The fashion industry’s environmental reckoning has, for the most part, focused on carbon emissions, water usage, and waste. Yet there is a quieter crisis unfolding—one that is often overlooked in corporate sustainability reports and brand campaigns: the fashion industry’s impact on global biodiversity. From the expansion of monoculture cotton farms to the destruction of mangroves for leather tanning effluent disposal, fashion’s ecological footprint extends far beyond carbon.

Biodiversity—the variety of life on Earth, including genes, species, and ecosystems—is vital for climate resilience, soil health, water cycles, and food security. As the sixth mass extinction accelerates, the apparel industry must urgently reckon with its role in habitat destruction, pollution, and unsustainable resource extraction.

This article explores how fashion impacts biodiversity across its value chain, why biodiversity loss matters as much as climate change, and how brands, suppliers, and consumers can help reverse the damage.

How Fashion Threatens Biodiversity

1. Agricultural Practices and Raw Material Sourcing

Cotton, wool, and viscose which are key fashion fibres are often linked to habitat degradation, soil depletion, and pesticide overuse.

  • Monoculture cotton farming requires intense irrigation and chemical inputs that disrupt pollinator populations, deplete soil microbiomes, and contaminate freshwater ecosystems.
  • Wool production in regions like Australia has contributed to overgrazing, land erosion, and competition with native wildlife.
  • Viscose and rayon often come from pulpwood sourced from endangered or high-conservation-value forests, displacing indigenous species.

The expansion of industrial agriculture for textile production often comes at the expense of biodiverse ecosystems like grasslands, wetlands, and forests.

2. Water Pollution and Aquatic Ecosystem Damage

Dyeing and finishing processes release toxic effluents which include heavy metals, formaldehyde, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, into water systems.

  • In South Asia, rivers adjacent to textile hubs have seen dramatic declines in fish populations and amphibian diversity.
  • Leather tanning, particularly chrome tanning, generates carcinogenic sludge that contaminates soil and groundwater, affecting entire food chains.

Untreated or under-treated wastewater from textile operations not only pollutes water but alters its temperature, pH, and oxygen content, creating dead zones in aquatic habitats.

3. Land Use Change and Deforestation
Expanding croplands for fibre production and grazing lands for leather have led to deforestation in biodiverse regions:

  • Amazon deforestation has been linked to leather and beef supply chains serving fashion brands.
  • The removal of mangroves and wetlands for factory or farm development disrupts natural flood defences and migratory species.

4. Synthetic Microfibers and Plastic Pollution
Over 60 per cent of textiles are now made from synthetic fibres like polyester and nylon, which shed microplastics into water systems during washing.

  • Microfibers have been found in fish guts, seabird stomachs, and even polar ice, affecting feeding and reproduction.
  • These particles also act as carriers for toxins, introducing bioaccumulative pollutants into food webs.

5. Overproduction and Waste
The fast fashion model encourages rapid turnover and overconsumption, leading to billions of garments ending up in landfills or being burned each year.

  • In places like the Atacama Desert in Chile or Kantamanto Market in Ghana, textile waste is choking local ecosystems.
  • Discarded synthetic clothing can take hundreds of years to degrade, leaking dyes and microplastics into soil and waterways.

Why Biodiversity Loss is as Critical as Climate Change
While carbon emissions have dominated environmental headlines, the silent erosion of biodiversity poses equally catastrophic risks, and the two crises are deeply intertwined. Biodiversity is not simply a measure of how many species exist; it is a living infrastructure that underpins ecosystems, regulates the climate, and supports human life.

1. Biodiversity Ensures Ecosystem Resilience: Healthy ecosystems with high biodiversity are more capable of withstanding and recovering from shocks like droughts, wildfires, floods, and disease outbreaks. Diverse systems act as buffers that stabilise soil, purify water, and regulate atmospheric gases. In contrast, degraded ecosystems with low species diversity are fragile and prone to collapse under pressure.

2. Pollination and Food Security: More than 75 per cent of global food crops depend on pollinators like bees, butterflies, and birds—all of which are in sharp decline due to habitat loss and chemical pollution. Without biodiversity, our food systems become unstable and monoculture-dependent, increasing vulnerability to pests and crop failures.

3. Biodiversity and Climate Mitigation Are Interdependent: Forests, peatlands, mangroves, and seagrasses are some of the planet’s most effective carbon sinks. Their capacity to sequester carbon relies on biological richness, from microbial communities in soil to species diversity in vegetation. When biodiversity is lost, these ecosystems lose functionality, reducing their ability to store carbon and accelerating climate change.

4. Medicinal and Genetic Resources: More than half of all pharmaceutical drugs originate from natural compounds found in plants, animals, and microorganisms. As species vanish, so do untapped genetic resources that could hold cures for diseases or traits for climate-resilient crops.

5. Cultural and Economic Importance: Biodiverse ecosystems support tourism, traditional livelihoods, and spiritual practices. Their loss erodes not just nature, but also cultural identity, social cohesion, and economic opportunity for indigenous and rural communities.

6. Biodiversity Loss Increases Disease Risk: When wild habitats are disrupted or destroyed, animals that carry zoonotic diseases (like bats or rodents) are forced into closer contact with humans. This increases the likelihood of disease spillover, as seen in the case of COVID-19 and Ebola. Healthy ecosystems with balanced species populations act as natural disease regulators.

Biodiversity is the foundation of planetary health, and its collapse poses systemic risks on par with, and in many ways exacerbated by climate change. Addressing climate targets without integrating biodiversity goals will lead to short-term gains but long-term instability. Fashion, with its global footprint and influence, must embrace biodiversity protection as a core pillar of its sustainability strategy.

Steps Brands Can Take to Protect Biodiversity

1. Adopt Regenerative Agriculture Practices: Brands can support cotton, wool, and hemp farms that prioritise soil health, crop rotation, and biodiversity:

  • Partner with organisations like the Regenerative Organic Alliance or Textile Exchange’s Landscape+ Program.
  • Incentivise farmers through premium payments or long-term contracts for biodiversity-friendly production.

2. Implement Biodiversity Risk Assessments: Go beyond carbon audits by assessing supply chain impacts on species habitats, soil health, and water bodies.

  • Tools like the Biodiversity Impact Metric (developed by the Biodiversity Consultancy) or Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) offer guidance.

3. Source Forest-Safe Fibres: Commit to CanopyStyle guidelines to avoid sourcing viscose, modal, or rayon from endangered forests.

  • Work with suppliers certified by FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and engage in traceability efforts using blockchain or fibre tracers.

4. Invest in Water Stewardship: Establish closed-loop water systems and avoid hazardous dyes and finishes.

  • Collaborate with initiatives like ZDHC (Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals) or WWF’s Water Stewardship Program to address regional water challenges.

5. Transition Away from Fossil-Fuel-Based Fibres: Reduce reliance on virgin polyester by investing in recycled synthetics, bio-based materials, or natural fibres that do not require chemical-intensive processing.

  • Support innovation in fibre-to-fibre recycling and textile-to-textile regeneration platforms.

6. Advocate for Circular Business Models: Shift from linear to circular systems that reduce resource extraction and waste:

  • Expand resale, repair, rental, and remanufacturing services.
  • Design garments for longevity and recyclability, using mono-material construction and low-impact dyes.

Case Studies: Brands Leading on Biodiversity

Stella McCartney: A pioneer in sustainable fashion, Stella McCartney has partnered with NGOs like the Nature Conservancy and Canopy to protect forests and promote biodiversity. Her use of mycelium leather (from fungi) avoids animal agriculture and chemical tanning.

Kering Group: Home to brands like Gucci and Balenciaga, Kering has developed a Biodiversity Strategy that includes regenerative agriculture investment, ecosystem restoration, and biodiversity impact reporting.

Patagonia: Through its supply chain transparency, environmental grants, and support for grassland restoration, Patagonia actively supports biodiversity-positive initiatives. Its Regenerative Organic Certification pilot is reshaping standards for organic cotton.

Eileen Fisher: This brand integrates circular design with biodiversity goals, using undyed wool, low-impact dyes, and traceable fabrics. Its take-back and repair programme keeps clothing out of landfills and ecosystems.

Policy and Global Action: A Turning Point for Biodiversity
Global policy is catching up to the biodiversity crisis, and fashion will soon be held to higher standards:

  • The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework aims to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030, calling on industries to align their practices.
  • The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and ESRS E4 will require brands to report biodiversity and ecosystem impacts.
  • Mandatory due diligence laws in the EU, Germany, and France will require brands to identify and mitigate environmental harms across supply chains.

Fashion companies that align early will benefit from regulatory readiness, stakeholder trust, and stronger resilience against future biodiversity-related risks.