Fast Fashion Environmental Impact Statistics

People bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000 but kept them for half as long [1]

In the UK, consumers have an estimated £30 billion worth of unworn clothes in their wardrobes [2]

More than half of fast fashion produced is disposed of in under a year [3]

The average consumer bought 60% more clothing in 2014 than in 2000 [1]

Global clothing sales could reach 160 million tonnes in 2050 if current trends continue [3]

The average number of times a garment is worn has decreased by 36% over 15 years [3]

Global apparel consumption is projected to rise by 63% by 2030, from 62 million tonnes to 102 million tonnes [4]

Clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2014 [5]

Consumers keep clothing for only half as long as they did 15 years ago [5]

Online shoppers return at least 30% of products ordered, compared with 8-10% in physical stores [6]

In the US, 2.6 million tons of returned clothes ended up in landfills in 2020 [6]

About 80% of workers in the garment industry are women [7]

Consumers wore clothes an average of 7 times in 2018, down from 10 times in 2010 [8]

In 2020, EU households spent on average €600 per person on textiles [9]

EU household consumption of textiles was 14 kg per person in 2020 [9]

In 2020, textile consumption ranked fifth highest for average environmental and climate impacts from household consumption in the EU [9]

Between 1996 and 2012, the amount of clothing purchased in the EU per person rose by 40% [10]

Europeans buy nearly 26 kg of textiles and throw away about 11 kg every year [10]

In 2020, each person in the EU consumed 19 kg of clothing, 7 kg of household textiles, and 6 kg of footwear [10]

The average number of new garments bought by a consumer increased by 60% from 2000 to 2014 [11]

Clothing in active use in the UK has around £30 billion in value [12]

Clothing and textiles in use in the UK have an estimated value of £46 billion [12]

Around 60% of clothing’s environmental impact occurs after the point of sale [12]

UK consumers send an estimated £30 billion worth of clothing to wardrobes unworn [2]

Of EU household textile consumption in 2020, 46% was clothing, 41% household textiles, and 13% footwear [9]

In 2020, the average EU citizen bought 8 kg of clothing, 7 kg of household textiles, and 6 kg of footwear [9]

Clothing utilisation in many high-income countries has dropped to the point where garments are discarded after just 7 to 8 wears [13]

The global textiles market is worth over USD 1.3 trillion [3]

More than 300 million people work in the value chain of the fashion industry [11]

Second-hand sales are projected to reach 350 billion dollars by 2028 [14]

The global secondhand apparel market is expected to grow 3 times faster than the global apparel market overall by 2028 [14]

The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions [11]

Clothing and footwear produced 2.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 [15]

If the apparel and footwear industry continues on its current path, it will account for 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050 [3]

The fashion industry emits more greenhouse gas emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined [11]

The fashion industry was responsible for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2018 [16]

The apparel value chain emitted about 3.4 billion tonnes CO2e in 2022 [17]

More than 70% of fashion industry emissions come from upstream activities [16]

Around 38% of apparel value chain emissions come from material production, preparation, and processing [18]

Around 20% of apparel value chain emissions come from yarn preparation, fabric preparation, wet processes, and assembly [16]

Consumer use phase accounts for around 22% of the apparel value chain’s greenhouse gas emissions [16]

End-of-use contributes around 3% of the apparel value chain’s greenhouse gas emissions [16]

In 2019, textile production generated 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent [9]

EU consumption of textiles generated 121 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 [9]

The average EU person’s textile consumption caused 270 kg of CO2 emissions in 2020 [9]

Polyester production emitted about 125 million tonnes of CO2e in 2015 [19]

Polyester production emissions could rise to 706 million tonnes of CO2 by 2030 [19]

The global textiles sector emitted 1.7 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2015 [20]

Fashion emissions are projected to rise by more than 50% by 2030 under current trajectories [11]

Synthetic textiles are responsible for 1.35% of global oil consumption [20]

Producing one polyester shirt emits 5.5 kg of CO2 compared with 2.1 kg for a cotton shirt [11]

The carbon footprint of clothing in active use in the UK is about 26.2 million tonnes CO2e [12]

The clothing sector in the UK causes around 1.5 tonnes CO2e per tonne of clothing during use [12]

Producing one kilogram of fabric can generate an average of 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases [21]

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions [5]

The fashion industry uses more energy than the aviation and shipping sectors combined [5]

Textile purchases in the EU generated about 270 kg of CO2 emissions per person in 2020 [10]

The apparel sector’s emissions must fall to 1.1 billion tonnes CO2e by 2030 to align with a 1.5°C pathway [22]

This implies a 45% reduction from 2019 levels by 2030 [22]

Coal provides 61% of the electricity used in textile manufacturing hubs in Asia [22]

About 96% of brands are not on track to meet their own publicly disclosed decarbonisation targets by 2030 [23]

The textiles system emits 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually [3]

Returns can generate 16 million tonnes of CO2 annually [6]

Global fibre production reached a record 116 million tonnes in 2022 [24]

Polyester accounted for 54% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Virgin fossil-based synthetic fibres made up 62% of total global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Recycled fibres represented only 7.9% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Cotton represented 20% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Manmade cellulosic fibres accounted for 6% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Nylon made up 5% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Wool accounted for 1% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Other fibres accounted for 14% of global fibre production in 2022 [24]

Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing [3]

Only 0.3% of the material input for clothing came from recycled sources that year [3]

Global clothing production approximately doubled between 2000 and 2015 [3]

More than 100 billion garments are produced every year [6]

The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago [3]

Polyester fibre production increased from 8.3 million tonnes in 1980 to 57 million tonnes in 2021 [19]

The number of garments bought each year by the average consumer increased by 60% between 2000 and 2014 [25]

The world now consumes about 80 billion new pieces of clothing every year [6]

Global plastics use for textiles is expected to increase by 22 million tonnes between 2015 and 2030 [26]

Plastic use in clothing is projected to rise from 29 million tonnes in 2015 to 51 million tonnes in 2030 [26]

In 2020, textiles were the fifth biggest source of raw material use and greenhouse gas emissions in the EU [10]

Textile purchases in the EU required 400 square metres of land per person in 2020 [10]

Textile purchases in the EU required 391 kilograms of raw materials per person in 2020 [10]

In 2020, synthetic fibres accounted for 64% of the total fibre production used in clothing globally [10]

Polyester, the most-used synthetic fibre, is made from oil and represented about 54% of global fibre production in 2022 [10]

EU textile consumption required 12.8 million tonnes of raw materials in 2020 [9]

EU textile consumption required 180,000 square kilometres of land in 2020 [9]

EU textile consumption generated 6.0 million tonnes of oil equivalent in energy use in 2020 [9]

Over 70% of the environmental and climate pressures from EU textile consumption occur outside Europe [9]

Fossil-fuel-derived fibres represented 67% of global fibre production in 2021 [19]

Synthetic fibres are projected to account for 73% of global fibre production by 2030 [19]

The textiles value chain consumed 98 million tonnes of non-renewable resources per year [3]

Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned [3]

Globally, 92 million tonnes of textile waste are produced each year [6]

A garbage truck’s worth of clothing is incinerated or sent to landfill every second [11]

The equivalent of one rubbish truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second [9]

In 2018, 17 million tons of textile municipal solid waste were generated in the United States [27]

Textiles had a recycling rate of 14.7% in the United States in 2018 [27]

In 2018, 11.3 million tons of textiles were landfilled in the United States [27]

In 2018, 3.2 million tons of textiles were combusted with energy recovery in the United States [27]

Textiles represented 5.8% of total municipal solid waste landfilled in the United States in 2018 [27]

The average American throws away about 81.5 pounds of clothes each year [6]

The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second [5]

In Europe, about 5.8 million tonnes of textiles are discarded every year [28]

Europeans consume nearly 26 kg of textiles and discard about 11 kg per person each year [9]

Less than half of used clothes are collected for reuse or recycling [3]

Only 1% of used clothing is recycled into new clothes [11]

Of the total fibre input used for clothing, 73% is landfilled or incinerated after use [3]

12% of the material in clothing is recycled into lower-value applications such as insulation or mattress stuffing [3]

Collection for reuse and recycling captures only 15% of textiles in the United States [29]

In 2017, New Yorkers discarded roughly 200,000 tons of clothing, textiles, and shoes [30]

Clothing utilization has declined by 36% compared to 15 years ago [3]

The average garment is worn only seven to ten times before being thrown away [6]

Extending the active life of clothes by nine extra months can reduce carbon, water, and waste footprints by around 20-30% each [12]

The UK sends around 350,000 tonnes of used clothing to landfill every year [12]

More than 300,000 tonnes of clothing end up in UK household bins every year [12]

Around £140 million worth of clothing goes to landfill in the UK each year [12]

Extending clothing life by nine months would reduce carbon by 8%, water by 10%, and waste by 4% [12]

The waste footprint of clothing in active use in the UK is 1.8 million tonnes [12]

Less than 1% of all textiles worldwide are recycled into new products [10]

In Europe, 87% of the fibres used for clothing are either incinerated or landfilled [10]

Only 22% of post-consumer textile waste was separately collected for reuse or recycling in the EU in 2020 [9]

Around 16 kg of textile waste per person was generated in the EU in 2020 [9]

Total textile waste generation in the EU was 6.95 million tonnes in 2020 [9]

Less than 1% of textiles produced for clothing are recycled back into clothing [5]

Around 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year [5]

The textiles system creates negative impacts valued at more than USD 500 billion every year due to underutilisation and lack of recycling [3]

Clothing overproduction means around 30% of garments made are never sold [6]

The fashion industry is the second-biggest consumer of water worldwide [11]

It takes about 2,700 litres of water to produce one cotton T-shirt [31]

Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally [11]

The fashion industry consumes around 93 billion cubic metres of water annually [6]

The textile industry uses approximately 79 billion cubic metres of fresh water per year [21]

Around 20% of global industrial wastewater is produced by the textile industry [11]

Textile consumption in the EU required 4.0 cubic metres of water per person in 2020 [9]

EU textile consumption used 1.3 million cubic metres of water in 2020 [9]

Producing a pair of jeans requires about 7,500 litres of water [21]

Cotton cultivation accounts for 69% of the water footprint of fibre production [9]

Textile wet processing causes about 20% of global clean water pollution from dyeing and finishing products [32]

One laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres [11]

Synthetic textiles account for 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment [33]

Half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres are released into the ocean annually from washing synthetic textiles [3]

This annual release of microfibres is equivalent to more than 50 billion plastic bottles [3]

The Aral Sea has shrunk by around 90% due largely to cotton irrigation [6]

Textile consumption in Europe generated 270 cubic metres of water use per person in 2020 when considering the full global value chain [9]

Cotton accounts for 2.1% of global arable land use but 16% of all insecticides sold worldwide [34]

Cotton accounts for 6% of all pesticides sold globally [34]

Washing clothes made from synthetic materials contributes 14% of the total plastics released to the ocean [11]

Active laundering accounts for 37% of the carbon footprint of a cotton T-shirt [12]

Active laundering accounts for 25% of the carbon footprint of a pair of jeans [12]

The water footprint of clothing in active use in the UK is around 8 billion cubic metres [12]

The fashion industry’s water consumption could grow by 50% by 2030 [21]

The equivalent of 215 trillion litres of water is used by the fashion industry each year [35]

Textile production requires 1.5 trillion litres of water annually [10]

Buying a cotton shirt requires 2,700 litres of fresh water [10]

In 2020, textiles were the third biggest source of water degradation and land use in the EU [10]

Textile purchases in the EU required around 9 cubic metres of water per person in 2020 [10]

The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global wastewater [5]

Textiles generate 9% of annual microplastic losses to the oceans [36]

Between 200,000 and 500,000 tonnes of microplastics from textiles enter the marine environment each year [36]

A 6 kg wash of acrylic fabrics can release around 700,000 fibres [36]

The wear and washing of synthetic textiles in the EU in 2017 released between 18,000 and 46,000 tonnes of microplastics [36]

Between 500,000 and 1 million tonnes of microfibres are released into the environment annually from textiles globally [37]

16% to 35% of all primary microplastics released to the oceans are from synthetic textiles [37]

The global apparel industry consumed 79 trillion litres of water in 2015 [7]

One pair of jeans can require up to 10,000 litres of water to produce [7]

Textile dyeing and treatment contributes around 17-20% of industrial water pollution [7]

The equivalent of 1.3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools of water is used every year by the fashion industry [35]

The textiles system uses 93 billion cubic metres of water annually [3]