Eco Fashion Statistics

73% of clothing ends up in landfill or incinerated at end of life [1]

Consumers miss out on $460 billion of value each year by throwing away clothes they could continue to wear [2]

In the UK, 336,000 tonnes of used clothing were sent to landfill in 2016 [3]

Extending active life of clothing by 9 months reduces resource costs by 20% [4]

Only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes in Europe [5]

67% of consumers say they want brands to offer take-back recycling programs [6]

Separate collection of textiles will become mandatory in the EU by 2025 [7]

Americans generate 16 million tons of textile waste every year [8]

87% of the materials used for clothing are incinerated or sent to landfill [9]

The average American discards 37 kg of textiles per year [10]

About 95% of textiles that are landfilled each year could be reused or recycled [11]

Less than 1% of used clothing is recycled into new garments because of inadequate technologies [12]

87% of total fibre input is lost to landfill or incineration [13]

85% of all textiles go to dumps each year [14]

Landfilled textiles in the United States represented 7.7% of all municipal solid waste landfilled in 2018 [15]

Less than 1% of all clothing worldwide is recycled into new garments [16]

North America accounted for the largest share of the recycled textile market in 2021 [17]

Global clothing and footwear consumption is expected to rise by 63% by 2030, from 62 million tonnes today to 102 million tonnes [18]

In the UK, 620,000 tonnes of clothing were purchased in 2019 [19]

Globally, people consumed 62 million tonnes of apparel in 2019 [20]

65% of consumers plan to make more sustainable fashion choices [21]

57% of consumers are willing to change purchasing habits to help reduce negative environmental impact [22]

Among Millennials, 73% are willing to pay more for sustainable offerings [23]

The online distribution channel accounted for 56.2% of ethical fashion revenue in 2023 [24]

The sustainable fashion market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 14% from 2024 to 2034 [25]

The fashion industry consumes 215 trillion litres of water per year [26]

Synthetic textiles account for 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment [27]

Washing synthetic clothes accounts for 35% of primary microplastics released into the oceans [28]

The fashion industry’s greenhouse gas emissions are projected to rise more than 50% by 2030 if no action is taken [29]

Apparel brands can capture 60% of decarbonization potential through upstream actions [30]

Cotton cultivation contributes 68% of the water footprint of a pair of jeans [31]

Producing polyester releases two to three times more carbon emissions than cotton [32]

Synthetics made up 69% of all materials used in textiles in 2021 [33]

Cotton accounts for 6% of global pesticide use [34]

It takes about 7,500 litres of water to make one pair of jeans [35]

Global fibre production is expected to rise from 116 million tonnes in 2022 to 147 million tonnes in 2030 if current trends continue [36]

40% of fashion executives say sustainable materials are among the top three levers for decarbonization [37]

Less than 10% of apparel brands’ emissions typically come from their own operations [38]

Lyocell production uses 99% recyclable chemicals in a closed-loop process [39]

Hemp uses 50% less water than cotton [40]

Linen production uses 5.4 litres of water per kilogram of fibre compared with cotton’s 10,000 litres [41]

Organic cotton farming uses 62% less energy than conventional cotton [42]

Better Cotton farmers achieved 1.9% higher profitability than comparison farmers in 2021-22 [43]

9.7% of respondents reported purchasing second-hand clothing in the last month (EU-27, 2023), measuring the share of people buying second-hand clothing [44]

20% of consumers in the EU report buying second-hand clothing to reduce their environmental impact (2024), measuring the share citing environmental reasons [45]

57% of EU respondents say they are willing to buy second-hand clothing (2023), measuring the share expressing willingness [46]

10.0% of respondents in the UK reported purchasing second-hand clothing in the last month (2023), measuring the share of people buying second-hand clothing [47]

41% of consumers in the UK say they have purchased second-hand clothing at least once in the past year (2023), measuring the share of consumers with recent experience [48]