Reformation Uses New Silk Data to Shift Toward Organic Alternatives

Reformation is using fresh silk data to make a sharper argument for a softer wardrobe choice: stop treating all silk as equal, and stop treating elimination as the only answer. The Los Angeles brand co-funded a new life-cycle analysis with Dôen, Eileen Fisher, Everlane and Zimmermann, and the study points squarely upstream, where mulberry cultivation and silkworm rearing drive most of silk’s impact in China.

That matters because Reformation has spent years trying to pull its material mix away from the fibers that weigh hardest on the climate ledger. The study tracks one kilogram of undyed raw silk yarn in China from mulberry cultivation through reeling, replacing broad industry averages with primary, supplier-specific data. Fertilizer use emerged as the main emissions driver, a reminder that in fashion, the most consequential decisions often happen before a thread is spun.

The numbers help explain why Reformation is changing course. The company says organic silk cuts carbon emissions by about 30 percent and uses roughly 80 percent less water than the MSI benchmark. Silk is only about 0.1 percent of global fiber use, but it makes up roughly 3 to 4 percent of Reformation’s sourcing. Inside the brand’s own footprint, silk is its most water-intensive material and its second-most carbon-intensive, while materials overall account for about two-thirds of the company’s product footprint.

Reformation once aimed to eliminate both conventional cashmere and silk outright. Cashmere was easier to solve: recycled alternatives lowered emissions by about 55 percent. Silk proved more stubborn. Consumer demand kept growing, and the viable replacements lagged, even as Reformation expanded silk’s share of its fiber mix from 1.5 percent in 2021 to about 3.8 percent in 2025. In its 2023 sustainability report, the company said silk represented about 5 percent of its material portfolio but was responsible for 15 percent of materials-related emissions.

That tension is why the brand has been leaning harder into Eco Satin, its silk-like fabric made from Naia Renew, an Eastman innovation that blends recycled waste with renewable wood pulp. Reformation began replacing silk with the fabric in 2022, scaled the program in 2023, and said 18 percent of its silk-like fiber sourcing now comes from Eco Satin, with that share expected to double. The move is less about swapping one buzzword for another than about building a cleaner substitute that can actually hold volume.

The larger signal is bigger than one brand’s sourcing shift. Reformation has been on this road since its climate-positive pledge in 2020 and its circular-by-2030 target in 2023, and it has increasingly positioned itself alongside peers on supply-chain decarbonization, including work with the Apparel Impact Institute at shared suppliers in southern China. Textile Exchange is now leading seven life-cycle assessment studies for fashion raw materials, reinforcing a new playbook for controversial fibers: measure more precisely, source better, and reserve outright bans for the materials that cannot be improved.