Product carbon footprint for textile and apparel exporters and mills

Put a carbon number on every quote.

Buyers now ask for CO2e per style when they ask for the price. Send both from your own costing sheet, in your own units.

What do you make?
Price a product in carbon Book a 20-minute call
Home textiles exporter on Climes Vayda Overseas
PRODUCT DATA SHEETSupplier response · SS27
Ref.
TS-4471
Style
Men's crew-neck tee
Fabric
Cotton single jersey, 180 GSM
Order
2,000 dozen
FOB
US$ 2.85 per piece
Made in
Tiruppur, India
CO₂e per piece
2.52 kg
Order total
60.5 t
Boundary
Fibre to factory gate
Sent with the quote

Example. Scenario defaults.

The short answer

How do you calculate the carbon footprint of a fabric or garment?

Turn the order into kilograms of fabric. Multiply the fibre weight by its emission factor. Then add the energy each stage used: power for spinning, weaving or knitting, and boiler fuel for dyeing and finishing. ISO 14067 and the EU's PEF rules for apparel set the full method.

Last verified 3 October 2026. Sources at the end.

Sound familiar?

Garment exporters

The buyer wants CO2e per style with the quote. Your costing sheet is in metres, kilos and dozens.

Home textile exporters

A buyer template asks for carbon per product. Your last report covered the whole company.

Spinning, weaving and processing mills

Brands want the coal boiler gone. CCTS wants lower intensity. Nobody has the number per kilo.

Paraphrased from our conversations with exporters and mills.

Most of a garment's carbon
is made in the mill.
36%Dyeing and finishing
28%Yarn preparation
15%Fibre
21%Everything else

Share of the apparel industry's climate impact, by stage (Quantis, Measuring Fashion, 2018). Fibre is the line buyers ask about first. Your boiler and your power bill are bigger.

Your units, one number.

A costing sheet for 2,000 dozen tees. Fabric in kilos, rib in metres, labels in dozens, tags in gross. Switch the view.

Costing sheet · TS-44712,000 dozen crew-neck tees
This order
0
kg CO2e
Per piece
0
kg CO2e
Your own dataSupplier dataMaterial default Illustrative factors. Each line keeps its source.
Why now

Who's asking for your numbers.

End of 2026

Coal boilers out

H&M's deadline for on-site coal boilers at its garment, fabric and yarn suppliers.

173 units

India's carbon market

Textile units with CCTS intensity targets for 2025-26 and 2026-27, against a 2023-24 baseline.

Oct 2026

Scores in France

In France, anyone can now publish a clothing product’s environmental cost, with or without the brand’s consent.

2025

EU footprint rules

The EU launched one method for apparel footprints. A textile product passport is planned.

Free product carbon calculator

Quote it two ways.

Set the order, the fibre and your boiler. See the CO2e per unit, and which change moves it most.

1 The order
Unit

2 The fibre
3 Your mill
0kg CO2e per metre

Same order, four ways
How this is worked out
  • 1.1 kg of fibre per kg of fabric, for spinning waste.
  • Fibre, cradle to gate: cotton 1.96 and recycled cotton 0.38 kg CO2e per kg (Miljögiraff for H&M, 2016). Polyester 3.12 (ecoinvent 3.11). Recycled polyester 1.1, the middle of 0.68 to 1.56 (EF 3.1).
  • Power: 5 kWh per kg of fabric at 0.675 kg CO2 per kWh, India's grid average (CEA, 2025-26).
  • Boiler fuel: 12 kWh per kg of fabric. Coal 0.342, gas 0.202, wood chips 0.012 kg CO2e per kWh (UK government, 2026). Biomass CO2 is reported separately, as the GHG Protocol requires.
  • The same energy for every fibre, a simplification. Your meters and bills give the real number.
  • A scenario estimate for quoting and design choices. It isn't an ISO 14067 study.

Fill the template before the buyer chases.

Same question, two answers. Which supplier gets the next order?

Supplier_Product_Data_SS27.xlsxSheet: Environment · row 9 of 31
Question 9 Product carbon footprint per unit (kg CO2e). State the boundary, the method and the data source.

Question wording modelled on buyer supplier templates.

  • Stay on the buyer's list. Answer the template the week it arrives.
  • Win the costing round. Quote a lower-carbon option next to the standard one.
  • Price the boiler switch. Show what it saves per piece.
Straight answer: we do carbon. When a template also asks for water, waste and chemicals, those come from your ETP and ZDHC records. And if a buyer needs a full ISO 14067 study for a public claim, we'll say so up front.
How it works

From your costing sheet to the buyer's template.

Carbon-OS reads the files you already keep. The same data also runs your company inventory, CDP and SBTi.

  1. Connect

    BOMs, purchase registers, power and fuel bills. ERP or Excel.

  2. Convert

    Metres, kilos, dozens, sets and cones become one unit.

  3. Calculate

    Per product, per order and per kilo, with every factor shown.

  4. Share

    Buyer templates, CDP, SBTi, BRSR and CCTS.

Method and boundary

Products
Cradle to factory gate: fibre, yarn, fabric, wet processing, cut-make-trim, trims and packing.
Company
Scope 1, 2 and 3 under the GHG Protocol. Purchased goods is usually the biggest line.
Data order
Your meters first, then supplier data, then labelled defaults.
Units
Metres, kilos, pieces, dozens, gross, sets, cones and rolls.
Scenarios
Fibre, blend, boiler fuel and solar, compared side by side.
Factors
More than a million emission factors, including India's CEA grid factors, UK government, US EPA, IPCC and ecoinvent.
Labels
Every number says whether it's measured or modelled.
Already working with exporters

One Panipat exporter, baseline to target.

Home textiles, Panipat

Rugs, linen and cushions for US and European retailers. Climes ran Vayda's science-based target project, from the emissions baseline to the target.

What we hear next

“Can you give us the number per product?”

After the company target comes the buyer's product question. That's what the calculator above is for.

Glossary

Eight terms, in plain words.

Product carbon footprint
The CO2e behind one unit of a product, such as one shirt or one metre.
Cradle to gate
From fibre to your factory gate. Shipping, use and disposal sit outside it.
GSM
Grams per square metre of fabric. It turns metres into kilos.
PEF and PEFCR
The EU's product footprint method, and its rules for apparel and footwear.
Digital product passport
An EU data record per product under the ESPR. Rules for textiles are planned.
CCTS
India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme. Named units get emission-intensity targets.
Scope 3, category 1
Purchased goods. Your yarn and fabric in your buyer's report, and theirs in yours.
CO2e
All greenhouse gases, counted as CO2.
Where are you today?

Three questions. Your first steps.

See where we'd start with you.

Has a buyer asked for carbon per product?

What's already in place? Pick any

Where do your BOMs live?

Questions exporters ask.

What is a product carbon footprint for textiles?

The CO2e behind one unit of a product, such as one shirt, one towel or one metre of fabric. For exporters it's usually counted cradle to gate: from the fibre to your factory gate.

Which stage of a garment has the biggest carbon footprint?

Dyeing and finishing, at 36% of the apparel industry's climate impact. Yarn preparation is 28% and fibre 15% (Quantis, 2018). Most of it is boiler fuel and power at the mill.

Is recycled cotton lower carbon than conventional cotton?

Per kilo of fibre, yes. One study for H&M found 0.38 kg CO2e for mechanically recycled cotton against 1.96 for conventional (Miljögiraff, 2016). Spinning, dyeing and sewing stay the same, so the saving per garment is smaller.

Is recycled polyester lower carbon than virgin polyester?

Usually. Virgin polyester is about 3.12 kg CO2e per kg (ecoinvent 3.11). Mechanically recycled polyester is 0.68 to 1.56 (EF 3.1), depending on the waste it starts from.

How do you convert metres of fabric into kilos?

Multiply metres by the width in metres and the GSM, then divide by 1,000. 12,000 metres of 150 cm, 180 GSM fabric weighs 3,240 kg.

Do we need a full ISO 14067 study?

Not for quoting or design choices. A labelled scenario estimate is usually enough there. For a public claim, a buyer may want an ISO 14067 or PEF study. We'll tell you which one you need.

What is the EU digital product passport for textiles?

A data record per product under the EU's Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation. Textiles are among the first product groups. The detailed rules, including which footprint data is required, aren't final yet.

What is CCTS for the textile sector?

India's Carbon Credit Trading Scheme. 173 textile units got emission-intensity targets in January 2026, for 2025-26 and 2026-27 against a 2023-24 baseline. Units that miss them must buy credits or pay a penalty.

What has H&M asked its suppliers to do about coal?

Phase out on-site coal boilers at its garment, fabric and yarn suppliers by the end of 2026. Other brands set similar fuel and renewable power goals for suppliers.

Can you handle our GHG inventory, CDP and SBTi too?

Yes. Carbon-OS covers your Scope 1, 2 and 3 inventory, CDP answers and SBTi targets on the same data as your product footprints.

What data do you need to start?

One costing sheet or BOM, your power and fuel bills, and production in kilos or pieces. Excel is fine. Supplier data helps, but you don't need it on day one.

Does this work for mills, not just exporters?

Yes. Spinning, weaving, knitting and processing units get a number per kilo and per metre, by line or by lot, from their own meters and fuel records.

Bring one costing sheet. We'll price it in carbon.

Twenty minutes. Your units, your fibre, your boiler. You leave with the number per piece.

Book the 20-minute call or write to carbon-os@climes.io

Sources

  1. Quantis, Measuring Fashion (2018): dyeing and finishing 36%, yarn preparation 28%, fibre 15% of apparel's climate impact.
  2. H&M Group, climate: supporting garment, fabric and yarn suppliers to phase out on-site coal boilers by the end of 2026.
  3. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, GHG Emission Intensity Target Rules: targets for 173 textile units, notified 13 January 2026 (reported by Business Standard).
  4. Ecobalyse, French government: the textile environmental cost method. Voluntary display since 1 October 2025; third parties can publish scores from 1 October 2026.
  5. European Commission, PEF category rules for apparel and footwear, launched 25 June 2025.
  6. European Commission, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation: textiles among the first product groups.
  7. Miljögiraff, LCA of recycled cotton, report 75 for H&M (2016): 0.38 against 1.96 kg CO2e per kg of fibre.
  8. Carbonfact, the carbon footprint of polyester: 3.12 kg CO2e per kg (ecoinvent 3.11); mechanically recycled 0.68 to 1.56 (EF 3.1).
  9. Central Electricity Authority, CO2 Baseline Database, version 22: weighted average 0.675 t CO2 per MWh for 2025-26.
  10. UK government GHG conversion factors 2026: coal (industrial), natural gas, wood chips.

Facts on this page last verified 3 October 2026. Interactive figures are illustrative unless a source is named.

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