Fast Fashion Statistics

The equivalent of one rubbish truck full of clothes is burnt or buried in landfill every second [1]

U.S. consumers throw away more than 34 billion pounds of used textiles each year [2]

The average American discards 81.5 pounds of clothing each year [2]

Americans buy more than one piece of clothing every week on average [2]

The average U.S. consumer now buys 53 pieces of fast fashion a year [2]

58% of consumers say cost is the most important factor when shopping for apparel [3]

71% of Gen Z consumers report they are interested in buying sustainable fashion [4]

73% of Millennials are willing to pay more for sustainable goods [5]

41% of consumers say they plan to buy more secondhand apparel [6]

One in three young women consider garments worn once or twice to be old [7]

50% of fast fashion items are discarded within one year of being produced [2]

Consumers bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in 2000 [8]

People kept their clothes for half as long in 2014 as they did in 2000 [8]

In Europe, the average person bought 26 kg of textiles and discarded 11 kg in 2020 [9]

Clothing utilization has fallen by 36% compared to 15 years ago [8]

Across the UK, 30% of clothing in wardrobes has not been worn for at least a year [10]

Extending clothes’ active use by 9 extra months can reduce environmental impacts by 20-30% [10]

The average number of times a garment is worn has declined by 36% [11]

One garbage truck worth of clothes is incinerated or landfilled every second due to the current system [11]

The global online fashion market was valued at approximately $759.5 billion in 2021 [12]

The global resale market grew 18 times faster than the broader retail clothing market in 2023 [6]

Secondhand apparel is expected to make up 10% of the global apparel market by 2028 [6]

62% of Gen Z and Millennial consumers seek out sustainable brands [13]

57% of consumers are willing to change purchasing habits to help reduce negative environmental impact [14]

48% of U.S. consumers say sustainability is very or extremely important when choosing products [15]

64% of consumers consider sustainability when making a luxury fashion purchase [16]

67% of consumers consider the use of sustainable materials an important purchasing factor [17]

65% of consumers plan to shop resale, repair, rental or refashion over the next 12 months [6]

Online resale buyers increased by 23% in 2023 [6]

1 in 3 consumers say they hide online purchases from family or partners [18]

40% of consumers say they have purchased clothing they never wore [19]

Global apparel consumption is projected to rise by 63% to 102 million tons by 2030 [11]

Clothing production roughly doubled between 2000 and 2015 [11]

The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago [11]

More than 100 billion items of clothing are produced each year [20]

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions [20]

Global fashion emissions are projected to increase by more than 50% by 2030 [20]

Shoppers bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000 [20]

People keep clothing for only half as long as they did 15 years ago [20]

In 2019, the global fast fashion market was valued at $35.8 billion [21]

The fast fashion market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.74% from 2020 to 2027 [21]

The global fast fashion market is expected to reach $38.21 billion in 2023 [22]

The global fast fashion market is expected to reach $59.85 billion in 2027 [22]

The fast fashion market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 11.9% from 2023 to 2027 [22]

By 2050, the fashion industry could use more than 25% of the world’s carbon budget associated with a 2°C pathway [11]

Global textiles production emits 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually [11]

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second [11]

Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing [11]

The clothing industry’s total greenhouse gas emissions are 2.1 billion tonnes annually [23]

Fashion accounts for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions [23]

To align with climate targets, the fashion industry must reduce emissions by 1.1 billion tonnes by 2030 [23]

The fashion industry would need to cut emissions by 45% by 2030 to align with the Paris Agreement [23]

The apparel and footwear industries generated 8.1% of global climate impacts in 2016 [24]

Apparel and footwear generated 3.99 billion tonnes of CO2e in 2016 [24]

Without intervention, apparel and footwear emissions could increase to 49% above 2018 levels by 2030 [24]

The global fashion industry produced around 2.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 [23]

Fashion industry emissions are distributed across upstream operations at about 70% of the total [23]

The industry’s emissions are around 10 times higher than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined for some estimates [20]

The global apparel market generated about $1.5 trillion in revenues in 2021 [25]

Online apparel and footwear sales worldwide reached about $759.5 billion in 2021 [26]

The secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $350 billion by 2028 [6]

Garment workers around the world are estimated at 75 million people [2]

Less than 2% of garment workers worldwide earn a living wage [2]

Women make up 80% of garment workers worldwide [2]

85% of garment workers are women in some major producing countries [27]

Bangladesh’s garment industry employs about 4 million workers [27]

In Bangladesh, around 60% of garment workers are women [27]

The garment sector accounts for more than 80% of Bangladesh’s export earnings [27]

In 2013, the Rana Plaza factory collapse killed 1,134 people [28]

More than 2,500 people were injured in the Rana Plaza collapse [28]

The ILO estimates that 170 million children are engaged in child labour worldwide [29]

About 160 million children were in child labour globally in 2020 [30]

Of the 160 million children in child labour, 79 million are in hazardous work [30]

One in 10 children worldwide is in child labour [31]

More than 70 million workers in the global garment, textile and footwear industry are women [32]

Women represent approximately 65% of the global garment workforce [32]

In many garment supply chains, workers can labor 14 to 16 hours per day, 7 days a week [33]

Garment workers may earn as little as 3 cents per sewn piece in some supply chains [33]

The Asia Floor Wage Alliance estimated in 2022 that garment workers in Asia earned on average just 45% of a living wage [34]

In some major fashion production hubs, wages can be under $100 per month [35]

In the UK, 1 in 5 people buy something new after wearing an outfit only once [7]

More than 50 million people are trapped in modern slavery worldwide [36]

Of the 50 million people in modern slavery, 28 million are in forced labour [36]

22 million people were in forced marriage in 2021 [36]

Almost 1 in 4 people in modern slavery are children [36]

Nearly 63% of all forced labour cases are in the private economy [36]

86% of people in forced labour are found in the private sector [37]

The global fashion industry employs around 300 million people across the value chain [8]

87% of the total fiber input used for clothing is ultimately incinerated or landfilled [11]

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

Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned [1]

Less than half of used clothing is collected for reuse or recycling [11]

Only 13% of the total material input used for clothing is recycled in some way after clothing use [11]

More than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling [11]

The average American throws away about 81.5 pounds of clothes annually [2]

In the United States, 11.3 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018 [38]

Textiles accounted for 7.7% of all municipal solid waste landfilled in the United States in 2018 [38]

The textile recycling rate in the United States was 14.7% in 2018 [38]

In 2018, 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste were generated in the United States [38]

About 2.5 million tons of textiles were recycled in the United States in 2018 [38]

The amount of textiles sent to landfill in the U.S. was 11.3 million tons in 2018 [38]

The amount of textiles combusted with energy recovery in the U.S. was 3.2 million tons in 2018 [38]

Globally, an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste is created each year [1]

Every year, clothing utilization declines and millions of tonnes are discarded, with garments often worn only 7 to 10 times before being thrown away in some fast fashion contexts [35]

In the EU, discarded textiles from clothing and footwear amount to 5.8 million tonnes per year [39]

In Europe, only about 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes [39]

Of the 5.8 million tonnes of textiles discarded in the EU each year, only 1.8 million tonnes are collected for reuse or recycling [39]

The average EU citizen throws away 11 kg of textiles annually [9]

The EU generated 6.95 million tonnes of textile waste in 2020 [9]

About 4.4 million tonnes of textile waste in the EU ended up in residual household waste in 2020 [9]

Separate textile collection rates in the EU ranged between 15% and 50% in 2019 [9]

Less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new textiles [9]

In New York City, residents discard more than 200,000 tons of clothing, towels, sheets and shoes every year [40]

About 95% of used textiles can be recycled or reused [40]

The U.S. generates over 17 million tons of textile waste a year [2]

In the U.S., an estimated 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year [2]

The average lifetime of a garment decreased by 36% over the last 15 years [2]

The average consumer bought 60% more clothing in 2014 compared to 2000 [2]

Across all products sold in the UK, 30% of clothing has not been worn for at least a year [10]

The UK sends around 336,000 tonnes of used clothing to landfill each year [10]

Extending the active life of clothing by 9 months can reduce carbon, water and waste footprints by 20-30% [10]

Cotton accounts for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides used globally despite using about 3% of the world’s arable land [41]

It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt [41]

It takes about 7,500 liters of water to make one pair of jeans [41]

Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally [20]

The fashion industry consumes around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually [20]

Around 20% of global industrial wastewater comes from textile dyeing and treatment [20]

The fashion industry is responsible for 35% of all primary microplastic pollution in the oceans [20]

Synthetic fibers make up 69% of all materials used for textiles production [11]

Polyester production for textiles released 706 billion kg of greenhouse gases in 2015 [11]

Producing textiles in 2015 used around 98 million tonnes of non-renewable resources, including oil to produce synthetic fibers [11]

Washing clothes made from synthetic materials accounts for 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment [1]

The fashion industry uses more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined [1]

About 20% of wastewater worldwide comes from fabric dyeing and treatment [1]

The textile sector was responsible for 20% of clean water pollution globally from dyeing and finishing products [39]

Textiles were the third largest source of water degradation and land use in 2020 [9]

Textile consumption in the EU in 2020 required 9 cubic meters of water per person [9]

Textile consumption in the EU in 2020 required 391 kg of raw materials per person [9]

Textile consumption in the EU in 2020 caused a land use footprint of 400 square meters per person [9]

Textile consumption in the EU in 2020 generated a carbon footprint of 270 kg CO2e per person [9]

Europeans consume nearly 26 kg of textiles and discard about 11 kg of textiles each year [39]

Clothing, footwear and household textiles consumption in the EU needed 79 billion cubic meters of water in 2017 [39]

EU textile consumption required 1.3 tonnes of raw materials and 104 square meters of land per person in 2017 [39]

Producing a cotton T-shirt requires 2,700 litres of freshwater according to European Parliament data [39]

Around half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released into the ocean every year from washing synthetic textiles [39]

Textiles in Europe generate about 16 kg of CO2 emissions per person per year from washing, drying and ironing [39]

In 2015, the textiles industry used 79 billion cubic meters of water globally [11]

In 2015, textile production emitted 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent [11]

The equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles is released into the ocean each year from synthetic textiles [11]