TOAST lifts natural-fibre share to 99% as repairs and reuse expand

TOAST has pushed 99% of its 2025 clothing collections into natural fibres or certified cellulosic fibres, while more than 7,500 garments were given a second life. For a brand that began in Wales in 1997 with nightwear and loungewear shaped by the surrounding landscape and a slower pace of life, the report reads less like a pledge and more like an operating shift.

The company has built its 2025 Social Conscience Report around three pillars, Cherish Materials & Make, Minimise Waste, and Enrich & Educate, and the emphasis is on what happens before and after the hanger. TOAST says the majority of its collections have been produced by suppliers it has worked with for an average of nine years, while more than 50% of production spend supported manufacturing in Europe. That matters because fibre choice alone does not make a garment responsible; the cut, the supply chain, and the aftercare decide whether a coat, cardigan or dress becomes a long-term piece or a short-lived buy.

The strongest evidence sits in TOAST’s Circle and repair programmes. Since 2019, the brand says 25,232 garments have been given a second life through reworn, renewed, exchanged and repaired items. Its free mending service, TOAST Repair, also brought 2,111 cherished pieces back into wear last year. TOAST cites Zero Waste Scotland in saying that extending a garment’s life by just nine months can lower its environmental footprint by 20% to 30%, which makes those repair numbers more than a nice add-on. They are the practical test of whether the material shift is being backed by a real product-life-extension strategy.

The blind spot is obvious enough to keep in view: natural fibres are not a free pass, and a high share of natural or certified cellulosic content still leaves the question of what happens when a piece is no longer wanted. TOAST’s answer is Circle, with items unsuitable for the programme donated to TRAID, where those donations have raised more than £21,000 for better working conditions and development projects. Suzie de Rohan Willner, TOAST’s chief executive, said the progress came from “years of investment, collaboration and the dedication of exceptional teams across our business, all working towards meaningful progress,” and the figures back that up as an operational change, not a campaign slogan.

The broader industry case is harder to ignore. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation has argued for a fashion system that keeps clothes, textiles and fibres at their highest value and re-enters them into the economy after use, while the UN Environment Programme has placed fashion and textiles at the frontline of climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution and waste. TOAST’s latest numbers show what that looks like in a retail wardrobe: less synthetic content, more mending, more reuse, and a clearer attempt to keep a garment in circulation after the first sale.