Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The average consumer buys 60% more clothing now than they did 15 years ago
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
85% of all textiles go to the dump each year
By 2030, fashion waste is expected to increase by about 60% globally
The average garment is worn only 7 times before being discarded
Fast fashion has driven a doubling of global clothing production since 2000
20% of global wastewater is produced by the fashion industry
A truckload of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second globally
The number of garments consumers purchase each year has increased by 400% compared to 20 years ago
Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new garments
Less than 15% of used clothing is recycled or donated in the U.S.
One in three young women consider a garment ‘old’ after wearing it once or twice
In the UK, 350,000 tonnes of clothing go to landfill every year
Consumer Behavior
- The average consumer buys 60% more clothing now than they did 15 years ago
- The average garment is worn only 7 times before being discarded
- The number of garments consumers purchase each year has increased by 400% compared to 20 years ago
- One in three young women consider a garment ‘old’ after wearing it once or twice
- Americans buy an average of 68 garments per person per year
- In Europe, 30% of clothes in wardrobes haven't been worn in at least a year
- Consumers keep clothing items for about half as long as they did 15 years ago
- 20% of clothing in the UK is never worn
- The average UK shopper spends £1,000 annually on clothing, with a high proportion not worn
- The average Brit owns 57 items of clothing and hasn't worn 26% of them in the past year
- The average consumer throws away 60% of items within a year of purchase
- The average number of times a garment is worn has decreased by 36% in the past 15 years
- Nearly 40% of clothing in UK wardrobes is never used
- The average item of clothing is worn only four times in the UK
Interpretation
In a world where closets are overflowing and conscience is underdressed, fashion overconsumption has turned our wardrobes into graveyards of impulse buys, with garments worn less than a handful of times before being tossed like yesterday’s trends.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
- Clothing production uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, enough to meet the needs of five million people
- The fashion industry could use up 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050 if consumption continues at current rates
- 60% of fabric fibers are synthetics, derived from fossil fuels
- Washing synthetic garments accounts for 35% of primary microplastics in the ocean
- Fashion accounts for 20 to 35 percent of microplastic flows into the ocean
- Each year, approximately 500,000 tons of microfibers are released into the ocean due to washing clothes
- A single laundry load of polyester clothes can release 700,000 microplastic fibers
- The fashion industry is the second-largest consumer of water worldwide
- Producing a single cotton shirt requires 2,700 liters of water
- Fashion-related emissions are expected to grow by more than 60% by 2030
- The fashion industry consumes 1.5 trillion liters of water a year
- Polyester production for textiles released about 706 billion kg of greenhouse gases in 2015
- Textiles generate more emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally
- It takes up to 200 tons of water to dye one ton of fabric
- Fashion production emits 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year
- It takes 3,781 liters of water to make one pair of jeans
- Cotton farming accounts for 24% of the world’s insecticide use and 11% of pesticide sales
Interpretation
In our quest to stay stylish, the fashion industry is quietly stitching together a climate catastrophe—gulping trillions of liters of water, belching more emissions than planes and ships combined, and shedding millions of tiny plastic threads into oceans—all so we can wear today what we'll trash tomorrow.
Market Trends and Economics
- Fast fashion has driven a doubling of global clothing production since 2000
- The global apparel market is expected to grow to $2.25 trillion by 2025
- The resale market is growing 11 times faster than traditional retail
- Clothing production has roughly doubled since 2000
- In the US, consumers spent $380 billion on fashion in 2018
- The US exports about 700,000 tons of used clothing annually
- Fashion is the third-largest manufacturing industry globally
- Secondhand clothing sales could overtake fast fashion by 2029
- An increase in clothing sales from 62 million tons in 2017 to 102 million tons by 2030 is forecast
Interpretation
As fast fashion floods closets and landfills alike, the runaway growth of a $2.25 trillion industry reveals a paradox where we’re buying more, wearing less, and relying on the secondhand market to clean up fashion’s mess—one resale at a time.
Production and Supply Chain Efficiency
- China is the world’s largest clothing producer, churning out over 60 billion garments per year
- Fast fashion brands can release new collections every two weeks
- 80 billion garments are produced annually
- The average pair of jeans travels 1.5 times around the world during production
- The average garment production process involves up to 25 people before reaching the consumer
- Up to 35% of materials in supply chains are wasted before a product is finished
Interpretation
In a world where jeans rack up more frequent flyer miles than most people and fast fashion churns out more clothes than we can possibly wear, the real cost of our closet may be stitched into the waste, labor, and environmental toll hidden behind every trend.
Waste and Sustainability
- 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year
- By 2030, fashion waste is expected to increase by about 60% globally
- 20% of global wastewater is produced by the fashion industry
- A truckload of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second globally
- Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new garments
- Less than 15% of used clothing is recycled or donated in the U.S.
- In the UK, 350,000 tonnes of clothing go to landfill every year
- The average person throws away 70 pounds of clothing per year
- 92 million tonnes of textile waste is produced globally each year
- The average US citizen discards 37kg (81 pounds) of fashion items annually
- Extending the life of clothes by an extra nine months can reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by up to 30%
- 75% of fast fashion products end up in landfills
- Less than 13% of the total material input for clothing is recycled after use
- The average American throws away about 37 kg of clothes per year
- US textile waste has grown by more than 800% since 1960
- Over one billion garments are thrown away each year
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- The EU generates 16 kg of textile waste per person every year
- Americans generate 17 million tons of textile waste annually
- Only 10% of clothes donated to charity are resold in stores
- Over 50% of fast fashion products are discarded in less than a year
- Germany leads Europe in textile waste generation, producing over 390,000 tons annually
- About 20% of global fashion garments go unsold each year, ending up destroyed or discounted
- India generates more than 1 million tons of textile waste annually
Interpretation
Fashion may dress us up, but behind the seams it’s a global crisis unraveling fast—with billions of garments trashed, poisoned water flowing, and less than 1% stitched back into the loop, our obsession with cheap, fast clothing is costing the Earth more than we ever paid at the checkout.