For decades, sportswear has been built around synthetic fibres.
Polyester, nylon, elastane, acrylic and other man-made fibres have transformed the performancewear industry. They are lightweight, durable, stretchy, quick-drying and relatively inexpensive to manufacture. For athletes, runners, cyclists and gym users, these properties have made synthetic sportswear almost impossible to avoid.
But there is a growing question being asked by consumers and new, start-up sportswear brands:
What exactly are we putting next to our skin when we exercise?
The conversation around sportswear is changing. Consumers are no longer asking only where their clothing was made, whether workers were paid fairly or whether the garment contains recycled polyester. They are increasingly asking a much more fundamental question:
What is my sportswear actually made from?
This is driving interest in non-toxic sportswear, natural fibre sportswear, plastic-free activewear and performance fabrics that avoid unnecessary petrochemical fibres and potentially hazardous chemical treatments.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we have specialised in sustainable sportswear development for over 20 years, working with brands to identify better materials, more responsible manufacturing methods and innovative sustainable fabric technologies.
Today, we are taking that work further.
We are increasingly focused on developing non-toxic sportswear using natural fibre technologies and reducing or eliminating petrochemical-derived fibres wherever performance requirements allow.
What is non-toxic sportswear?
The term “non-toxic sportswear” does not currently have one universally accepted legal definition.
That is important.
A responsible sportswear brand should not simply claim that a garment is “100% non-toxic” without explaining what that actually means.
Instead, we believe non-toxic sportswear should be about reducing unnecessary chemical exposure and making informed choices about fibres, dyes, finishes, coatings, trims and manufacturing processes.
This means looking beyond the fibre composition printed on the label.
A garment might be made from a natural fibre but still use chemical-intensive dyes, finishes or coatings. Equally, a recycled synthetic fibre may have environmental benefits compared with virgin polyester but it is still a synthetic polymer.
The goal is therefore to consider the whole garment.
That includes:
- The fibre itself
- How the fibre is produced
- Dyes and colourants
- Anti-microbial treatments
- Water-repellent finishes
- Stain-resistant finishes
- Fast wicking treatments
- Printing inks
- Adhesives
- Elastane and other stretch fibres
- Waterproof membranes
- Trims and components
- Washing and finishing processes
- Chemical testing and certification
This is where non-toxic sportswear becomes much more interesting than simply calling a garment “sustainable”.
Why are consumers becoming concerned about synthetic sportswear?
Synthetic sportswear is predominantly produced from polymers derived from fossil fuels.
Polyester, nylon and elastane are examples of fibres that ultimately come from petrochemical feedstocks.
That doesn’t automatically mean that every polyester garment is dangerous to wear.
However, it does mean that brands should be asking whether a petrochemical-based fibre is genuinely necessary for a particular application and whether a natural or bio-based alternative can deliver the required performance.
There is also growing scientific interest in the chemicals associated with textiles.
A review published in Environmental International examined human exposure to chemicals found in clothing and concluded that dermal exposure to potentially toxic chemicals through skin-contact textiles can be significant in some circumstances. The review considered substances including formaldehyde, phthalates, aromatic amines, bisphenols, benzothiazoles and other chemicals.
More recently, research published in 2025 investigated PFAS and organophosphate esters in textiles and found that simulated sweat could substantially increase dermal transfer in laboratory models. The researchers reported that sweat-amplified exposure was much greater than dry contact in their experimental system.
This is particularly relevant to sportswear.
When exercising, the skin becomes warmer, sweating increases and garments remain in close contact with the body for prolonged periods.
It is sometimes said that “your pores open” during exercise. Scientifically, this is an oversimplification. Sweat glands release sweat through pores and sweating changes skin hydration and the conditions at the skin-textile interface. These changes can influence how chemicals interact with the skin.
It is important, however, not to exaggerate the science. The US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry notes that dermal absorption of PFAS appears to be limited and is not considered a significant exposure route for the general population.
The important point is therefore not that wearing synthetic sportswear automatically makes you ill.
The point is that we should understand what chemicals and finishes are being used in garments that spend hours against our skin while we are hot and sweating.
That is a reasonable question for every sportswear brand to consider.
The Lululemon controversy: why consumers are asking more questions
Few brands have done more to popularise premium activewear than Lululemon.
Its brand positioning is strongly connected with wellness, performance and lifestyle. However, the company has faced increasing scrutiny around its environmental and chemical claims.
There are actually two separate issues that are worth understanding.
In 2024, a proposed US class-action lawsuit alleged that Lululemon’s “Be Planet” sustainability campaign was misleading consumers about the company’s environmental impact. That case was dismissed by a federal judge in February 2025, so it should not be presented as an ongoing greenwashing judgment against the company.
There is, however, a more recent and separate development.
In April 2026, the Texas Attorney General launched an investigation into Lululemon concerning whether its activewear may contain PFAS, often referred to as “forever chemicals”, and whether consumers may have been misled about product safety, quality and health impacts. The investigation includes scrutiny of the company’s restricted substances list, testing protocols and supply chain practices.
Lululemon has stated that it phased out PFAS from its clothing and that its products comply with applicable safety requirements. The Texas investigation is therefore an investigation, not a finding that Lululemon has been proven to sell toxic clothing.
Nevertheless, the story demonstrates how quickly the conversation is changing.
Consumers are beginning to question whether “wellness” and “sustainability” marketing should also mean greater transparency about the materials and chemistry used in the products.
Sustainable does not automatically mean non-toxic
This distinction is extremely important.
A garment can be marketed as sustainable because it contains recycled polyester.
But recycled polyester is still polyester.
It may reduce the demand for virgin fossil-fuel feedstocks and divert plastic waste from another use, but it remains a synthetic polymer and can contribute to microfibre pollution.
Similarly, a fabric can be biodegradable under specific industrial or landfill conditions without being completely free from synthetic components.
And bamboo clothing requires careful consideration. Bamboo itself is a natural resource, but many bamboo textiles are manufactured through viscose processes involving significant chemical processing.
This is why at Blue Associates Sportswear we believe that fabric selection needs to be much more sophisticated than simply choosing something labelled “eco” or “sustainable”.
How do you create non-toxic sportswear?
Creating non-toxic sportswear starts at the design stage.
Rather than designing a garment first and then trying to find a sustainable fabric afterwards, the material strategy should form part of the product development process from day one.
-
Start with natural fibres
Natural fibres such as:
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- Merino wool
- Organic cotton
- Hemp
- Linen
- Tencel™ / lyocell
- Regenerated cellulose fibres
- Other plant-based fibres
can provide excellent alternatives to conventional petrochemical-based sportswear.
Merino wool is particularly interesting because it naturally regulates temperature, manages moisture and has excellent odour-control properties.
Tencel™ and other cellulosic fibres can provide a soft, breathable alternative for next-to-skin garments.
The challenge is combining these natural fibres with the technical construction required by modern sportswear.
That is where fabric engineering becomes critical.
2. Engineer performance into the fabric
Traditional sportswear often achieves performance through chemistry.
A fabric may be engineered to wick moisture, resist water, resist stains, control odour or provide stretch using coatings and synthetic treatments.
Natural performancewear takes a different approach.
Performance can be achieved through:
-
- Yarn construction
- Fibre selection
- Fibre blending
- Knitting structure
- Fabric weight
- Fabric density
- Mechanical stretch
- Garment construction
- Ventilation zones
- Mesh construction
- Body mapping
This approach allows the fabric itself to deliver more of the performance rather than relying on chemical finishes.
The Financial Times recently highlighted this emerging movement towards natural performance wear, including brands developing sportswear using merino, wool,
Tencel and other natural materials.
3. Reduce petrochemical fibres
The objective shouldn’t necessarily be to claim that every garment can immediately become 100% natural.
Some sportswear products are extremely difficult to manufacture without elastane or other synthetic fibres.
Compression garments, high-stretch cycling bib shorts and certain technical outerwear products are good examples.
The smarter approach is to ask:
Where do we actually need synthetic fibres, and where don’t we?
Can a running T-shirt be made from merino and Tencel?
Can a base layer be made without polyester?
Can an outdoor jacket use tightly woven natural fibres instead of a conventional plastic membrane?
Can we reduce elastane?
Can we design a garment around mechanical stretch rather than chemical stretch?
Can we eliminate unnecessary coatings?
These are the questions that drive genuine material innovation.
4. Remove unnecessary chemical treatments
Non-toxic sportswear should also look at finishes.
Do you really need:
-
- Anti-odour treatment?
- Antibacterial treatment?
- Stain resistance?
- Permanent waterproofing?
- Anti-static treatment?
- Easy-care finishes?
- Flame retardants?
- Silicone coatings?
Sometimes the answer will be yes because of the intended end use.
But sometimes the answer is no.
OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 provides one useful benchmark because certified textiles are tested for more than 1,000 harmful substances, with stricter requirements for products involving greater skin contact.
Certification doesn’t mean that a garment has magically become “chemical free”.
Instead, it provides a recognised framework for testing and controlling substances of concern.
5. Develop the fabric before developing the garment
This is an area where Blue Associates Sportswear has significant experience.
We work with a network of more than 150 fabric mills and have spent months working directly with mills, sourcing, testing and developing fabrics for different sportswear applications.
Our current focus is moving beyond conventional sustainable fabrics and towards natural fibre technologies and non-petrochemical alternatives that can genuinely work in performance sportswear.
That means testing fabrics rather than simply believing the marketing story attached to them.
A fabric needs to perform.
It needs the correct:
-
- Weight
- Stretch
- Recovery
- Breathability
- Moisture management
- Abrasion resistance
- Colour fastness
- Wash durability
- Pilling resistance
- Hand feel
- Shape retention
And, increasingly, it needs a credible chemical and material story.
New natural and alternative performance fabrics
One of the most exciting developments in the industry is the arrival of fabrics designed specifically to challenge the assumption that technical sportswear must be made from plastic.
Merino + Tencel™
The combination of merino wool and Tencel/lyocell is particularly interesting.
Merino provides temperature regulation, odour management and moisture handling, while Tencel can add softness and a different moisture-management profile.
This type of blend is already being used commercially by brands such as Icebreaker and is an important example of how natural fibres can be engineered for technical performance.
Plastic-free technical sportswear
Swiss brand Mover has gone even further, developing technical clothing around natural fibres and promoting a 0% plastic approach across its range. Its current collection includes merino wool, cotton and other natural-fibre products.
Mover’s development work demonstrates that technical performance does not necessarily require polyester, nylon and elastane in every garment.
Bamboo and regenerated cellulose
Brands such as BAM Clothing have built a substantial activewear proposition around bamboo-derived and other nature-based fibres.
BAM describes its current collection as using natural, organic and circular fabrics across running, yoga, training and everyday activewear.
Again, the important point is to understand exactly how the fibre has been processed rather than assuming that “bamboo” automatically means chemical-free.
Natural technical fabrics at GRVL
Our own GRVL brand provides another example of what can be achieved.
GRVL was created around the idea that gravel cyclists should not have to choose between high-performance cycling clothing and responsible materials.
GRVL has developed performance fabrics using natural fibre blends, including merino wool and Tencel, designed to provide temperature regulation, comfort and odour management while reducing reliance on conventional synthetic sportswear.
www.grvl.cc
GRVL’s philosophy is simple: cycling takes place in nature, so the clothing used to explore that environment should be designed with greater respect for it.
The brand describes its natural-fibre Merino + Tencel fabric as biodegradable and designed to provide an alternative to conventional synthetic jerseys.
This is exactly the type of innovation that we believe represents the future of performance wear.
What should consumers look for when buying non-toxic sportswear?
If you want to reduce your exposure to unnecessary chemicals and petrochemical-based fibres, start asking better questions.
Instead of simply asking:
“Is this sustainable?”
ask:
“What is it made from?”
Then ask:
- Is the fibre natural, regenerated or synthetic?
- Is it derived from petrochemicals?
- Does it contain PFAS?
- Has it been treated with a durable water repellent?
- Does it have an anti-microbial treatment?
- Has the finished fabric been tested for harmful substances?
- Is it OEKO-TEX® certified?
- What dyes are being used?
- Does it contain elastane?
- Can the manufacturer explain the fibre composition?
- Where was the fabric produced?
- What happens to the garment at end of life?
The more consumers ask these questions, the more brands and manufacturers will have to provide meaningful answers.
The future of sportswear is not simply “sustainable”
We believe the next evolution of sportswear will go beyond sustainability.
The industry has spent years talking about recycled polyester, recycled nylon, lower-impact manufacturing and carbon reduction.
Those developments are important.
But consumers are beginning to ask another question:
Is it sustainable for the planet and better for the person wearing it?
That is where non-toxic sportswear becomes such an important opportunity.
The future could be performancewear designed around natural fibres, renewable resources, safer chemistry, fewer petrochemical polymers and longer-lasting products.
It will not happen overnight.
Natural fibres have limitations. They can be more expensive, difficult to source, less stretchy and sometimes more difficult to engineer into highly technical garments.
But the technology is improving rapidly.
And that is why we are investing our time in it.
Creating your own non-toxic activewear brand
For brands looking to develop non-toxic sportswear, the process needs to start with the fabric rather than the marketing.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we can help you develop the entire product from concept through to production.
We can help with:
- Sportswear design
- Natural fibre selection
- Non-petrochemical fabric sourcing
- Fabric development
- Sustainable fabric sourcing
- Technical fabric development
- Trims and component sourcing
- Tech packs
- Sampling
- Fit development
- Factory sourcing
- Production
- Branding
- Website development
- Marketing
We work with more than 150 fabric mills, giving our clients access to an extensive network of conventional, sustainable and emerging performance fabric technologies.
Our experience means we can investigate what is actually available rather than simply recommending the fabrics that are easiest for a factory to source.
We believe that is essential when developing genuine non-toxic activewear.
Ready to develop non-toxic sportswear?
The sportswear industry is changing.
Consumers want to know where their clothes are made.
Now they also want to know what they are made from.
The next generation of sportswear brands will increasingly be judged not only on performance and appearance, but on transparency, material selection and the chemistry behind their products.
At Blue Associates Sportswear, we believe this is an exciting opportunity.
For the last 20 years, we have specialised in sustainable sportswear development. We are now taking that experience further by focusing on non-toxic sportswear, natural fibre technologies and the reduction of petrochemical-derived fibres wherever technically possible.
We have spent months working with fabric mills, researching emerging technologies and identifying materials that can deliver genuine performance without automatically relying on conventional synthetic fibres.
If you are developing a new sportswear, activewear, cycling, running, gym, outdoor or lifestyle brand and want to explore non-toxic, natural-fibre or petrochemical-free sportswear, we would love to discuss your requirements.
Contact Blue Associates Sportswear today to discuss your requirements and discover how we can help you design and produce the next generation of non-toxic activewear.
Contact Blue Associates
With more than 150 fabric mills, extensive performance fabric expertise and decades of sportswear development experience, we can help turn your idea into a commercially viable, responsibly developed product.
The future of sportswear doesn’t have to be more plastic.
It can be more natural, more transparent, more considered – and still perform.