyeneche runs ECOALF.

He's taking plastics out of the ocean

and turning them into shoes.

The sneakers is the result

of more than two years of R&D.

They're active, urban, comfortable.

All the upper is made from 100% plastic bottles

from the bottom of the ocean.

The outsole is made from algae.

And his shoes rarely

go through a washing cycle.

He's limiting the plastic microfibers

that end up in the ocean.

ECOALF is creating high end fashion

from household and industrial waste

sourced from fisherman in the Mediterranean and Thailand.

We started working with three fishermen

off the east coast of Spain and now we have nearly

3,000 fishermen taking waste out of the ocean every day.

We've taken already 250 tons, which we then convert into

polymer yarn, fabric, and products.

But Javier's also pioneering

a new synthetic material made from recycled plastic

that doesn't shed fibers in the same way

as current materials.

We started a project one year ago,

which is with the yarn we're getting from the ocean,

we want to start investing in,

how can we create a yarn that doesn't throw

microfilament to the system again?

Javier is one of a growing number

of boutique brands using recycled plastics.

The way we do things are much more complicated,

not only much more expensive,

and at the end of the day,

it's much easier to go a fabric show, buy a fabric,

produce a garment, and sell it.

The sooner bigger fashion labels

and brands follow suit,

the cheaper this environmentally friendly

clothing will become.

There are few laws regulating the use of synthetic materials

in the fashion industry.

Of course I'm concerned about the natural environment.

I'm a marine biologist that works in marine habitats.

Microplastics are consistent and we know

that they're accumulating

and we know that we're finding marine life

encountering them on a regular basis.

More research is needed into the potential harm

caused by microplastics.

But their very presence in the natural environment

poses serious concerns and challenges

for the fashion industry.

Can businesses accused of putting style over substance

get to grip with the materials their using

and impact they may be having on the planet.