Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global industrial water pollution.
It takes approximately 2,700 liters of water to make a single cotton shirt.
The fashion industry consumes about 93 billion cubic meters of water annually.
Textiles are the largest source of primary microplastics accounting for 34.8% of global marine microplastic pollution.
A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibers.
Synthetic fibers like polyester now make up over 60% of total fiber production globally.
The EPA estimates that 17 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018 in the US.
Approximately 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created globally each year.
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second.
The fashion industry contributes 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
The fashion industry produces more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
If the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory, its share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050.
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing.
The industry loses $500 billion annually due to the lack of recycling and clothing underutilization.
Only 12% of textile material is downcycled into lower-value applications like insulation.
Carbon Emissions & Energy
- The fashion industry contributes 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- The fashion industry produces more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
- If the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory, its share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050.
- Producing polyester releases two to three times more carbon emissions than cotton.
- Buying one new shirt produces 2.1kg of CO2e emissions.
- The apparel industry's global emissions are projected to increase by 50% by 2030.
- 70% of the fashion industry’s emissions come from upstream activities like material production.
- A single pair of running shoes generates 30 pounds of carbon dioxide.
- Nylon production creates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2.
- A study estimated the carbon footprint of the fashion industry at 3.29 billion tons of CO2 equivalent.
- Online shopping returns in the US alone created 15 million metric tons of carbon emissions in 2020.
- Washing and drying clothing accounts for 120 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent annually.
- Ironing a shirt results in about 1/3 of the carbon footprint of the use-phase of the garment.
- The carbon footprint of a polyester shirt is 5.5 kg CO2e, compared to 2.1 kg CO2e for a cotton shirt.
- The global footwear industry accounts for 1.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions.
- Moving from standard cotton to organic cotton reduces Global Warming Potential by 46%.
- The fashion industry uses 98 million tonnes of oil annually to produce synthetic fibers.
- Express delivery for online fashion adds significantly to the carbon cost, often doubling the logistics footprint.
- Textile production generates 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year.
- Only 2% of the final price of clothing goes to carbon offsetting initiatives in sustainable brands.
Interpretation
Fashion is quietly one of the planet’s biggest polluters: it already causes about 10% of global greenhouse gases and more emissions than all international flights and shipping combined, with roughly 70% coming from material production where polyester and nylon, made using about 98 million tonnes of oil a year, emit two to three times the carbon of cotton and even nitrous oxide up to 300 times more potent, meaning a polyester shirt clocks about 5.5 kg CO2e versus 2.1 kg for cotton, a pair of running shoes roughly 30 pounds, and washing, drying, returns and express delivery add hundreds of millions of tonnes annually, so unless we overhaul materials, logistics and our buying habits the sector could gobble up about a quarter of the carbon budget by 2050 while only around 2% of clothing prices fund offsets.
Production & Water Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global industrial water pollution.
- It takes approximately 2,700 liters of water to make a single cotton shirt.
- The fashion industry consumes about 93 billion cubic meters of water annually.
- Textile mills use 20,000 chemicals, many of which are carcinogenic.
- Producing a single pair of jeans requires around 7,500 liters of water.
- Cotton farming is responsible for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally despite using only 3% of the world’s arable land.
- In China, 320 million people do not have access to clean drinking water, partially due to textile industry contamination.
- 85% of the daily needs of water for the entire population of India would be covered by the water used to grow cotton in the country.
- Approximately 200 tons of water are used per ton of fabric in the textile industry.
- The Aral Sea has shrunk to 10% of its former volume largely due to cotton irrigation.
- Textile production uses around 4% of globally available freshwater.
- Citarum River in Indonesia is considered one of the most polluted rivers in the world due to 200+ textile factories lining its banks.
- Conventional cotton production accounts for 16% of global pesticide releases.
- Viscose production is linked to water pollution from carbon disulphide.
- Leather tanning utilizes heavy metals like Chromium VI which pollutes local water tables.
- 43 million tons of chemicals are used in textile production annually.
- Fabric dyeing alone can require up to 150 liters of water per kilogram of fabric.
- Groundwater levels in Dhaka, Bangladesh, are dropping by 2-3 meters per year largely due to textile industry abstraction.
- 6% of global pesticide use is attributed to cotton despite low land coverage.
- Xintang, China, the 'Denim Capital of the World', has rivers that run blue due to dye runoff.
Interpretation
The fashion industry is laundering the planet: it consumes about 93 billion cubic meters of water a year, uses thousands of toxic chemicals to dye and treat fabrics that turn rivers blue and poison groundwater, shrinks seas through cotton irrigation, and leaves millions without clean drinking water so we can chase cheap, disposable styles.
Recycling & Circularity
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing.
- The industry loses $500 billion annually due to the lack of recycling and clothing underutilization.
- Only 12% of textile material is downcycled into lower-value applications like insulation.
- 95% of worn textiles are recyclable, yet 85% end up in landfills.
- The resale market is growing 11 times faster than traditional retail.
- If everyone bought one used item instead of new this year, it would save 5.7 billion lbs of CO2 emissions.
- Currently, there is no large-scale fibrous recycling technology for blended fabrics (e.g., cotton-poly blends).
- Extending the life of clothing by just 9 months would reduce carbon, waste, and water footprints by 20-30%.
- The global secondhand apparel market is projected to reach $64 billion by 2024.
- Only 13% of the total material input in the clothing industry is recycled in some way after use.
- Textile-to-textile recycling systems are currently less than 1% of the market.
- 60% of sustainable fashion claims are predominantly greenwashing according to a CMA probe.
- Renting clothes can reduce the carbon footprint by up to 10% compared to buying new.
- Automated sorting technologies for textiles could unlock $780 million in value.
- 33% of consumers recycle their old clothes by donating to charity.
- Only 0.1% of all clothing collected by take-back schemes is recycled into new textile fibers.
- The EU plans to require separate collection of textile waste by 2025.
- Repairing clothes is practiced by less than 20% of consumers.
- Upcycling textile waste can reduce energy consumption by 85% compared to virgin production.
- The circular fashion market could be worth $5.3 trillion.
Interpretation
If clothing were a bank account we would be burning our savings: less than one percent of garments are recycled into new clothes and 85 percent of recyclable textiles end up in landfill, the industry loses $500 billion a year even though one used purchase per person could save 5.7 billion pounds of CO2 and extending garment life by nine months could cut footprints by up to 30 percent, and scaling resale, repair, better sorting and genuine textile-to-textile recycling could turn that waste into a multitrillion dollar opportunity if we stop greenwashing and fix blended-fiber recycling.
Synthetic Fibers & Microplastics
- Textiles are the largest source of primary microplastics accounting for 34.8% of global marine microplastic pollution.
- A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibers.
- Synthetic fibers like polyester now make up over 60% of total fiber production globally.
- About 500,000 tons of microfibers enter the ocean every year from washing clothes.
- Microplastics have been found in the deepest parts of the ocean including the Mariana Trench.
- Polyester production has doubled in the last 20 years.
- It is estimated that we eat a credit card’s worth of plastic a week, partially due to microfibers in the food chain.
- 16% to 35% of global microplastics released to oceans are from synthetic textiles.
- Microfibers from synthetic fabrics act as carriers for toxic substances in marine environments.
- Washing synthetic clothing releases more microplastics than washing natural-synthetic blends.
- By 2050, the amount of microfibers entering the ocean could reach 22 million tons.
- Water treatment plants capture only 65% to 90% of microfibers meaning billions pass through daily.
- Nylon fishing nets and synthetic clothing fibers are the top two sources of marine microplastic.
- Acrylic fabric releases nearly 730,000 microfibers per wash, more than polyester.
- Microplastics have been detected in 83% of tap water samples worldwide.
- 2.2 million tons of microplastics are currently in the top layer of the ocean.
- Synthetic textiles generate 35% of microplastics in our environment.
- Wearing synthetic clothes releases almost as many microfibers to the air as washing them does to water.
- 73% of deep sea fish in the Northwest Atlantic have ingested microplastics.
- Developing countries often lack filtration systems causing 100% of microfibers from washes to enter waterways.
Interpretation
Call it the fashion industry's invisible tax: a single polyester wash can shed hundreds of thousands of microfibers that ride our wastewater into tap water, the Mariana Trench and our food — about a credit card's worth of plastic a week — and with synthetic production surging and treatment systems letting billions through, those tiny fibers could become millions of tons of ocean pollution by 2050 unless we stop treating clothes like disposable plastic.
Waste Generation & Disposal
- The EPA estimates that 17 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018 in the US.
- Approximately 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created globally each year.
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second.
- The average American throws away approximately 81.5 pounds of clothes every year.
- 85% of all textiles thrown away in the US are either dumped into landfills or burned.
- In the last 15 years, clothing production has approximately doubled while clothing utilization has decreased by 36%.
- 39,000 tons of unwanted clothes are dumped in Chile’s Atacama Desert annually.
- Textile waste is expected to increase by 60% annually by 2030.
- Fast fashion items are worn less than 5 times on average before being discarded.
- 15 million used garments arrive in Accra, Ghana every week for resale or disposal.
- 40% of the clothing imported to Ghana is considered waste and ends up in landfills or the ocean.
- New York City pays $20.6 million annually to export unusable textiles to landfills.
- Synthetic clothing can take up to 200 years to decompose in a landfill.
- Australia is the second largest consumer of textiles per person sending 800,000 tonnes to landfill annually.
- In the UK, 300,000 tonnes of clothing ends up in landfill every year.
- Hong Kong sends approx 340 tonnes of textile waste to landfills daily.
- 57% of all discarded clothing ends up in landfill sites.
- 15-20% of fabric used to produce clothing ends up as scraps on the cutting room floor.
- 25% of fast fashion garments remain unsold and are destroyed or landfilled.
- Canada generates roughly 500 million kilograms of textile waste per year.
Interpretation
We're essentially building a global wardrobe of waste, as fast fashion has doubled production while slashing how long we wear items and created an avalanche of textiles so vast that a garbage truck full is landfilled or burned every second, millions of tons pile up from New York to the Atacama and Accra, synthetic fibers can persist for centuries, and taxpayers and fragile ecosystems are left to foot the bill.
References
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