Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, enough to meet the needs of five million people
Approximately 85% of textiles go to the dump each year
Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles
Fast fashion contributes to 20% of global wastewater annually
The average consumer buys 60% more clothing than 15 years ago but keeps each item for half as long
Only 1% of used clothing is recycled into new garments
Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally
The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing annually
Over 92 million tons of textiles waste are produced each year worldwide
Synthetic fibers, like polyester, take hundreds of years to decompose
60% of clothing is made of plastic-based fibers like polyester
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
- Polyester production for textiles released about 706 billion kg of greenhouse gases in 2015
- The fashion industry consumes more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined
- Textile production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined
- Clothing production is responsible for 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually
- The UN has identified fashion as the fourth-largest environmental pressure after food, housing, and transport
- Textile processing facilities release 1.5 million tons of CO2 annually in Bangladesh alone
- 70-80% of fashion’s carbon emissions come from upstream activities, including production, preparation, and processing
- 75% of coloration processes in the textile industry rely on synthetic dyes that are often toxic to aquatic life
Interpretation
Fast fashion may keep closets trendy, but it’s dressing the planet in a choking cloak of carbon, pollution, and synthetic dyes—making it one of the most stylishly destructive industries on Earth.
Labor and Ethical Issues
- Clothing industry supply chain labor often works in substandard conditions, exacerbated by fast turnover
Interpretation
Fast fashion may churn out trendy clothes at lightning speed, but behind the seams, it stitches a harsh reality of exploited labor trapped in a cycle as disposable as the garments they produce.
Production and Consumption Practices
- The average consumer buys 60% more clothing than 15 years ago but keeps each item for half as long
- 60% of clothing is made of plastic-based fibers like polyester
- Fashion retailers sell between 80 billion and 150 billion garments a year globally
- The value of unused clothing in wardrobes globally is estimated at $500 billion
- One in three young women consider a garment “old” after wearing it once or twice
- Clothing sales doubled from 2000 to 2014 globally
- The average garment is worn only 7-10 times before being thrown away
- Global clothing production doubled from 2000 to 2020
- Clothing consumption is expected to increase by 63% by 2030
- The fashion industry loses about $500 billion annually due to lack of recycling and clothing underutilization
- One in five items of clothing purchased is never worn
- Used clothing exports from the US exceed 700,000 tons annually
- About 40% of ready-to-wear clothes never get sold or worn
- The average lifetime of a clothing item dropped by 36% in the last 20 years
- It is estimated that the resale market will double in the next 5 years due to excessive fast fashion waste
- Clothing production doubled in the past 15 years, while the average number of times an item is worn decreased by 36%
- The average UK shopper has 57 unworn clothing items in their wardrobe
- 70% of clothing donations to charity shops globally are ultimately exported as used textiles
- Average global consumer’s clothing consumption is predicted to reach 62 million tons per year by 2030
- 80% of fashion goods are discarded after less than 10 uses
- Overproduction is the largest cause of clothing waste in the fashion industry
Interpretation
Fast fashion has turned closets into graveyards for barely-worn clothes, as we buy more, wear less, and toss faster—leaving a mountain of waste behind in a world dressed for environmental disaster.
Waste and Pollution
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- Approximately 85% of textiles go to the dump each year
- Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year, the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles
- Only 1% of used clothing is recycled into new garments
- Textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally
- The average American throws away 81 pounds of clothing annually
- Over 92 million tons of textiles waste are produced each year worldwide
- Synthetic fibers, like polyester, take hundreds of years to decompose
- 300,000 tons of clothing end up in UK landfills every year
- Only 15% of consumer-used clothes in the U.S. are recycled
- 20% to 35% of all primary source microplastics in the marine environment are linked to textiles
- 35% of materials in the supply chain end up as waste before reaching the consumer
- China alone produces over 20 million tons of textile waste annually
- Around 87% of fiber input used for apparel ends up incinerated or in landfill
- Donations to thrift stores can’t keep up as 80% of clothes sent there end up in landfills or incinerated
- Textile waste is expected to increase by 60% by 2030 if no action is taken
- Most used clothing exported to Africa ends up in landfills due to poor quality
- Microplastics from synthetic clothing are found in Arctic snow
- It takes about 200 years for synthetic fabrics to decompose
- Clothing made of synthetic fibers releases more microplastics than those made of natural fibers
- Each year, 100 billion garments are produced, leading to massive overproduction and waste
- In 2018, Americans generated 17 million tons of textile waste
- Discarded clothing has been found piled in deserts in Chile, becoming a global waste footprint
- 73% of clothing sent to landfills could be recycled but isn’t
- Landfilling one ton of textiles emits 27 kilograms of methane
- 3 out of 5 fast fashion items end up in landfills within a year
- In 2019, the fashion industry generated nearly 100 million tons of waste
- Americans discard 14 million tons of textiles annually, approximately 80 pounds per person
- $460 billion of value is lost each year from clothing that is barely worn and rarely recycled
- Ghana receives about 15 million used clothing items each week, many unwearable and ending in landfills
- India generates 1 million tons of textile waste annually, with less than 10% recycled
- 13 million tons of garments are thrown away each year in the United States
- Worn garments end up creating over 1.5 pounds of CO2-equivalent per item in landfill emissions
- Nearly 60% of fast fashion ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being made
- 25% of fast fashion items remain unsold worldwide
- 90% of clothing donations are sent abroad or thrown away
- The EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) schemes for textiles are only active in a few EU countries currently
- Globally, only 13% of material input for clothing is recycled after use
Interpretation
Fast fashion is a global shell game where mountains of barely-worn polyester masquerade as style, only to vanish into landfills, oceans, and deserts—leaving behind a trail of microplastics, squandered resources, and moral bankruptcy at the speed of one garbage truck per second.
Water and Resource Usage
- The fashion industry uses around 93 billion cubic meters of water annually, enough to meet the needs of five million people
- Fast fashion contributes to 20% of global wastewater annually
- One pair of jeans requires approximately 7,500 liters of water to produce
- Making a single cotton t-shirt takes 2,700 liters of water
- Fashion is the second-largest consumer of water globally
- Fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater
Interpretation
In a world where fast fashion dresses us up in style, it's quietly stripping the planet of its most precious resource—water—drop by unsustainable drop.