Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry is responsible for 92 million tonnes of textile waste created annually globally
Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned
The EPA estimated that 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste was generated in the US in 2018
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing globally
Only 14.7% of used textiles in the USA were collected for recycling in 2018
Approximately 12% of recycled textiles are “downcycled” into lower-value applications like insulation or mattress stuffing
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
Textile production uses approximately 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
Growing cotton for one t-shirt requires approximately 2,700 liters of water
Consumers buy 60% more clothing today than they did in the year 2000
Clothes are kept for only half as long as they were 15 years ago
30% of clothes in UK wardrobes have not been worn for at least a year
The second-hand clothing market is projected to be double the size of fast fashion by 2030
A loss of $500 billion USD in value occurs every year due to clothing being barely worn and rarely recycled
The global second-hand apparel market was valued at $36 billion in 2021
Consumer Behavior & Habits
- Consumers buy 60% more clothing today than they did in the year 2000
- Clothes are kept for only half as long as they were 15 years ago
- 30% of clothes in UK wardrobes have not been worn for at least a year
- In the US, consumers wear a garment on average only 7 times before discarding it
- 80% of consumers surveyed say they are willing to pay more for sustainable products
- One in three (33%) young women consider clothes "old" after wearing them once or twice
- 42% of millennials say they shop secondhand, making them the most active demographic in resale
- 69% of consumers dispose of clothes because they are damaged or worn out, primarily due to poor quality
- The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually
- 40% of consumers have thrown unwanted clothes directly in the trash
- 25% of consumers say they would buy more secondhand if it were easier to find consistent sizing
- 60% of citizens in the EU believe that clothes should be made to last longer
- Only 25% of consumers consistently repair their clothes to extend their life
- Peer-to-peer sales apps (like Depop and Vinted) grew by 49% in user activity in 2021
- 62% of Gen Z consumers look for substantial sustainability commitment when buying from brands
- 1 in 6 young people say they don't feel they can wear an outfit again once it's been on social media
- The top reason people donate clothes (70%) is simply to create more space in their closets
- 54% of consumers believe they have too many clothes
- On average, women possess 95 items of clothing but only wear 59% of them regularly
- 45% of consumers say it is difficult to know which brands are truly sustainable
Interpretation
Fashion has become a kind of closet binge: we buy 60% more clothing than in 2000 and spend about $1,700 a year per American family yet keep garments half as long and wear them only around seven times, leaving 30% of UK wardrobes untouched while 40% of unwanted clothes hit the bin, mostly because poor quality causes 69% of disposals, social media and fast trends make many young people treat outfits as single‑use, and although 80% say they'd pay more for sustainable products and Gen Z and millennials fuel resale growth, inconsistent sizing, low repair rates and confusing green claims mean plenty of perfectly wearable clothes never get mended, resold or reliably identified as sustainable.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
- Textile production uses approximately 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
- Growing cotton for one t-shirt requires approximately 2,700 liters of water
- Textiles account for about 35% of the microplastics released into the world's oceans
- Approximately 20% of industrial water pollution globally comes from textile dyeing and treatment
- Washing synthetic clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year
- Producing polyester releases two to three times more carbon emissions than producing cotton
- Extending the life of a garment by just nine months creates a 20-30% reduction in carbon, water, and waste footprints
- The apparel industry’s CO2 emissions are projected to increase to 2.8 billion tons by 2030
- Textile dyeing uses 43 million tonnes of chemicals annually
- Incinerating clothes releases hazardous substances and greenhouse gases, contributing to toxic air pollution
- One pair of jeans produces 33.4 kilograms of CO2 equivalent during its lifecycle
- Recycled polyester (rPET) production requires 59% less energy than virgin polyester
- Conventional cotton farming uses 16% of the world’s insecticides
- Nylon manufacturing emits nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2
- A polyester shirt has a carbon footprint of 5.5kg CO2e, compared to 2.1kg CO2e for a cotton shirt
- Viscose production is linked to the deforestation of 150 million trees annually
- Fashion causes more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Choosing organic cotton over conventional cotton can reduce global warming potential by 46%
- 190,000 tons of textile microplastic fibers enter the marine environment annually specifically from laundering
Interpretation
The fashion industry is quietly running a planet-sized tab, responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions, guzzling roughly 93 billion cubic meters of water a year (about 2,700 liters for one t-shirt), dumping millions of tonnes of dye chemicals and about 20% of industrial water pollution, shedding hundreds of thousands of tons of microplastic fibers into the oceans, and relying on polyester and nylon that produce far more greenhouse gases and drive deforestation, yet many of these harms could be slashed by extending garment life, choosing recycled or organic fibers, and stopping needless incineration.
Industry Economics & Future Market
- The second-hand clothing market is projected to be double the size of fast fashion by 2030
- A loss of $500 billion USD in value occurs every year due to clothing being barely worn and rarely recycled
- The global second-hand apparel market was valued at $36 billion in 2021
- The global textile recycling market size is expected to reach $9.9 billion by 2028
- Scaling fiber-to-fiber recycling could create a €1.5 – €2.2 billion profit pool in Europe by 2030
- Resale is growing 11 times faster than traditional retail
- The fashion industry loses significantly more value in waste than the plastic packaging industry
- Up to $470 billion in potential EBIT is at stake for fashion players that fail to address sustainability by 2030
- The global clothing rental market is expected to reach $2.08 billion by 2025
- Investing in circular economy models could represent a $4.5 trillion economic opportunity by 2030
- The used clothing trade has grown 10-fold since 1990
- 60% of fashion executives have already invested or plan to invest in closed-loop recycling next year
- European sorting facilities will need to increase capacity by 500% to handle expected collection volumes by 2030
- The average cost to landfill a ton of textile waste in the US is approximately $55, creating a hidden economic drain
- Automated sorting can potentially reduce the cost of sorted post-consumer textiles by 50%
- The global textile market is projected to reach $1.4 trillion by 2028, increasing the urgency for circular economics
- By 2030, circular business models (resale, rental, repair) could represent 23% of the global fashion market
- Major brands paying into EPR schemes will likely face fees of €0.12 - €0.50 per item to fund recycling infrastructure
- 74% of retail executives say resale will be a significant source of revenue in the next 5 years
- Without change, the fashion industry will consume 26% of the world's carbon budget by 2050
Interpretation
Wearing blinders to recycling and resale is becoming an expensive fashion faux pas: by 2030 the second-hand and circular market is set to outsize fast fashion, offering trillions in opportunity while the industry currently bleeds about $500 billion a year in barely worn clothes, faces rising collection and sorting costs, likely regulatory fees and possible losses of up to $470 billion in EBIT, and risks consuming roughly a quarter of the world’s remaining carbon budget.
Recycling Rates & Efficiency
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing globally
- Only 14.7% of used textiles in the USA were collected for recycling in 2018
- Approximately 12% of recycled textiles are “downcycled” into lower-value applications like insulation or mattress stuffing
- Less than 0.1% of global fiber production is currently closed-loop recycling (fiber-to-fiber)
- In Europe, only about 30-35% of collected clothes are recycled into rags or industrial textiles
- Mechanical recycling of cotton can shorten fiber length, limiting the percentage of recycled cotton in new garments to roughly 20-30%
- Chemical recycling technologies for polyester handle less than 1% of the total polyester market
- 73% of the world’s clothing eventually ends up in landfills or incinerated rather than recycled
- Germany collects about 75% of used textiles, one of the highest rates in the world
- Only 50% of collected textiles in the sorting process are actually re-wearable
- The separation of blended fibers (polyester-cotton mixes) remains a major technological bottleneck for recycling rates
- The recycling rate for all textiles (including carpets and footwear) in the US was just 13% in 2018
- Manual sorting of textiles averages a throughput of just 45 items per minute per person, limiting scalability
- Automated sorting technologies using NIR (Near Infrared) can process up to 1 piece per second, potentially boosting rates
- Fiber-to-fiber recycling could scale to 18-26% of gross textile waste in Europe by 2030
- Currently, 95% of textiles sent to landfill could have been reused or recycled
- In France, the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme has increased collection rates to over 38%
- Mechanical recycling reduces the tensile strength of fibers, often requiring virgin fibers to be mixed in
- The overall recovery rate for textiles in the US has remained relatively stagnant around 15% for the last decade
- Only 1% of recycled clothing is currently processed via chemical recycling methods which maintain quality
Interpretation
The truth is sobering: less than one percent of clothing material is reborn as new garments, most collected textiles are downcycled, landfilled, or unwearable, and stubborn sorting, fiber-blend and recycling-quality bottlenecks mean the industry is still patching its waste with band-aids rather than sewing a true circular future despite a few bright spots and emerging technologies.
Waste Generation & Volume
- The fashion industry is responsible for 92 million tonnes of textile waste created annually globally
- Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned
- The EPA estimated that 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste was generated in the US in 2018
- In the United Kingdom, 350,000 tonnes of used clothing go to landfill every year
- Textiles make up approximately 7.7% of municipal solid waste landfilled in the United States
- New York City alone generates approximately 200,000 tons of textile waste annually
- Global textile waste is projected to increase by 60% annually between 2015 and 2030
- China throws away 26 million tons of clothes every year
- In Canada, the average person throws away 81 pounds of textiles annually
- 85% of all textiles thrown away in the US are dumped into landfills or burned
- The EU generates roughly 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste per year
- Australian charities spend $13 million annually sending unusable donations to landfill
- Waste from discarded fabrics in the cutting process can be as high as 15% of total fabric used
- In Hong Kong, approximately 343 tonnes of textile waste are deposited in landfills daily
- By 2030, we are expected to be discarding more than 134 million tonnes of textiles a year
- Post-consumer textile waste in the EU amounts to 5.8 million tonnes annually
- Synthetic fibers like polyester take between 20 to 200 years to decompose in landfills
- Ghana’s Kantamanto Market receives 15 million garments weekly, 40% of which become waste immediately
- 5.2% of waste in US landfills is specifically rubber, leather, and textiles
- Man-made cellulosic fibers account for about 4% of the total fiber market volume but generate distinct chemical waste streams
Interpretation
Fast fashion is literally dressing the planet for the grave, producing 92 million tonnes of textile waste a year, the equivalent of a garbage truck of clothes landfilled or burned every second and headed toward more than 134 million tonnes by 2030, while cities, charities and countries from New York and Hong Kong to Ghana and China struggle under mountains of garments that take decades or centuries to rot and leach toxic chemical streams.
References
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