Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined
The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater
Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles
Consumers buy 60% more clothing today than they did in the year 2000
The average garment is worn 36% fewer times today compared to 15 years ago
In the UK, the average person has 118 items of clothing in their wardrobe but 26% heavily lie unworn
92 million tons of textile waste is created annually by the fashion industry
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
Clothing production has doubled from 2000 to 2014, exceeding 100 billion garments
93% of brands surveyed by the Fashion Checker do not pay garment workers a living wage
There are approximately 75 million people working to make our clothes, 80% of whom are women between the ages of 18 and 35
Approximately 160 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor, with many in the textile supply chain
$500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling
The global fast fashion market size was valued at $106 billion in 2022
Returns cost US retailers an estimated $428 billion in 2020, with fashion being a major contributor
Consumer Habits
- Consumers buy 60% more clothing today than they did in the year 2000
- The average garment is worn 36% fewer times today compared to 15 years ago
- In the UK, the average person has 118 items of clothing in their wardrobe but 26% heavily lie unworn
- One in three young women considers a garment worn once or twice to be old
- The average American throws away approximately 81 pounds of clothing every year
- 40% of consumers admit to purchasing clothes they never wear
- Clothing utilization globally has decreased by 36% between 2000 and 2015
- 20% of unwanted clothings are thrown away because of minor faults like a missing button
- 9% of customers buy clothes solely for social media content before returning them
- UK shoppers buy more clothes per person than any other country in Europe
- The average consumer now buys one item of clothing every 5 days
- 74% of 16-24 year olds say they buy more clothes than they need
- Women wear 20-30% of the clothes in their wardrobes on a regular basis
- 50% of people will throw a pair of shoes in the bin rather than get them repaired
- We consume 400% more clothing now than we did 20 years ago
- The average lifespan of a clothing item in the developed world is 3 years
- Impulse buying accounts for nearly 50% of fast fashion purchases
- Only 15% of consumers recycle their used clothing
- 60% of millennials are attracted to sustainable fashion brands but only 30% actually buy them
- Fashion consumption is expected to rise by 63% by 2030
Interpretation
We're basically running a fast fashion treadmill: buying 60% more clothes than in 2000, wearing them far less and throwing away about 81 pounds per person a year while impulse buys, social-media stunts, and minor faults turn perfectly wearable items into landfill subscriptions and only 15% get recycled even though consumption is set to climb another 63% by 2030.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined
- The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater
- Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles
- It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt, enough for one person to drink for 2.5 years
- Making a single pair of jeans requires approximately 7,500 liters of water
- Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally
- Fashion’s carbon emissions are projected to surge more than 50% by 2030
- Synthetic fibers like polyester require about 70 million barrels of oil each year to produce
- Extending the life of a garment by just nine months could reduce its carbon, water, and waste footprints by around 20-30%
- 35% of all microplastics released into the world's oceans come from laundering synthetic textiles
- Conventional cotton farming is responsible for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally despite using only 3% of the world's arable land
- 10,000 liters of water are required to produce one kilogram of cotton
- The fashion industry's greenhouse gas emissions are expected to rise by 2.7 billion tonnes a year by 2030
- Leather tanning utilizes harmful chemicals like chromium which can contaminate local water supplies
- Viscose production is linked to ancient and endangered forest logging affecting 150 million trees annually
- Nitrogen and phosphorus pollution from fertilizers used in cotton creates dead zones in oceans
- 85% of the daily needs of water for the entire population of India would be covered by the water used to grow cotton for the country
- Soil degradation from overgrazing of cashmere goats has turned 90% of Mongolia's grassland into desert risk zones
- The apparel industry accounts for 6.7% of global greenhouse emissions if looking at the full value chain
- 190,000 tons of textile microplastic fibers end up in the oceans every year
Interpretation
Fast fashion is the planet's bargain-basement impulse buy: it generates about 10% of global carbon emissions—more than all international flights and shipping combined—drains staggering amounts of water to grow cotton and make jeans, sheds half a million tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, poisons waterways with dyes and tanning chemicals, and is on track to surge emissions by 2030, even though simply wearing garments nine months longer could cut their carbon, water, and waste footprints by roughly 20 to 30 percent.
Financial Economics
- $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilization and lack of recycling
- The global fast fashion market size was valued at $106 billion in 2022
- Returns cost US retailers an estimated $428 billion in 2020, with fashion being a major contributor
- The cost of returns for an online clothing item is between $20 and $30 per return for the retailer
- Secondhand fashion is projected to grow 127% by 2026, reaching $218 billion
- Fast fashion giant Shein achieved a valuation of $100 billion in 2022, exceeding Zara and H&M combined
- The fashion industry is worth approximately $2.5 trillion globally
- By 2027, the secondhand clothing market is expected to double the size of fast fashion
- Brands spend 1.5% - 2.5% of their total sales on processing returns
- The average fast fashion garment costs pennies to produce but is marked up by 500% or more
- Deadstock (unsold inventory) costs the US fashion industry $50 billion annually
- Global e-commerce fashion sales are projected to reach $1 trillion by 2025
- Digital fashion (skins and NFTs) is predicted to be a $50 billion industry by 2030
- Repairing clothing instead of buying new could save the average person $500 per year
- Fast fashion companies update their collections as frequently as every 2 weeks to drive sales
- Zara’s parent company Inditex reported net profits of €5.4 billion in 2023 driven by fast turnover
- The cost per wear of clothing has increased due to poor quality despite lower retail prices
- 10% of global retail e-commerce sales are attributed to fashion
- Renting clothes could account for 10% of revenue for luxury brands by 2030
- The global market for recycled textiles is estimated to reach $9.8 billion by 2027
Interpretation
The global fashion system is a trillion-dollar tragedy: a $2.5 trillion industry that produces garments for pennies and marks them up five hundred percent, loses $500 billion a year to underused and unrecycled clothes, wastes $50 billion in deadstock and racks up $428 billion in returns that cost retailers $20 to $30 per item, all while Shein hit a $100 billion valuation and fast fashion sits at $106 billion as the secondhand market is set to grow 127 percent to $218 billion by 2026 and double fast fashion by 2027, proving that mending, renting and resale are not just ethical alternatives but urgent economic realities.
Global Waste & Production
- 92 million tons of textile waste is created annually by the fashion industry
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- Clothing production has doubled from 2000 to 2014, exceeding 100 billion garments
- Less than 1% of materials used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- Polyester, the most popular fiber, takes up to 200 years to decompose
- 57% of all discarded clothes end up in landfills
- The volume of textile waste is set to increase by 60% annually between 2015 and 2030
- 30% of clothes produced are never sold and often incinerated or landfilled
- China produces over 26 million tons of textile waste annually
- The Atacama Desert in Chile acts as a dump for 39,000 tons of unsold clothing each year
- Nylon takes 30 to 40 years to decompose in a landfill
- 87% of the total fiber input used for clothing is eventually incinerated or landfilled
- 12% of fibers are discarded on the factory floor as pre-consumer cut-offs
- Global textile production has almost doubled in the last 15 years
- Over 3.8 billion pounds of post-consumer textile waste is recovered for heavy export from the US annually
- Burning 1 ton of clothes releases 1.36 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere
- 73% of the world's clothing eventually ends up in landfills
- About 25% of fast fashion garments remain unsold, resulting in immediate inventory waste
- 300,000 tonnes of used clothing go to landfill in the UK every year
Interpretation
Fast fashion is dressing the planet in tomorrow's landfill, churning out over 100 billion garments and 92 million tons of textile waste a year, sending a garbage truck's worth of textiles to landfill or fire every second, recycling under 1% while polyester and nylon persist for decades to centuries, and condemning most clothing, often unsold, to incineration or burial that pumps out CO2 and is on track to make waste 60% worse by 2030.
Labor & Human Rights
- 93% of brands surveyed by the Fashion Checker do not pay garment workers a living wage
- There are approximately 75 million people working to make our clothes, 80% of whom are women between the ages of 18 and 35
- Approximately 160 million children worldwide are engaged in child labor, with many in the textile supply chain
- Garment workers in Bangladesh earn a minimum wage of approximately $95 per month, which covers only a fraction of living costs
- The 2013 Rana Plaza collapse killed 1,134 garment workers, highlighting unsafe infrastructure
- Only 2% of fashion workers earn a livable salary
- In India, 60% of textile workers are victims of forced labor indicators
- 1 in 5 cotton garments in the global market is linked to forced labor in the Uyghur Region
- 56% of garment workers in Cambodia reported issues with fainting due to heat and malnutrition
- Less than 10% of garment workers belong to a union
- 80% of garment workers have experienced gender-based violence in the factory
- Garment workers often work 10-14 hours a day, 6 days a week, during peak seasons
- In 2020, brands refused to pay for $16 billion worth of goods due to the pandemic
- Home-based garment workers earn 50% less than factory workers for the same work
- 35% of female garment workers in Vietnam have children living elsewhere because wages are too low to support them
- The CEO of a top fashion brand earns in 4 days what a garment worker earns in a lifetime
- 9,909 garment workers died in factory fires and incidents between 2006 and 2012 in Bangladesh alone
- Migrant workers in fashion supply chains often pay recruitment fees equal to 6 months of wages
- Only 12% of fashion companies can demonstrate steps taken towards paying a living wage
- Syrian refugees in Turkey have been found working in illegal garment workshops for well below minimum wage
Interpretation
If cheap clothes are a bargain, someone forgot to add human lives to the receipt: millions of mostly young women and children toil in unsafe, underpaid, and sometimes forced conditions while brands and CEOs reap fortunes and dodge responsibility.
References
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