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Fashion · Report

Clothing Industry Statistics

Apparel employs millions but drives low wages, waste, and emissions, making sustainable change urgent now.

The clothing industry links workplaces to trade and to what people can afford every day. Globally, apparel employs 3.2% of workers, and garment pay in many countries can fall 50% or more below a living wage—especially for women, who make up about 80% of the workforce. Alongside these social pressures, the sector’s footprint shows up in massive water use, growing textile waste, and greenhouse-gas emissions. In the sections ahead, you’ll explore regional production and exports, plus how fast fashion, luxury, and sustainability—and even resale—are reshaping demand.

Alexander EserWritten byAlexander EserCo-Founder, Rawshot.ai
UpdatedApril 19, 2026Read6 minSources53 verified
Clothing Industry Statistics

Executive Summary

Key Takeaways

Research reviewed

Apparel employs millions but drives low wages, waste, and emissions, making sustainable change urgent now.

  • The apparel sector accounts for 3.2% of global employment

  • The average pay for garment workers in many countries is often below a living wage by 50% or more

  • Women make up approximately 80% of garment workers worldwide

  • The EU exported €73 billion of textiles and clothing in 2023

  • India aims to achieve $100 billion in textiles exports by 2030

  • Honduras supplied 3.8% of U.S. apparel imports in 2023

  • The global apparel market’s luxury segment is forecast to generate $299.8 billion in 2025

  • 55% of retail executives say resale will be a key part of their business by 2029

  • 41% of consumers bought more sustainable products in 2023

  • The global fast fashion market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.74% from 2023 to 2030

  • The global luxury apparel market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2024 to 2030

  • The global sustainable fashion market is expanding at a CAGR of 14.02% from 2024 to 2034

  • The fashion industry consumes 215 trillion liters of water per year

  • The average number of times a garment was worn decreased by 36% compared with 15 years earlier

  • The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second

Section 01

Employment & Labor

  1. The apparel sector accounts for 3.2% of global employment [1]

  2. The average pay for garment workers in many countries is often below a living wage by 50% or more [2]

  3. Women make up approximately 80% of garment workers worldwide [3]

  4. The ready-made garment sector accounts for more than 80% of Bangladesh’s total exports [4]

  5. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for over 55% of global apparel manufacturing in 2023 [5]

  6. U.S. apparel accessories and other apparel manufacturing employed 65,800 people in 2023 [6]

  7. There were about 151,300 sewing machine operator jobs in the United States in 2023 [7]

  8. Employment of fashion designers is projected to grow 5% from 2023 to 2033 [8]

  9. About 80% of workers in Cambodia’s garment and footwear sector are women [9]

Section 02

Trade & Supply Chain

  1. The EU exported €73 billion of textiles and clothing in 2023 [10]

  2. India aims to achieve $100 billion in textiles exports by 2030 [11]

  3. Honduras supplied 3.8% of U.S. apparel imports in 2023 [12]

  4. China’s textile and apparel exports were $293.6 billion in 2023 [13]

  5. Bangladesh had 3,551 garment factories in operation in 2024 [14]

  6. Vietnam’s textile and garment exports reached $40.3 billion in 2023 [15]

  7. The apparel supply chain management market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.6% from 2024 to 2030 [16]

  8. RFID in retail, including apparel, can improve inventory accuracy from 63% to 95% [17]

  9. The textile chemicals market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% from 2024 to 2030 [18]

  10. The textile recycling market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.9% from 2024 to 2030 [19]

  11. The textile yarn market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.9% from 2024 to 2030 [20]

  12. Asia Pacific accounted for over 53% of the global textile market revenue in 2023 [21]

Section 03

Retail & Consumer Behavior

  1. The global apparel market’s luxury segment is forecast to generate $299.8 billion in 2025 [22]

  2. 55% of retail executives say resale will be a key part of their business by 2029 [23]

  3. 41% of consumers bought more sustainable products in 2023 [24]

  4. Mobile was the largest platform segment in online fashion retail with over 59% share in 2021 [25]

  5. Casual wear accounted for over 45% of U.S. online apparel revenue in 2022 [26]

  6. In 2023, Zara operated 1,759 stores worldwide [27]

  7. H&M had 4,369 stores worldwide in 2023 [28]

  8. Nike’s direct-to-consumer sales represented 43.6% of total revenues in fiscal 2024 [29]

  9. In 2023, 34% of U.S. online apparel shoppers considered fast delivery important [30]

Section 04

Market Size & Growth

  1. The global fast fashion market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.74% from 2023 to 2030 [31]

  2. The global luxury apparel market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% from 2024 to 2030 [32]

  3. The global sustainable fashion market is expanding at a CAGR of 14.02% from 2024 to 2034 [33]

  4. The global sports apparel market is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 4.2% during 2025 to 2032 [34]

  5. The global childrenswear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% from 2024 to 2030 [35]

  6. The global denim jeans market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.8% from 2024 to 2030 [36]

  7. The global lingerie market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2024 to 2030 [37]

  8. The global workwear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2024 to 2030 [38]

  9. The global custom t-shirt printing market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.5% from 2025 to 2030 [39]

  10. The global shapewear market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.8% from 2024 to 2030 [40]

Section 05

Sustainability & Environment

  1. The fashion industry consumes 215 trillion liters of water per year [41]

  2. The average number of times a garment was worn decreased by 36% compared with 15 years earlier [42]

  3. The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second [43]

  4. About 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year [44]

  5. Making a pair of jeans can require 7,500 liters of water [45]

  6. A truckload of clothing is burned or buried in landfill every second [46]

  7. Only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes in the EU [47]

  8. Around 60% of the material made into clothing is plastic, including polyester, acrylic and nylon [48]

  9. Synthetic textiles account for 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment [49]

  10. Polyester production for textiles emitted 706 billion kg of greenhouse gases in 2015 [50]

  11. Global clothing utilization has dropped by 36% compared with 15 years ago [51]

Section 06

Market Segments

  1. 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from clothing and textiles (annual share). [52]

  2. 92 million tonnes of textile waste was generated in the EU in 2019 (EU textile waste volume). [53]

References

Footnotes

  1. 1
    statista.com
    statista.com×8
  2. 2
    cleanclothes.org
    cleanclothes.org
  3. 3
    worldbank.org
    worldbank.org×2
  4. 5
    grandviewresearch.com
    grandviewresearch.com×16
  5. 6
    bls.gov
    bls.gov×3
  6. 9
    ilo.org
    ilo.org
  7. 10
    single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
    single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu
  8. 11
    ibef.org
    ibef.org
  9. 12
    ustradenumbers.com
    ustradenumbers.com
  10. 14
    bgmea.com.bd
    bgmea.com.bd
  11. 17
    gs1us.org
    gs1us.org
  12. 23
    thredup.com
    thredup.com
  13. 24
    pwc.com
    pwc.com
  14. 33
    precedenceresearch.com
    precedenceresearch.com
  15. 34
    fortunebusinessinsights.com
    fortunebusinessinsights.com
  16. 41
    unep.org
    unep.org×4
  17. 42
    mckinsey.com
    mckinsey.com
  18. 43
    ellenmacarthurfoundation.org
    ellenmacarthurfoundation.org×2
  19. 44
    weforum.org
    weforum.org
  20. 45
    worldwildlife.org
    worldwildlife.org
  21. 47
    europarl.europa.eu
    europarl.europa.eu
  22. 48
    changingmarkets.org
    changingmarkets.org
  23. 50
    commonobjective.co
    commonobjective.co
  24. 53
    environment.ec.europa.eu
    environment.ec.europa.eu

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Alexander Eser. (April 19, 2026). Clothing Industry Statistics. Rawshot.ai. https://rawshot.ai/statistic/clothing-industry

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Alexander Eser. "Clothing Industry Statistics." Rawshot.ai, 19 Apr 2026, https://rawshot.ai/statistic/clothing-industry.

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Alexander Eser. 2026. "Clothing Industry Statistics." Rawshot.ai. https://rawshot.ai/statistic/clothing-industry.

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