Clothing Donation Statistics

The average American buys 68 garments per year [1]

The average American buys one piece of clothing every 5.5 days [1]

The average American spends $1,700 on clothes annually [1]

The average U.S. household spends $1,434 on apparel and services annually [2]

In 2022, U.S. consumer units spent an average of $655 on women’s and girls’ apparel [2]

In 2022, U.S. consumer units spent an average of $406 on men’s and boys’ apparel [2]

In 2022, U.S. consumer units spent an average of $142 on footwear [2]

In 2022, U.S. consumer units spent an average of $231 on apparel services [2]

52% of consumers say they’re likely to clean out their closets and donate apparel they no longer wear [3]

57% of consumers said they have items in their closet with resale value [3]

31% of consumers said they sold apparel secondhand in 2023 [3]

35% of consumers said they bought secondhand apparel in 2023 [3]

62% of Gen Z and Millennials said they look for apparel secondhand before buying new [3]

55% of consumers said they would be encouraged to shop from a brand if they could trade in used items for credit [3]

49% of consumers said sustainability is an important factor when shopping for apparel [3]

56% of Gen Z and Millennials said shopping secondhand apparel helps them stand out with unique style [3]

59% of consumers said shopping secondhand apparel gives their dollars more buying power [3]

43% of consumers said they are proud to shop secondhand apparel [3]

65% of consumers said they seek value for money when shopping for apparel [3]

48% of Gen Z and Millennials said secondhand apparel is the first place they look for value [3]

37% of consumers said they have cut back on apparel spending due to inflation [3]

64% of consumers said they are looking for ways to shop more sustainably [3]

27% of UK consumers have sold clothes on a resale platform in the past 12 months [4]

64% of UK consumers bought second-hand fashion in 2023 [4]

26% of UK consumers have bought children’s clothes second-hand [4]

24% of UK consumers have bought designer clothing second-hand [4]

31% of UK consumers have bought women’s clothing second-hand [4]

11% of UK consumers have bought men’s clothing second-hand [4]

Goodwill receives more than 5 billion pounds of donated goods each year [5]

More than 107 million donations are made to Goodwill each year [5]

A donation is made to Goodwill every second of every day [5]

Goodwill sells more than 122 million items through its retail stores and online each year [5]

Goodwill diverts more than 3 billion pounds of usable goods from landfills annually [5]

Savers, Value Village and Unique have paid nonprofit partners more than $3 billion in the last decade [6]

Savers has kept more than 700 million pounds of reusable items out of landfills each year [6]

Oxfam shops sell around 12 million donated items each year [7]

Oxfam has around 500 shops across the UK [7]

Oxfam’s shops are run by around 20,000 volunteers [7]

Housing Works has helped over 40,000 New Yorkers living with and affected by HIV/AIDS and homelessness since 1990 [8]

The Salvation Army operates more than 7,500 centers in the United States [9]

The Salvation Army provided more than 10 million nights of shelter in 2023 [9]

The Salvation Army served over 167 million meals in 2023 [9]

GreenDrop has helped raise more than $500 million for nonprofit partners [10]

Planet Aid collected more than 300 million pounds of used textiles in the U.S. in 2023 [11]

USAgain has diverted over 2 billion pounds of textiles from landfills since 1999 [12]

Wearable Collections has kept over 25 million pounds of clothing out of the waste stream [13]

Helpsy has collected over 40 million pounds of clothing [14]

Soles4Souls has distributed more than 73 million pairs of shoes and items of clothing since 2006 [15]

Soles4Souls has created opportunities for more than 1.7 million people in developing countries [15]

The Clothing Bank has distributed more than 1 million articles of clothing since 2010 [16]

St. Vincent de Paul’s national stores network operates more than 90 stores in the United States [17]

Goodwill shoppers and donors support local programs that help more than 2 million people build skills, find jobs and grow careers each year [5]

Big Brothers Big Sisters Foundation collected over 100 million pounds of clothing and household items in 2023 [18]

The secondary materials, recycled textiles and used clothing industry removes approximately 4 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste from the solid waste stream each year in the U.S. [19]

Americans donated $557.16 billion to charity in 2023 [20]

Giving by individuals totaled $374.40 billion in 2023 [20]

Giving by foundations totaled $103.53 billion in 2023 [20]

Giving by bequest totaled $42.68 billion in 2023 [20]

Giving by corporations totaled $36.55 billion in 2023 [20]

Religion received $146.58 billion in charitable donations in 2023 [20]

Human services received $88.84 billion in charitable donations in 2023 [20]

Education received $87.69 billion in charitable donations in 2023 [20]

Grantmaking foundations gave an estimated $105.21 billion in 2023 [21]

Foundation giving increased by 2.5% in current dollars in 2023 [21]

Community foundations gave an estimated $15.88 billion in 2023 [21]

Community foundation giving increased by 11.1% in current dollars in 2023 [21]

Corporate giving is estimated to have increased by 3.0% in current dollars in 2023 [21]

The global apparel resale market is expected to hit $350 billion by 2028 [3]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $73 billion by 2028 [3]

The U.S. secondhand market grew 11% in 2023 [3]

Online resale is expected to nearly double by 2028 [3]

The global secondhand apparel market grew 28% in 2022 [3]

The UK second-hand clothing market was valued at £6.7 billion in 2023 [4]

Charity shops in the UK generated more than £387 million for charities in 2022/23 [22]

There are more than 8,500 charity shops in the UK [22]

UK charity retail employs over 26,000 paid staff [22]

UK charity retail is supported by over 140,000 volunteers [22]

The global apparel market was valued at $1.79 trillion in 2024 [23]

Revenue in the global apparel market is projected to reach $1.84 trillion in 2025 [23]

The annual growth rate of the global apparel market is expected to be 2.81% from 2025 to 2029 [23]

The average revenue per capita in the global apparel market is projected to amount to $231.90 in 2025 [23]

The largest segment in the global apparel market is women’s apparel with a market volume of $930.4 billion in 2025 [23]

The online share of revenue in the global apparel market is expected to be 38.2% in 2025 [23]

The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions [24]

The fashion industry consumes 215 trillion litres of water per year [24]

A pair of jeans requires about 3,781 litres of water across its life cycle [24]

Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of clean water globally [25]

The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of all industrial water pollution worldwide [25]

87% of the total fibre input used for clothing is ultimately incinerated or landfilled [26]

Washing clothes releases around half a million tonnes of microfibres into the ocean every year [26]

That volume of microfibres is equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles [26]

500,000 tons of plastic microfibers from textiles enter the ocean annually [24]

Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2015 [26]

The textiles sector emitted 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually in 2015 [26]

By 2050, fashion could use more than 26% of the world’s carbon budget associated with a 2°C pathway [26]

Textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined [27]

In the EU, textile consumption had on average the fourth highest negative impact on the environment and climate change from a global life cycle perspective [28]

In the EU, textile consumption had the third highest impact on water and land use [28]

In the EU, textile consumption had the fifth highest impact in terms of raw materials use and greenhouse gas emissions [28]

Europeans consume on average nearly 26 kg of textiles and discard about 11 kg of textiles each year [27]

Less than half of used clothes are collected for reuse or recycling in Europe [27]

Only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes in Europe [27]

EU consumption of textiles in 2020 required 9 cubic metres of water per person [29]

EU textile consumption in 2020 required 400 square metres of land per person [29]

EU textile consumption in 2020 used 391 kilograms of raw materials per person [29]

EU textile consumption in 2020 caused about 270 kilograms of CO2 emissions per person [29]

Less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new textiles [24]

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second worldwide [24]

In 2015, after use, 73% of clothing was landfilled or incinerated globally [26]

Every year, 300,000 tonnes of clothing end up in household bins in the UK [30]

Around 630,000 tonnes of used textiles arise annually in the UK [30]

Around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing are collected each year in the UK for reuse and recycling [30]

Around 230,000 tonnes of clothing are sent to landfill or incineration each year in the UK [30]

Around £140 million worth of used clothing goes to landfill in the UK every year [30]

Extending the active life of clothes by 9 months can reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by around 20-30% each [31]

Clothing utilization has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago [26]

The global fashion industry produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually [32]

The equivalent of one rubbish truck full of clothes is burned or buried in landfill every second [33]

The global secondhand apparel market grew 28% in 2022 [3]

The global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2028 [3]

The U.S. secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $73 billion by 2028 [3]

The global secondhand market is projected to grow 3 times faster than the global apparel market overall by 2028 [3]

59% of consumers said they were looking for more affordable ways to shop in 2023 [3]

55% of consumers reported concerns about inflation in 2023 [3]

65% of consumers said they seek value for money when shopping for apparel [3]

35% of consumers said they shopped secondhand apparel in 2023 [3]

52% of Gen Z and Millennials shopped secondhand apparel in 2023 [3]

63% of consumers said apparel resale value is important when purchasing new apparel [3]

69% of retail executives said resale would be critical to their business by 2029 [3]

94% of retail executives said their customers are already participating in resale [3]

58% of consumers said they are more likely to buy from a brand that offers shopping incentives like trade-in credit [3]

47% of consumers said they are more likely to buy from a brand that offers a resale program [3]

The average number of times a garment is worn has declined by 36% compared with 15 years ago [34]

The UK second-hand clothing market was worth £6.7 billion in 2023 [4]

27% of UK consumers have sold clothes on a resale platform in the past 12 months [4]

64% of UK consumers bought second-hand fashion in 2023 [4]

In 2018, 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste were generated in the United States [35]

Textiles accounted for 5.8% of total municipal solid waste generation in the United States in 2018 [35]

In 2018, 2.5 million tons of textiles were recycled in the United States [35]

The recycling rate for textiles in the United States was 14.7% in 2018 [35]

In 2018, 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled in the United States [35]

In 2018, 3.2 million tons of textiles were combusted with energy recovery in the United States [35]

Americans throw away more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles each year [36]

The average U.S. consumer throws away 81.5 pounds of clothes annually [37]

Americans discard more than 11.3 million tons of textile waste a year [38]

About 85% of used clothes and textiles end up in the trash each year in the United States [38]

The U.S. generated 17.03 million tons of textile waste in 2018 [39]

The volume of textile waste recycled in the United States amounted to 2.51 million tons in 2018 [40]

The volume of textile waste combusted in the United States amounted to 3.21 million tons in 2018 [41]

The volume of textile waste landfilled in the United States amounted to 11.29 million tons in 2018 [42]

Americans send 10.5 million tons of clothing to landfills every year [43]

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second globally [26]

Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing [26]

The average American throws away approximately 70 pounds of clothing and other textiles each year [19]

Nearly 95% of all used clothing and household textiles can be reused or recycled [19]

85% of all textiles thrown away in the U.S. are either dumped into landfills or incinerated [19]

In New York City, residents discard over 200,000 tons of clothing, towels, sheets, shoes, and other textiles every year [44]

Textiles represent more than 6% of all residential and commercial waste in New York City [44]

New Yorkers send 193,000 tons of clothing and textiles to landfills each year [45]

New Yorkers discard more than 200 million pounds of clothing and other textiles annually [46]

More than 80 pounds of clothing per person are thrown away annually in the U.S. [47]