--- title: Plastic looks great — but comes at a cost - The Hustle description: Fabrics like polyester are popular with fast fashion brands, but increasingly hard to recycle. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1582688353-News-Brief_2022-03-03T002557.868Z.webp --- # Plastic looks great — but comes at a cost ![Singdi Sokpo](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Singdi Sokpo](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/singdi-sokpo) [Singdi Sokpo Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/singdhi_sokpo) Published: March 03, 2022 Updated: October 11, 2023 There’s a good chance the clothing you’re wearing right now is made from plastic. ![Plastic looks great — but comes at a cost](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1582688353-News-Brief_2022-03-03T002557.868Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1582688353-News-Brief_2022-03-03T002557.868Z.webp) New plastics — including fabrics like polyester, nylon, and elastane — have soared in popularity with modern styles from athleisure to faux furs, according to [*Bloomberg*](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2022-fashion-industry-environmental-impact/?sref=3Ac2yX40). The issue is that these materials are often blended. Recycling clothes is already hard, but recycling clothes with blends is even harder because you need to sort by material. One recent report found **less than 1%** of clothing marked for recycling is actually reused. And in case you were wondering where most clothes end up, we’ve got you [covered](https://thehustle.co/09232021-cost-of-fashion/) (and it’s not pretty). Topics: [Climate](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/climate) [Clothing](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/clothing) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Kinda gross, but kinda cool? A startup that tells synthetic fertilizers to piss off](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2036425542-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-peeplants_20230918220827.webp) ### Kinda gross, but kinda cool? 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