Performance wear is supposed to handle whatever you throw at it. But many of the features people expect—like stretch and recovery, water resistance, moisture-wicking, and odor control—usually depend on synthetic fibers and potentially harmful chemical coatings, membranes, and treatments. Now, brands and fiber producers like Lenzing, Ridestore, and Hyosung are trying to change that by achieving the same level of performance using natural or naturally derived fibers and safer, certified chemicals. The big question is: can they do it at scale?
The push for less toxic performance wear is coming from many directions. Regulators around the world are cracking down on harmful substances like PFAS (known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment), which have been widely used to make fabrics water- and stain-resistant. At the same time, more customers are following the idea that “clothing is skincare”—paying closer attention to what chemicals and fibers are in their clothes and how they might affect their skin, the body’s largest organ. In response, retailers are promising “clean fashion,” a tough promise to keep that comes from the equally complicated “clean beauty” movement.
Read More: Is Fashion Ever Really ‘Clean’? By Sophie Benson
It’s not easy. To make non-toxic performance wear, brands have to go back to the drawing board and rethink their products from scratch. It can take years of trial and error just to start matching the standards set by current performance gear.
Take Tera Mira, a bio-based elastane startup and one of H&M Foundation’s Global Change Award winners for 2026. Founded in 2025, the company uses seaweed as a raw material to create a fossil fuel-free alternative to elastane. “We’ve had a lot of interest from underwear and sportswear brands,” says co-founder and CEO Jeanne Bégon-Lours. But there’s still a long way to go before it shows up in products. While synthetic elastane can stretch up to 500%, Tera Mira is currently working with a stretch range of 50% to 100%, says Bégon-Lours. Tests on industrial spinning lines are expected in 2027, and the company hopes to license its technology to spinners in 2028 or 2029 for large-scale production. That all depends on finalizing the formula, securing enough raw materials, and making sure the final product passes tests for strength, stretch, and recovery—plus factors that haven’t been tested yet, like washing.
Elastane usually makes up just a small percentage of a garment. A non-toxic or less toxic product needs that, plus many other innovations to come together—from new waterproofing technology to plastic-free zippers. Here, three early movers in the field explain what it takes to make non-toxic performance wear happen at scale.
The (almost) plastic-free windbreaker: Armedangels and Lenzing
The new (nearly) plastic-free windbreaker from Armedangels required a five-way partnership to create, though Julia Kirschner, director of impact and innovation, describes it more as co-development than collaboration.
Johannes Fürst, co-founder and managing director of Montebelo (a company that provides solutions for sustainable supply chains), got involved early to help develop the product. So did Lenzing, the Austrian cellulosic fiber producer behind materials like Tencel and Ecovero, which are certified by major organizations such as the EU Ecolabel and Oeko-Tex for safe chemicals, responsible forestry, natural origins, and biodegradability. “We work very closely with brand partners to support them at the fiber level in different stages of development,” says Manuela Gesslbauer, head of global brand partnerships at Lenzing.
Lenzing didn’t have an existing material with a tight enough weave to meet the windbreaker’s technical needs, so the team had to create one. Fürst brought in Taiwanese mill HerMin to help with development, as it specializes in natural functional fabrics and has experienceExpertise in dense weaves is exactly what’s needed to block the wind. Working with spinners in HerMin’s network, along with Lenzing technicians who could advise on the properties of the wood-pulp-based fiber and the best fiber length for strength, the team created a 100% Tencel Lyocell ripstop fabric.
This fabric is a first of its kind, but it wasn’t the only challenge in developing the jacket. “To make a plastic-free windbreaker, it’s not just about swapping the fiber. You have to rethink the entire jacket—every part, including trims, prints, elastics, and all the small details,” says Kirschner.
The city-ready windbreaker is plastic-free, except for a small patch of coating at the base of the zipper.
Photo: Armedangels
Although the fabric’s structure offers some protection, the jacket still needed a water-repellent treatment to compete with others on the market. PFAS-free water repellents exist, but they’re usually applied to synthetic materials. Applying one to Tencel required finding the right formula and method, which takes time, testing, and training for factory workers who are used to working with polyester and polyamide.
Despite everyone’s best efforts, there are a few trade-offs. The team says the jacket is 97% windproof (based on ISO 9237 air permeability testing), but it can’t handle heavy rain—only light showers. And it’s not completely plastic-free: the zipper has a small patch of plastic coating at its base. “We aimed to be 100% plastic-free, but we didn’t achieve that, and we’re being honest about it,” says Kirschner. Still, testing showed the jacket has no intentionally added PFAS (though unintentional contamination can happen since PFAS are so common), and the brand says the jacket will now be a permanent part of its collections.
The lower-impact yoga range: Hyosung and Lenzing
When it comes to performance sportswear, one of the biggest hurdles to making completely non-toxic products is stretch. But switching from fossil-fuel-based materials to bio-based ones is no small task.
“Most of our company’s carbon emissions come from processing raw materials, and most of those are fossil-fuel-based,” says Simon Whitmarsh-Knight, global marketing and sustainability director of textiles at Hyosung TNC, a South Korean textile manufacturer and the world’s largest elastane producer by market share. Now, the company is turning to bio-based materials to reduce its impact, investing $1 billion and building a 50,000-ton factory in Vietnam. It won’t be an overnight change. “For all the challenges with elastane, we can’t do without it right now because it provides the comfort everyone wants.”
To speed up the shift to bio-based alternatives and prove they can work at scale, Hyosung teamed up with Lenzing to launch a yoga collection in October 2025. The idea took two years to become reality. To speed up development and get to market quickly, the companies chose to work with existing fibers. From Lenzing, the range uses Tencel and Ecovero made with Refibra technology, which uses pre- and post-consumer cotton scraps. Hyosung provided the elastane in the form of its Bio Spandex, which is 70% bio-based and made from corn (the company has since switched to sugarcane because it yields more, captures carbon more efficiently, and its byproduct, bagasse, can be used as renewable energy). “It was about picking the right fibers from Lenzing and the right fibers from us, then choosing one mill to serve as a case study,” says Whitmarsh-Knight.
Hyosung TNC’s yoga range combines a bio-based elastane with Lenzing’s Tencel and Ecovero fibers.
Photo: Hyosung TNC
That mill was Pacific Textiles in Hong Kong, a key supply chain partner for both companies, known for its expertise in optimizing fabric structure and precision heat-setting. Robert Masanari MurakamI’m the general manager of the R&D division, and I can tell you the whole process took four months from the first delivery of fibers.
Even though the collection combines certified bio-based fabrics with a bio-based elastane, Whitmarsh-Knight is careful to point out that it’s only more bio-based than regular yoga products—not completely bio-based. Alongside Hyosung’s 70% corn-based Bio Spandex, the yoga line also includes the company’s recycled and dyeable elastanes, which are synthetic. “We can’t call it 100% natural,” says Whitmarsh-Knight. “We’re working toward that goal in the future, but for now, we’re very careful about how we present it.”
The responsible chemistry ski jacket: Ridestore and Bluesign
Not all innovations are obvious to the consumer. Take the Spartan jacket from Swedish outdoor brand Ridestore. It takes five different factories to make the fabric. The process starts with fibers thinner than a human hair, which a spinner turns into yarn. Only one factory in Taiwan can produce this unique combination of recycled polyester and mechanical stretch yarn. Then the fabric goes to the greige stage, where it’s woven and comes out a dirty white color—hence the name. Next is the dye house, followed by a PFAS-free durable water repellent (DWR) finish, and finally the jacket is laminated to be ready for the mountains.
Ashish Ahlawat, the brand’s head of R&D, describes the jacket as a simpler design, with about 45 different materials compared to the usual 80. But each material and component moves through multiple factories, and at every step, there’s a risk of adding hazardous chemicals—like solvents, dyes, finishes, DWR, or others. To avoid this, Ridestore focused on sourcing from Bluesign System Partners—manufacturers and chemical suppliers vetted by the Swiss-founded company Bluesign, which sets standards for safe and eco-friendly production. Bluesign checks things like ventilation, emissions, water treatment, health and safety in factories, and conducts testing.
Ridestore’s Spartan jacket is tested to make sure it has no intentionally added PFAS.
Each of the five factories involved in making the main fabric for the Spartan jacket is a Bluesign System Partner. They undergo unannounced audits, annual reviews, continuous monitoring, and yearly chemical change meetings to stay aligned with approved and restricted chemicals. But not every material or component came pre-approved. Ahlawat says almost 100% of the fabric and more than 50% of the films used in the jacket are Bluesign-approved, which means plenty of materials still need on-the-ground testing and collaboration to meet both Ridestore’s and Bluesign’s standards.
The screen print on the jacket was one example. Ridestore had to work with Bluesign to decide which chemicals to test for during development and sourcing, and again during bulk production, where some suppliers might change the chemistry to work at scale. This time, no issues were found, but Ridestore has had to fix non-compliant chemicals in the past. DMF (Dimethylformamide—a solvent used in textile coatings and laminations that is classified as carcinogenic, mutagenic, and reprotoxic) is one of the most common problems, says Ahlawat. “You need to take corrective action at the facility so they don’t use it going forward.” According to Bluesign’s phaseout program, appropriate actions include off-gas abatement—capturing and treating exhaust air—and switching to less hazardous or water-based alternatives.
Ahlawat visits Asia every three months to meet with his R&D counterparts and factory technicians, observe conditions and safety measures, and work on new innovations. Upgrading suppliers to meet Bluesign requirements can be a long process for the factory and a big investment. For example, the factory that makes Ridestore’s waterproof lamination film took three years.To get certified, they had to install a new exhaust system to capture all the fumes from the adhesive, he explains. Ultimately, factories are responsible for funding these upgrades, but Ahlawat notes they need to see long-term benefits to justify the cost—like some form of loyalty or price increase from brands.
The result of such strict supplier requirements is a jacket that is safe to produce and safe to wear. “We took the Spartan jacket and tested it for PFAS content across the entire product. A third-party lab conducted a full PFAS analysis, and it came back with no [intentionally added] PFAS detected,” says Ahlawat. “It’s a lot of hard work, but it’s good work.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs about making performance wear that is less toxic written in a natural tone with clear answers
BeginnerLevel Questions
1 What exactly do you mean by toxic performance wear
It refers to clothes made with harsh chemicals that can be bad for your health or the environment This includes things like certain dyes waterproofing treatments and chemical finishes that prevent wrinkles or odors
2 Why should I care about less toxic workout clothes
Your skin absorbs what it touches Less toxic gear means youre not rubbing chemicals into your skin while you sweat Its also better for the planet because those chemicals dont wash into our water systems
3 What is the biggest problem with making clean performance wear
The biggest challenge is making the gear work well Traditional toxic chemicals are cheap and very effective at making fabric stretchy waterproof and odorresistant Finding natural or safe alternatives that perform just as well is difficult and often more expensive
4 Does less toxic mean the clothes wont be stretchy or wick away sweat
Not at all Many safe alternatives work great You can get excellent stretch from recycled polyester or natural rubber and moisturewicking can be achieved through fabric construction instead of chemical coatings
5 How can I tell if a brand is actually making less toxic gear
Look for thirdparty certifications The most common ones are OEKOTEX Standard 100 and bluesign Also look for PFASFree or PFCFree labels on waterproof jackets
Advanced Questions
6 What specific chemicals are they trying to remove
The main culprits are PFAS formaldehyde phthalates heavy metals and antimicrobials like silver or triclosan
7 If you remove the chemical that stops odor wont the clothes stink immediately
Its a tradeoff Without silver or triclosan bacteria can grow on sweat causing smell The solution is using natural fibers like