Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014 while the number of garments purchased per capita increased by about 60 percent
The average consumer buys 60 percent more items of clothing and keeps them for about half as long as they did 15 years ago
Consumers in the United Kingdom order an average of 4.3 online fashion items per month
Generation Z commands 40 percent of total consumer shopping power for fashion
54 percent of Gen Z shoppers have bought second-hand clothing but 72 percent still buy fast fashion
90 percent of Gen Z consumers have made changes to be more sustainable in their daily lives yet drive ultra-fast fashion sales
66 percent of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable goods
88 percent of consumers want brands to help them be more environmentally friendly
52 percent of consumers believe the fashion industry is not doing enough for the environment
The global second-hand apparel market will grow 127 percent by 2026
62 percent of consumers say inflation has made them more likely to buy second-hand
The fast fashion market size was valued at $106 billion in 2022
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
85 percent of all textiles go to the dump each year
Less than 1 percent of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
Consumer Demographics & Influence
- Generation Z commands 40 percent of total consumer shopping power for fashion
- 54 percent of Gen Z shoppers have bought second-hand clothing but 72 percent still buy fast fashion
- 90 percent of Gen Z consumers have made changes to be more sustainable in their daily lives yet drive ultra-fast fashion sales
- Millennial consumers are 23 percent more likely to purchase sustainable fashion than Baby Boomers
- 53 percent of consumers aged 18-24 admit that social media influencers impact their purchasing decisions
- Shein was the most downloaded fashion app in the US in 2022 primarily driven by Gen Z
- Men engage in sustainable fashion shopping 20 percent less frequently than women
- 65 percent of Chinese consumers consider themselves environmentally conscious regarding fashion compared to 55 percent of US consumers
- 1 in 3 Gen Z consumers say they are "addicted" to fast fashion
- 42 percent of millennials check a brand's sustainability credentials before buying
- Women aged 16-24 are the most frequent buyers of fast fashion in the UK
- 72 percent of Gen Z participants said they would pay more for sustainably produced products
- TikTok's #haul tag has over 25 billion views driving youth consumption
- 80 percent of luxury fashion growth is driven by Millennial and Gen Z consumers helping blur lines with high-street fashion
- 55 percent of urban Chinese consumers are willing to buy second-hand clothing
- 46 percent of US consumers are willing to try virtual try-on technology to reduce returns
- Households with children spend 30 percent more on apparel annually than those without
- 52 percent of female consumers in the EU check care labels for material composition
- 62 percent of Gen Z prefer to buy from sustainable brands compared to 54 percent of Gen X
- Only 17 percent of Baby Boomers are willing to pay a premium for sustainable fashion
Interpretation
Today's fashion scene is gloriously conflicted: Gen Z controls about 40 percent of shopping power and even though 90 percent say they have adopted more sustainable habits and 72 percent still buy fast fashion with one in three admitting an addiction, they keep ultra-fast retailers thriving through influencer and TikTok-fueled hauls while millennials, regional differences, gender gaps and family spending patterns turn sustainability into an aspiration more than a consistent shopping practice.
Consumption Habits & Volume
- Global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014 while the number of garments purchased per capita increased by about 60 percent
- The average consumer buys 60 percent more items of clothing and keeps them for about half as long as they did 15 years ago
- Consumers in the United Kingdom order an average of 4.3 online fashion items per month
- 20 percent of shoppers admit to buying clothes they never wear
- Women wear a garment an average of 7 times before throwing it away
- The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually
- 40 percent of consumers admit they have purchased clothing just for the purpose of posting it on social media
- Fast fashion consumption is projected to rise by 63 percent by 2030
- 85 percent of consumers have bought clothing in the past 12 months
- 41 percent of shoppers engage in impulse buying specifically for fashion items
- American consumers purchase approximately 68 garments per person per year
- One in three young women consider clothes ‘old’ after wearing them once or twice
- 50 percent of consumer closet space is filled with unworn clothing
- During the holiday season, 46 percent of consumers plan to buy clothing as gifts contributing to volume spikes
- UK consumers possess an estimated £30 billion worth of unworn clothing
- The average wardrobe consists of 148 items
- 33 percent of consumers buy new clothes every month
- 48 percent of US consumers shop for clothes online at least once a month
- The global apparel market is expected to grow to 2 trillion dollars by 2027 driven by consumption volume
- 25 percent of consumers would pay more for personalization but often opt for mass-produced fast fashion for speed
Interpretation
We are churning out twice as many clothes as before while buying 60 percent more and keeping them half as long, turning wardrobes into graveyards of unworn garments bought for impulses or Instagram and fueling a multibillion-dollar fast fashion machine set to grow 63 percent by 2030 at great cost to wallets and the planet.
Disposal, Waste & Circularity
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- 85 percent of all textiles go to the dump each year
- Less than 1 percent of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing every year
- 60 percent of discarded clothes are made of synthetic fibers that do not decay
- 30 percent of clothes produced are never sold and often destroyed
- Washing clothes releases 500000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year
- 50 percent of people throw unwanted clothes directly in the trash rather than donating
- Textile waste has increased by 811 percent since 1960
- 73 percent of the world's clothing eventually ends up in landfills
- Only 12 percent of clothing material ends up being recycled in some form mostly as insulation
- 20 to 25 percent of pledged donations to thrift stores are actually sold while the rest is exported or trashed
- Returns generate 5.8 billion pounds of landfill waste annually in the US
- Consumers keep items for half as long as they did in the early 2000s accelerating disposal
- Extending the life of clothing by just nine months would reduce carbon waste and water footprints by 20 to 30 percent
- 40 percent of donations to charities are of such poor quality (fast fashion) they are deemed "rags"
- 16 percent of consumers discard clothes because they "don't like them anymore"
- 95 percent of textiles destined for landfill could be recycled or reused
- Fashion waste is responsible for 4 percent of global solid waste
- 69 percent of clothes are made of polyester plastics that shed into water systems upon disposal
Interpretation
We've turned clothing into disposable pollution, sending a garbage truck of textiles to the dump every second, recycling less than one percent and piling unsold, returned and polyester-made garments that shed microfibers into the ocean, even though most of this mess could be reused or recycled if we stopped treating our clothes like yesterday's confetti.
Economic Drivers & Market Shifts
- The global second-hand apparel market will grow 127 percent by 2026
- 62 percent of consumers say inflation has made them more likely to buy second-hand
- The fast fashion market size was valued at $106 billion in 2022
- Online sales of fast fashion grew by 21 percent during the pandemic years
- 58 percent of consumers say price is the primary barrier to purchasing sustainable fashion
- The resale market is growing 3 times faster than the primary global apparel market
- Clothing prices have decreased by 12 percent globally from 2000 to 2020 due to supply chain efficiencies
- 25 percent of secondhand revenue is expected to come from brands' own resale shops by 2025
- 70 percent of online shopping carts are abandoned often due to shipping costs or final price
- The cost per wear of clothing has decreased as consumers buy cheaper items
- Ultra-fast fashion brands update their inventory daily with thousands of new SKUs to drive economic turnover
- 46 percent of items in the fast fashion market are sold at a discount
- Fast fashion retailers have a profit margin averaging 16 percent compared to 7 percent for traditional retail
- 35 percent of consumers buy clothing using "Buy Now Pay Later" services
- Return rates for e-commerce fashion sit between 30 and 40 percent impacting retail margins
- The cost of returns in the US alone reached $816 billion in 2022 across retail heavily led by fashion
- Secondhand clothing sales replaced 1 billion purchases of new clothing in 2021
- 45 percent of fast fashion shoppers say they would shop less if prices increased by 20 percent
- Global spending on clothing and footwear is projected to reach $3.3 trillion by 2030
- 1 in 2 consumers cite "saving money" as the top reason for thrifting over buying new fast fashion
Interpretation
Cheap clothes won the price war but are losing the momentum: a $106 billion fast fashion machine pumps out thousands of daily SKUs and higher margins while discounts, BNPL and hidden return costs fuel impulse buys, yet squeezed shoppers—62 percent blaming inflation and half thrifting to save money—are driving a resale surge growing 127 percent by 2026 and three times faster than new apparel, forcing brands to launch their own resale shops or face the true bill for “cheap” fashion.
Sustainability Attitudes & Awareness
- 66 percent of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable goods
- 88 percent of consumers want brands to help them be more environmentally friendly
- 52 percent of consumers believe the fashion industry is not doing enough for the environment
- 75 percent of consumers view sustainability as an important factor when making a purchase
- However only 7 percent of consumers prioritize sustainability as the key purchasing criterion over price and style
- 60 percent of consumers claim they are interested in clothing repair services to extend garment life
- 79 percent of consumers say they are changing their purchase preferences based on social responsibility
- 37 percent of consumers say they don't know how to access sustainable fashion
- 34 percent of consumers say they have boycotted a brand due to unethical practices
- 48 percent of consumers feel confused by sustainability terminology used by brands
- 78 percent of consumers want more transparency about where their clothes are made
- 57 percent of shoppers say they would change their purchasing habits to reduce negative environmental impact
- Trust in fashion brands' sustainability claims has dropped to 21 percent among informed consumers
- 43 percent of consumers believe manufacturers are most responsible for the environmental impact of clothing not the consumer
- 67 percent of consumers consider the use of sustainable materials as an important purchasing factor
- 92 percent of consumers say they want to live more sustainably but only 16 percent are actively changing their behaviors
- Consumers estimate they wear their clothes 40 percent more often than they actually do indicating an awareness gap
- 38 percent of consumers are aware that the fashion industry is a major polluter of water
- 27 percent of consumers feel "guilty" about buying fast fashion products
- 80 percent of consumers believe that fashion brands should be required to provide information on their supply chain
Interpretation
Consumers want clothes that behave better than the industry does: many say they're willing to pay more and demand transparency, repairs and ethical accountability, yet a yawning gap between intention and action, low trust in brand claims, confusing green jargon and limited access mean manufacturers and brands must stop greenwashing and deliver clear, traceable solutions if they hope to turn concern into real change.
References
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