The chart illustrates how much the demand for four types of textile was between 1980 and 2015
Overall, there were rises in the global market demand for all kinds of textile examined, except for the figure for wool, which saw a slight decrease. Additionally, the most significant increase was seen in polyester demand, which became the highest from 1995 onwards.
Cotton started the period with a demand of 15 million tonnes worldwide, after which it witnessed a fairly steady rise to just over 30 million tonnes at the end of the period despite a slight fall around/in 2002 The demand for polyester trailed far behind that for cotton with a figure of 5 million tonnes. It rose considerably over the period shown, and by 2015 it had reached almost 70 million tonnes, after surpassing cotton in 1995
By contrast, the amount of wool needed worldwide rose gradually over the first 18 years, increasing from about 3 million tonnes to 5 million tonnes, before falling to merely 1 million tonnes in the final year of the period. Conversely, there was a slow decline in the demand for cellulosic, from 5 million tonnes to about 3 million tonnes between 1980 and 1997 followed by final progressive growth to almost 10 million tonnes in 2015.