Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
85% of all textiles go to the dump each year in the United States
Considerably more than 100 billion garments are produced globally each year
Consumers buy 60% more items of clothing than they did 15 years ago
Global textile production has more than doubled since the year 2000
The fashion industry creates 10% of global carbon emissions
Polyester production releases two to three times more carbon emissions than cotton
The fashion industry creates more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
$500 billion in value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling
Only 12% of material used for clothing ends up being downcycled for uses like insulation
Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally
Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year
The fashion industry consumes 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
Carbon Footprint & Emissions
- The fashion industry creates 10% of global carbon emissions
- Polyester production releases two to three times more carbon emissions than cotton
- The fashion industry creates more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Extending the life of a garment by just nine months reduces carbon footprints by 20-30%
- Fashion industry emissions must fall by 45% by 2030 to stay on a 1.5°C pathway
- Nylon manufacturing creates nitrous oxide, a a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2
- Total greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production are 1.2 billion tonnes annually
- If the industry continues on its current path, it will use 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050
- Burning unsold stock releases CO2 and other pollutants into the atmosphere at high rates
- Producing a polyester shirt emits 5.5 kg of CO2 compared to 2.1 kg for a cotton shirt
- The fashion industry requires 98 million tonnes of non-renewable resources per year
- In the EU, textile consumption ranks fourth highest for impact on the environment and climate change
- The equivalent of 2.9 million passenger cars' emissions comes from the UK’s textile consumption annually
- Over 8% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions are produced by the apparel and footwear industries
- Using recycled polyester reduces carbon emissions by 37% compared to virgin polyester
- Recycled cotton allows for a 75-80% energy saving compared to conventional cotton
- In 2015, greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production totaled 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent
- The carbon footprint of a garment depends 70% on the production phase
- Nearly 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to make the world’s polyester fiber
- Fashion production comprises 10% of total global carbon emissions, as much as the European Union
Overproduction & Consumer Habits
- Considerably more than 100 billion garments are produced globally each year
- Consumers buy 60% more items of clothing than they did 15 years ago
- Global textile production has more than doubled since the year 2000
- Clothing items are kept for half as long as they were 15 years ago
- 30% of clothes produced specifically for the fast fashion market are never sold
- Return rates for e-commerce fashion can be as high as 30-40%, leading to massive waste
- 40% of clothing purchased in some developed countries is never worn
- Fast fashion garments are worn less than 5 times on average before disposal
- Man-made cellulosic fibers often contribute to deforestation of ancient forests
- 15% of fabric used in garment manufacturing is wasted on the cutting floor
- The average number of times a garment is worn has decreased by 36% in 15 years
- Global production of polyester fibers increased from 5.2 million tons in 1980 to 57 million tons recently
- Fast fashion brands release as many as 52 micro-seasons per year
- 9,000 garments are purchased every five minutes in the UK alone
- Viscose production wastes 70% of the harvested tree during processing
- 75% of consumers view sustainability as extremely important but only 25% purchase accordingly (The attitude-behavior gap)
- 80% of a garment's environmental impact is defined at the design stage
- By 2030, it is predicted that we will be using 2 planets' worth of resources for fashion habits
- The value of unsold clothes destroyed in France alone is estimated at >€600 million annually
Interpretation
Fashion today is a runaway printing press: we churn out over 100 billion garments a year, buy 60% more and keep clothes half as long so many items are worn fewer than five times while micro-seasons, unsold stock, high return rates and rampant polyester and viscose production—often at the cost of ancient forests and huge processing waste—create mountains of discarded fabric even though 80% of a garment’s impact is set at design and 75% of people say sustainability matters but only 25% shop that way, which means if we do not change course we will be dressing with the resources of two planets by 2030.
Post-Consumer Waste & Landfill
- The fashion industry produces 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year in the United States
- 87% of the total fiber input used for clothing is incinerated or landfilled
- Textile waste is expected to increase by 60% by 2030
- The average American throws away approximately 81 pounds of clothing per year
- 5.8 million tons of textiles are discarded in the EU every year
- 73% of the world's clothing eventually ends up in landfills or is incinerated
- In the UK, WRAP estimates £140 million worth of clothing goes to landfill each year
- 57% of discarded textiles in the US are generated by the residential sector
- Every year, the US generates 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste
- 40,000 tonnes of textiles were imported into Ghana per week in 2020 via the second-hand trade
- An estimated 40% of donations to thrift stores are packed into bales and sold internationally, often ending as waste
- 14 million tons of textiles were landfilled in 2018 alone in the US
- The Atacama Desert in Chile is home to a landfill of 39,000 tons of discarded unsold clothing
- For every 5 garments produced, 3 end up in a landfill or incinerator annually
- China generates 26 million tons of textile waste annually
- In Hong Kong, 340 tonnes of textile waste are dumped in landfills daily
- 5.6 million tons of textiles are landfilled annually in the EU
- In Australia, 6,000kg of unwanted clothing is discarded every 10 minutes
Interpretation
We are literally dressing the planet in waste: with a truckload of textiles burned or buried every second and roughly three out of five garments ending up in landfill or incinerators, the fashion industry is manufacturing a landfill crisis set to grow 60 percent by 2030 unless we change course.
Recycling & Circular Economy
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- $500 billion in value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling
- Only 12% of material used for clothing ends up being downcycled for uses like insulation
- 60% of all clothing materials are plastic (nylon, polyester, acrylic)
- Current recycling technologies can only process 13% of the world's clothing input
- Only 20% of textiles are collected for reuse and recycling globally
- Textile-to-textile recycling is estimated at less than 1% due to sorting difficulties
- 65% of clothing purchases in the US are polyester or synthetic based
- Sorting textiles for recycling is still largely a manual and labor-intensive process preventing scale
- Only 0.1% of all clothing collected by take-back schemes is recycled into new textile fibers
- 2.5 billion pounds of office padding and car insulation are made from recycled denim annually
- Roughly 95% of the textiles that are landfilled could be recycled or reused
- 60% of consumers say they would like to recycle their clothes but do not know how
- Blended fibers (poly-cotton) make recycling mechanically almost impossible
- Most "recycled" ocean plastic fashion is made from PET bottles, not ocean textiles
- Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new garments due to lack of technology and infrastructure
- Only 15% of unwanted clothes are collected for recycling in the US
- Automated sorting can potentially recover 50% more value from textile waste than manual sorting
- 69% of clothes are made of synthetic fibers which are plastic based
- Chemical recycling of polyester consumes nearly 30% less energy than producing virgin polyester
Interpretation
We're literally sewing our way to a landfill: the fashion industry churns out polyester-heavy closets that can't be turned into new clothes, costing us $500 billion a year and recycling less than 1% into new garments because collection, sorting and textile-to-textile technology haven't scaled, so without automated sorting, better materials and clear consumer pathways we'll keep turning wardrobes into waste.
Water Consumption & Pollution
- Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally
- Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year
- The fashion industry consumes 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
- 35% of all microplastics in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles
- A single pair of jeans takes 7,500 liters of water to produce
- 20% of global industrial wastewater comes from textile treatment and dyeing
- Synthetic fibers like polyester enter the ocean and can never be retrieved
- Approximately 700,000 microfibers are released in a single domestic wash cycle
- It takes 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt
- The volume of water consumed by the fashion industry could fill 37 million Olympic swimming pools
- Cotton farming is responsible for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally despite using 3% of arable land
- By 2030, global water consumption for fashion will increase by 50% to 118 billion cubic meters
- Up to 10% of the microplastics in the oceans could come from paint and tires, but 35% is definitely textiles
- Leather tanning utilizes chemicals like Chromium VI, which creates toxic wastewater
- Washing synthetic clothes accounts for a third of the microplastics entering the environment
- The water footprint of a single polyester t-shirt is roughly 500 liters
- 200 tons of water are used for every ton of fabric produced
- Producing one kilo of cotton requires up to 20,000 liters of water
- The volume of water used in fashion production accounts for 4% of all available freshwater globally
- Around 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyes
- Major fashion brands use wet processing that creates toxic sludge, often dumped into rivers in Bangladesh
Interpretation
Buying cheap clothes may flatter your wardrobe but not the planet: the fashion industry guzzles and pollutes billions of cubic meters of water, saturates rivers with toxic dyes and tanning chemicals, and sheds hundreds of thousands of microfibers per wash that become permanent microplastics, so our closets are quietly laundering the oceans and future generations.
References
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