Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions
85% of all textiles go to the dump each year
Fast fashion brands can release up to 52 micro-seasons per year
The average American throws away around 81 pounds of clothing each year
It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt
The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally
Clothes production doubled between 2000 and 2014
60% of all clothing material is plastic-based
Consumers keep clothing items about half as long as they did 15 years ago
20% of global industrial water pollution is from textile dyeing and treatment
Garment workers are paid as little as $3 per day in Bangladesh
Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothing
Consumer Behavior and Product Lifespan
- Fast fashion brands can release up to 52 micro-seasons per year
- Consumers keep clothing items about half as long as they did 15 years ago
- Garment workers are paid as little as $3 per day in Bangladesh
- More than $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling
- The average garment is worn only 7–10 times before being discarded
- The average UK shopper buys 60% more clothing than they did 15 years ago
- Cheap clothing enables overconsumption, leading consumers to buy 60% more garments than in 2000
- The average U.S. consumer purchases one clothing item every 5.5 days
- H&M releases between 12 and 16 collections per year
- Fast fashion items are often produced in countries with the weakest labor laws
- Workers in Ethiopian garment factories earn $26 a month
- Only 10% of donations to thrift stores are resold locally
- 1 in 3 young women consider a garment "old" after wearing it once or twice
- 52% of fast fashion is discarded in less than a year
- The average person buys 60% more clothing today than in the early 2000s
- Only 2% of fashion workers globally earn a living wage
- The average consumer wears only 20% of their wardrobe regularly
- Workers in the global garment sector are frequently subject to child labor
- The average lifespan of a fast fashion garment is under 10 wears
Interpretation
Fast fashion dresses itself in affordability and trendiness, but behind the closet door lies a supply chain stitched with exploitation, environmental waste, and a culture hooked on disposable style—where clothes cost less, last shorter, and come at a price the planet and its poorest workers can’t afford.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry produces 10% of all humanity’s carbon emissions
- 60% of all clothing material is plastic-based
- Polyester, used extensively in fast fashion, can take up to 200 years to decompose
- The fashion industry emits about 1.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year
- The fashion industry will account for 26% of global carbon emissions by 2050 if no change occurs
- Synthetic microfibers from fast fashion contribute 35% of the primary microplastics in the ocean
- The fashion industry uses more energy than aviation and shipping combined
- Washing synthetic garments releases 700,000 microfibers per wash into the water system
- Fashion is responsible for 4% of global emissions, more than international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Viscose, a common fast fashion fabric, is linked to deforestation in endangered forests
- Clothing production is the cause of 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions
- A T-shirt has a carbon footprint of about 6.75 kg CO2 equivalents
- Emissions from textile production are more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Fashion accounts for 10% of humanity’s carbon production and pollutes the oceans with plastic
- Secondhand clothing reduces carbon emissions by 25% compared to buying new
Interpretation
Fast fashion may promise style on a budget, but it comes at the staggering cost of choking our planet with plastic, polluting our oceans, and emitting more carbon than planes and ships combined—all for a T-shirt that could outlive your grandchildren.
Market Size and Growth
- Clothes production doubled between 2000 and 2014
- 62 million tons of apparel were consumed in 2019, expected to hit 102 million by 2030
- One in six people in the world work in a fashion-related job
- 75 million people work to make our clothes, 80% of them women between the ages of 18 and 35
- Global clothing consumption is predicted to increase by 63% by 2030
- The global secondhand apparel market is expected to reach $77 billion by 2025
- Zara makes about 450 million items annually
- Clothing sales doubled from 100 billion to over 200 billion units annually between 2000 and 2015
- The number of garments produced yearly has at least doubled since 2000
- 80 billion pieces of new clothing are produced each year
- Clothing imports of used garments to Africa have undermined domestic industries
- The fashion industry is expected to expand by 81% by 2030
- The fast fashion industry is worth $36 billion in the U.S. alone
- Between 2019 and 2021, resale grew 5 times faster than the broader retail clothing sector
Interpretation
Fast fashion has spun a global web where billions of garments and millions of underpaid hands feed our closet cravings, while the planet, like last season’s trends, is left discarded and threadbare.
Textile Waste
- 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year
- The average American throws away around 81 pounds of clothing each year
- Only 1% of clothing is recycled into new clothing
- Less than 11% of brands are implementing recycling strategies for used clothes
- 57% of discarded clothes end up in landfills annually
- Fast fashion contributes to 92 million tons of textile waste each year
- The average European consumes 26 kg of textiles annually and discards 11 kg
- Recycling rates of textile waste are less than 15%
- The fashion industry produces 92 million tons of waste annually
- Around 75% of fashion supply chain material ends up as waste
- Textile waste increased by 811% in the U.S. from 1960 to 2015
- Burning unsold clothing is common practice for luxury and fast fashion brands
- Unsold clothing amounts to around 30% of production annually
- About 73% of textile waste is incinerated or sent to landfill
Interpretation
Fast fashion's dirty little secret is that behind every trendy outfit lies a mountain of waste—one that's growing faster than our closets can close, with over 90 million tons of textile trash each year and barely a shred being truly recycled.
Water and Chemical Usage
- It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt
- The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
- Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally
- 20% of global industrial water pollution is from textile dyeing and treatment
- The clothing industry is the second-largest consumer of water globally
- 250,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide in the last 15 years, many related to cotton production debt
- Around 20,000 liters of water are needed to produce 1 kg of cotton
- Cotton farming uses 24% of the world's insecticides and 11% of all pesticides
- Garment production is responsible for 20% of the world’s wastewater
- Textile dyeing requires enough water to fill 2 million Olympic-sized swimming pools annually
- Fashion is responsible for 20% of industrial global wastewater pollution
- A single pair of jeans requires approximately 3,781 liters of water throughout its life cycle
- 43 million tons of chemicals are used annually for textile processing
Interpretation
Fast fashion may serve up trendy tees and cheap jeans, but behind that bargain closet is a cotton-thirsty, chemical-choked, water-guzzling industry draining rivers, wallets, and lives—one garment at a time.