Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, enough to meet the needs of five million people
One garbage truck full of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
The average consumer buys 60% more clothing than 15 years ago but keeps each garment half as long
More than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underuse and lack of recycling
20% of global wastewater comes from fabric dyeing and treatment
The fashion industry is projected to consume 26% of the global carbon budget by 2050 if current rates continue
Cotton farming uses 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally, while occupying only 2.5% of cultivated land
Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothing
Synthetic fibers like polyester, derived from fossil fuels, make up over 60% of materials used in clothing
Polyester takes up to 200 years to decompose in landfills
The average American throws away about 81 pounds of clothing each year
Approximately 87% of total fiber input used for clothing ends up incinerated or disposed of in a landfill
Consumer Behavior
- The average consumer buys 60% more clothing than 15 years ago but keeps each garment half as long
- 60% of millennial consumers are interested in certified sustainable fashion products
- The average lifetime of a garment is only 2.2 years
- The average number of garments purchased per capita in the EU increased by 40% between 1996 and 2012
- Secondhand clothing market is expected to double from $36 billion in 2021 to $77 billion by 2025
- The resale market grew 21 times faster than the regular retail apparel market over the past 3 years
- One in three young women in the UK consider a garment ‘old’ after wearing it once or twice
- On average, consumers wear just 20% of their wardrobes regularly
- Sustainable fashion searches increased by 75% year-over-year in 2020
Interpretation
While our closets overflow with fast fashion that barely sees the light of day, a rising wave of conscious consumers suggests that sustainability might finally outlast our throwaway habits—and maybe even our clothes.
Economic and Supply Chain Issues
- More than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underuse and lack of recycling
- Fast fashion contributes to large volumes of unsold inventory—an estimated 30% of all clothes made are never sold
- Circular business models in fashion could increase market share from 3.5% in 2020 to 23% by 2030
- Only 2% of global fashion brands report social and environmental impacts beyond Tier 1 of their supply chains
- Switching to a circular fashion economy could unlock $560 billion annually
- The global fashion industry is worth over $2.5 trillion, but much of it operates unsustainably
- The global ethical fashion market is projected to grow to $10 billion by 2025
- A third of all produced clothing is unsold and often destroyed or landfilled
- Only 24% of brands know who supplies their raw materials
Interpretation
In an industry spinning out $2.5 trillion in style, fashion’s failure to recycle, overproduce, and trace its supply chain makes it look less like a runway and more like a fast track to environmental and economic waste—when a switch to circular models could turn discarded threads into a $560 billion opportunity.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
- One garbage truck full of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- 20% of global wastewater comes from fabric dyeing and treatment
- The fashion industry is projected to consume 26% of the global carbon budget by 2050 if current rates continue
- Cotton farming uses 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally, while occupying only 2.5% of cultivated land
- Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothing
- Polyester takes up to 200 years to decompose in landfills
- The average American throws away about 81 pounds of clothing each year
- Approximately 87% of total fiber input used for clothing ends up incinerated or disposed of in a landfill
- Fashion accounts for about 4% of global waste each year
- The dyeing of textiles causes about 20% of water pollution globally
- Nearly 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textile
- Washing clothes releases about 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year
- Fashion is responsible for emitting 2.1 billion metric tons of CO2-equivalent annually
- The fashion industry’s global emissions are expected to rise by 50% by 2030 at current pace
- 35% of all microplastics in the ocean come from synthetic textiles
- Recycled polyester has a 32% lower carbon footprint than virgin polyester
- Luxury fashion has an even higher carbon footprint due to frequent air freight and low batch production
- The production of 1kg of textiles emits 17 kg of CO2 equivalent
- 73% of clothing eventually ends up in landfills or incinerated
- More than 8 million tons of textiles are landfilled annually in the U.S. alone
- Reducing washing and drying frequency can lower carbon footprint of a garment by up to 50%
- The EU generates 11 kg of textile waste per person per year
- 92 million tons of textile waste is created every year globally
- Less than 13% of fashion companies have taken steps to reduce carbon emissions
- Garment production contributes significantly to biodiversity loss due to agriculture and water disruption
- Leather production is a major cause of Amazon deforestation
- The apparel industry could reduce emissions by 1.1 billion tons by adopting sustainable practices
- Nearly 20% of global industrial water pollution is attributable to textile dyeing and treatment
- Washing synthetic garments results in almost 35% of the primary microplastics in the marine environment
- Biological and mechanical textile recycling together cover only 1% of total textile waste
- 80% of clothing’s climate impact comes from production and processing stages
- Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally
- The production of wool emits around 50% more greenhouse gases than cotton per kilogram
- A 10% increase in reuse of clothing could lead to a 3% reduction in carbon, water, and waste footprints
- Over 95% of textiles that are landfilled each year could be recycled or reused
- Closed-loop recycling systems could reduce textile waste by 90%
- 85% of U.S. textile waste is sent to landfills or burned
- A circular approach can reduce fashion industry’s GHG emissions by 39%
Interpretation
In its current form, the fashion industry is less trendsetting than it is planet-wrecking—burning through carbon budgets, poisoning waterways, and stuffing landfills at a pace so fast that even a runway model would struggle to keep up.
Labor and Ethical Practices
- Workers in the fashion industry often earn less than $3 per day
- Only 3% of brands disclose the number of workers in their supply chain paid a living wage
- Over 90% of workers in the global garment industry have no possibility to negotiate their wages or conditions
- More than 40% of fashion workers are paid below the wage needed for basic needs
- Fashion workers in developing countries often work 14–16 hours a day, 7 days a week
- 90% of fashion brands do not pay their workers a living wage
Interpretation
Behind the glossy runway lights and luxe labels lies a fashion industry stitched together by exploitation, where transparency is out of style and a living wage is still considered haute couture.
Resource Consumption
- The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, enough to meet the needs of five million people
- Synthetic fibers like polyester, derived from fossil fuels, make up over 60% of materials used in clothing
- Clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014
- One pair of jeans can require up to 7,500 liters of water to produce, roughly the amount a person drinks in seven years
- It is estimated that by 2030, global apparel consumption will rise by 63%, to 102 million tons
- Organic cotton uses 91% less water than conventional cotton
- The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water globally
- Only 0.5% of material inputs are recycled into new garments
- 150 million trees are cut down every year and turned into textiles like rayon and viscose
- A single t-shirt made conventionally requires over 2,700 liters of water
- 80 billion garments are produced globally every year
- 1,800 gallons of water are used to produce a single pair of jeans
- 25% of chemicals produced worldwide are used in the textile industry
- 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to make polyester worldwide
Interpretation
The fashion industry may dress us in style, but behind the seams it’s guzzling water, devouring forests, churning out plastic, and leaving sustainability dangling by a very fragile thread.