Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014
The fashion industry produces more than 100 billion garments every year
Consumers buy 60 percent more clothing items today than they did in 2000
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
92 million tonnes of textile waste are created annually globally
In the US alone 11.3 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
Textile dyeing involves 20% of global wastewater generated
Washing clothes releases 500000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year
Clothing items are worn 36% fewer times on average than they were 15 years ago
The average American throws away approximately 81.5 lbs of clothes every year
One in three young women in the UK consider clothes old after wearing them once or twice
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
12% of fibers are discarded on factory floors during the cutting process before becoming clothes
Only 13% of total material input for clothing is recycled in some way usually into lower utility items like insulation
Consumer Behavior and Usage
- Clothing items are worn 36% fewer times on average than they were 15 years ago
- The average American throws away approximately 81.5 lbs of clothes every year
- One in three young women in the UK consider clothes old after wearing them once or twice
- 30% of clothes in UK wardrobes have not been worn for at least a year
- Customers keep garments for about half as long as they did in the early 2000s
- 20% of unwanted clothes in the US are hoarded in closets before eventual disposal
- The average British woman hoards £285 worth of unworn clothes
- 41% of 18-25 year olds feel pressure to wear different outfits every time they go out
- Extending the life of a garment by just nine months reduces carbon waste and water footprints by 20-30%
- 17% of young people said they would not wear an outfit again if it had appeared on Instagram
- Consumers discard clothing primarily due to damage (poor quality) or changes in fit
- 50% of people throw unwanted clothes in the general trash rather than donating
- The average garment is worn only 7 to 10 times before being discarded
- 65% of consumers say they care about the environment but only 15% follow through with sustainable purchases in fashion
- Users in the UK own an average of 115 items of clothing but have not worn 30% of them in the last year
- Wearing a garment 50 times significantly reduces its environmental impact per wear by 400%
- Impulse buying accounts for a significant portion of fast fashion sales often leading to immediate waste
- Only 21% of US consumers attempt to repair their clothing to extend its life
- The value of unworn clothing in closets globally is estimated at $120 billion
- 95% of worn-out textiles can be recycled yet they are not
Interpretation
Fast fashion has turned wardrobes into expensive, climate-busting clutter: we wear garments only seven to ten times, pile up billions of dollars and dozens of unworn items in our closets, and swap, trash, or hoard clothes out of impulse or social pressure instead of repairing or rewearing them, even though wearing pieces longer would dramatically cut their environmental cost.
Environmental Impact and Pollution
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions
- Textile dyeing involves 20% of global wastewater generated
- Washing clothes releases 500000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year
- Microplastics from textiles make up 35% of primary microplastics in the oceans
- Producing a single pair of jeans requires 7500 liters of water
- The carbon footprint of a single polyester shirt is 5.5 kg CO2e
- Cotton farming consumes 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides globally despite using 3% of arable land
- 20000 chemicals are used in textile production many of which are carcinogenic
- 70 million barrels of oil are used each year to make polyester fibers for clothes
- Textile production generates 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
- A cotton t-shirt requires approximately 2700 liters of water to produce
- Leather tanning is one of the most toxic industries due to chromium usage
- Viscose production is linked to deforestation of 150 million trees annually
- Rivers in Bangladesh turn black due to sludge from textile factories
- The fashion industry contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined
- 1900 microfibers can be shed by a single synthetic garment during one wash
- 90% of wastewater in developing countries is discharged into rivers without treatment
- Nitrate pollution from textile dyes destroys aquatic life and drinkable water sources
- The water footprint of the EU's textile consumption is 400 cubic meters per person per year
- Fast fashion's carbon emissions are projected to increase by 50% by 2030
Interpretation
Fast fashion is the ultimate bargain until the planet's bill arrives, because the industry already drives 10% of global carbon emissions, textile dyeing creates 20% of wastewater and blackens rivers, synthetic washes shed 500,000 tons of microfibers a year that help make up 35% of primary ocean microplastics, a single pair of jeans can gulp 7,500 liters of water while a polyester shirt costs 5.5 kg CO2e and 70 million barrels of oil are used annually for polyester, 20,000 largely unregulated chemicals are employed in textile production even as viscose and leather drive deforestation and toxic pollution, and if nothing changes fast fashion's emissions could jump 50% by 2030.
Global Production and Consumption
- Global clothing production doubled between 2000 and 2014
- The fashion industry produces more than 100 billion garments every year
- Consumers buy 60 percent more clothing items today than they did in 2000
- Global apparel consumption is projected to rise by 63 percent to 102 million tonnes by 2030
- The volume of existing clothing in the world is sufficient to clothe the next six generations
- 60% of all clothing produced is made from synthetic fibers like polyester
- The average person today buys 60 percent more items of clothing than they did 15 years ago
- Overproduction creates 10% to 40% more garments than strictly necessary to meet demand
- 40% of all clothing purchased in some countries is never worn
- The sheer number of garments produced annually is expected to reach 200 billion by 2030
- Fast fashion brands release up to 52 micro-collections per year instead of the traditional two seasons
- Global fibre production reached a record 113 million tonnes in 2021
- 69% of clothes are made from plastic-based materials
- China is the world's largest producer of textile waste producing 20 million tons annually
- The average European consumes 26kg of textiles annually
- Online return rates are around 20-30% often leading to excess inventory that is not resold
- Ultra-fast fashion companies like Shein add up to 6000 new items to their website every day
- The sportswear sector grew 42% between 2007 and 2015 increasing synthetic load
- 80 billion pieces of new clothing are purchased globally each year
- Footwear production has increased by 20% since 2010
Interpretation
Fast fashion has turned the planet into a fast industrial clothing factory, churning out mostly plastic garments by the billions, flooding the market with thousands of new items and dozens of micro-collections each year while consumers buy far more than before and huge shares of purchases are never worn or are quickly discarded, creating mountains of textile waste even though the world already has enough clothes to clothe six generations, which is to say we are manufacturing our own wardrobe shaped problem.
Landfill and Incineration
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- 92 million tonnes of textile waste are created annually globally
- In the US alone 11.3 million tons of textile waste ended up in landfills in 2018
- 37kg of textile waste is generated per person annually in the US
- 85% of all textiles thrown away in the US are either dumped into landfills or burned
- Textiles can take up to 200+ years to decompose in a landfill
- Approximately 5.8% of all municipal solid waste in US landfills constitutes textiles
- Between 2000 and 2015 clothing utilization decreased by 36% causing faster disposal
- 39000 tons of unwanted clothing are dumped in Chile's Atacama desert annually
- New York City alone generates 200 million pounds of clothing waste annually
- In Australia 6000kg of cheap fashion and textile waste is dumped in landfill every 10 minutes
- Ghana receives 15 million used garments every week much of which is immediately landfilled
- 40% of imported used clothing in Kantamanto market Ghana becomes waste immediately
- Incineration of clothes releases hazardous toxins due to synthetic fibers and dyes
- 73% of the world's clothing eventually ends up in landfills
- The UK sends 300000 tonnes of textiles to landfill or incineration each year
- Fashion waste creates methane in landfills a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO2
- 59000 tonnes of unsold clothing arrives at the port of Iquique Chile every year for dumping
- Textile waste occupies nearly 5% of all landfill space
- Burning unsellable stock has been a practice of luxury and fast fashion brands alike to maintain exclusivity
Interpretation
Fast fashion has turned the planet into a revolving closet of waste: at the rate of one garbage truck of textiles burned or landfilled every second, 92 million tonnes a year pile up worldwide, 73 percent of garments end their lives as landfill or ash, many synthetic pieces take more than 200 years to decompose and release methane 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide, while cities and regions from New York and the UK to Australia, Chile and Ghana drown in unwanted stock and even witness clothes deliberately incinerated to protect brand image.
Recycling and Circularity
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- 12% of fibers are discarded on factory floors during the cutting process before becoming clothes
- Only 13% of total material input for clothing is recycled in some way usually into lower utility items like insulation
- The economic value lost due to lack of recycling is $500 billion annually
- Mechanical recycling degrades fiber quality limiting the number of times it can be recycled
- Less than 1% of the collected used clothing is recycled back into new yarn (fiber-to-fiber recycling)
- Blended fabrics (e.g. cotton-polyester) are currently nearly impossible to recycle commercially
- The global market for textile recycling is expected to reach only $9.4 billion by 2027 a small fraction of the industry value
- Sorting textiles for recycling is still largely manual and labor intensive making it costly
- Only 15-20% of clothes donated to charity shops are actually sold within the country of donation
- 87% of the total fiber input used for clothing is eventually incinerated or landfilled
- Currently there are no large-scale technologies to recycle Elastane which is found in many stretch garments
- Most "recycled polyester" comes from PET bottles not old clothes meaning it doesn't solve textile waste
- Downcycling (making rags/stuffing) accounts for most textile recycling rather than upcycling
- The EU aims to require separate collection of textile waste by 2025 to boost recycling rates
- Only 35% of consumers are aware that textile recycling is even possible
- Chemical recycling technologies are still in infancy and handle less than 1% of the market
- Recycling 1 tonne of cotton textiles can save 228000 kWh of energy compared to virgin production
- The lack of digital product passports impedes recycling by hiding material composition
- Only 0.1% of all clothing collected by take-back schemes is recycled into new textile fibers
Interpretation
Fast fashion is a disposable-value machine eating $500 billion a year: less than 1% of clothing fiber becomes new garments while 87% is incinerated or landfilled, blended fabrics and elastane block commercial recycling, mechanical and chemical routes degrade fibers or barely exist, sorting is still manual, most "recycled polyester" comes from bottles not old clothes, take-back schemes return only 0.1% to fiber, and with just 35% of consumers aware of textile recycling the sector is squandering massive energy savings that better tech and policies like the EU’s planned 2025 separate collection must urgently address.
References
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