Fuck Cars
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In waters is consistently about a third from tires and a third from synthetic textiles (bcs washing).
Eg
I'd like to see the numbers, but I imagine that the synthetic textiles chunk comes from the sheer volume of fast-fashion and trashion produced every year. I have synthetic shirts that are well over a decade old and still look and function as brand new. My cotton shirts under similar wear get ratty and frayed in that time frame (and require harsh chemicals for stains).
If we stopped over-washing and over production, I wouldn't be surprised if the lifetime ecological footprint of synthetic garments is less than a cotton equivalent.
i would imagine most comes from shedding of the fabrics in regular use and washing+drying, basically the rate is mostly constant fast fashion or not. I would think the only viable solution would be limiting/stopping or finding alternatives to synthetic fibers. Also perhaps some kind of microplastic filter in washing machine outlets mandated by regulation could be a way to limit the emissions of new microplastics.
So... Cotton/Linen/Wool? The technology is fine, its only downside in most applications is simply cost. Cotton clothes are more comfortable, less stinky, less polluting, and won't fuse with your skin and disfigure you for life if they accidentally catch on fire. On top of not making microplastics soup every wash cycle.
If we cared to actually solve the problem of plastics in fast fashion we could ban them, with some exceptions for sportswear and shoes where synthetics have some actually useful uses. Hell, we could even make it an easy transition by gradually pulling back the allowable synthetic content for x years.
But it would directly kneecap Shein and H&M's business model so we have to weigh all the pros against that.
There's also Hemp. And Lyocell, which is made from cellulose (Sourced from trees or bamboo).
And yeah nice fully cotton clothes can be pricey. The upside is that they're generally much higher quality and very comfy. Annoyingly it is very common for stuff to be labeled "100% cotton" yet still be cotton/poly mix so always check the fabric breakdown on tags or website fine print.
I'm sure would find equivalent non-polluting alternative materials within a couple of years if we banned all plastics ("synthetic textiles").
But only if we actually put the ban in place.
Otherwise the answer is never.