Fashion is scrambling in an effort to become more sustainable, as changing consumer behavior and tightening environmental legislation attempt to put an end to wasteful industry practices. In fact, the fashion industry was said to emit about the same quantity of greenhouse gases per year as the entire economies of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom combined in 2020 - and it’s only kept growing post-pandemic.

The impact of fashion on the environment has continued to be a hot topic in recent years, yet there’s a notable silence around textile waste in other industries. Professional sports, for example, would not have an obvious tie to the fast fashion industry, but upon closer inspection there’s a growing issue as the market expands. Sportswear merchandise and team memorabilia is big business, with the global licensed sports apparel market expected to reach $28.1bn by 2027 - and as the market grows, so too will its pollution.

Despite the fact that many of us don’t immediately link sports apparel to fast fashion’s harmful effects, the constant creation of new kits and fan merchandise is having a decidedly negative impact on our earth. Take football shirts, for example…

Why football shirts are harmful to the environment

Major brands are now regularly designing at least three new shirts each season for top clubs in Europe, and whilst this may be on a smaller scale for local clubs it still contributes to the growing problem.

Each new kit release causes previous fan merchandise to be seen as outdated and increases the likelihood of kits being replaced and older versions most likely ending up in landfills, either directly or indirectly through charity shops.

The cheap, polyester-based material used for many kits is a large part of the issue, contributing to the amount of non-renewable plastic-based fabric produced and thrown away worldwide. For each new shirt designed and made by major retailers or the club themselves, oil is extracted and refined to create polyester fabric, using energy and releasing CO2 in the process. Not to mention the emissions generated by transporting the clothes across the world via air, sea or road.

To complicate the issue further, fashion is responsible for major water pollution in their supply chain. The traditional dyeing process of synthetic fabrics like polyester produces wastewater containing dangerous chemicals that often wash into our rivers and oceans, wreaking havoc on local communities and habitats - and it doesn’t stop there. Fast fashion has also been linked to increased ocean acidification and harming marine biodiversity. Each time we put polyester clothing into the washing machine, microplastics are released into the water cycle and end up in our oceans - in fact, synthetic textiles are the main source of primary microplastics in the oceans.

Given the scale at which football clubs continually change their kits, the whole process can have serious environmental implications. There are many ways in which the industry as a whole can become more sustainable, from better dyeing processes to removing the need for new merchandise.

How sports merchandise can become more sustainable

Fan merchandise is integral to the culture of football, but there’s a missed opportunity when it comes to the sustainability of the shirts and other parts of the kit on offer. Two out of three consumers say that sustainability is an important factor when purchasing apparel, but in order for consumers to make an eco-friendly choice there needs to be a sustainable option in the first place.

Teams need to move away from cheap fabric and wasteful practices and instead embrace greener solutions. The easiest way is to phase out polyester material in exchange for sustainable alternatives, like organic cotton, derived from plant-based resources and with many benefits such as natural sweat-wicking fibre. On top of this, using a water-based ink dye process (which is both non-hazardous and biodegradable) can drastically decrease water pollution.

Further to that, the wastefulness of constantly changing merchandise designs needs to be addressed. Just like the fast fashion industry, sports merch will need to adopt a slower approach to buying, and priorities long-lasting designs that can be worn over the years. This will put an end to three new shirts a season, and instead give way to a variety of styles designed around the traditional marketing of each brand, including their team logo and colours.

That’s why we’re doing our best to make a difference and provide an alternative to the norm by: offering sustainable materials and a water-based ink dye process; producing longer-lasting designs customised to each time; and partnering with smaller, grassroots sports clubs to change how merch is viewed in football. For more on our sustainable initiatives, see our home page.

Our recent collaboration with Aber Valley FC is a great example of how we can work with a local team to offer eco-friendly merch so their fans can both support them and raise valuable funds. Interested? Click here  to partner with us.