Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The global fashion industry is valued at approximately $1.7 trillion USD as of recent estimates
The United States fashion market size is projected to reach approximately $494 billion by 2023
China is the world's largest exporter of textiles and clothing with a market share of over 30%
The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions
It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt
The fashion industry consumes approximately 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
The garment industry employs approximately 60 to 75 million people worldwide
Approximately 80% of the world's garment workers are women
Asia accounts for almost 60% of global exports of garments, footwear, and textile products
The average consumer buys 60% more items of clothing compared to 15 years ago
Consumers keep clothing items for about half as long as they did 15 years ago
65% of consumers say they want to buy high-quality items that last longer
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
The US EPA estimates that 17 million tons of textile waste were generated in 2018
Consumer Behavior
- The average consumer buys 60% more items of clothing compared to 15 years ago
- Consumers keep clothing items for about half as long as they did 15 years ago
- 65% of consumers say they want to buy high-quality items that last longer
- Gen Z consumers are 15% more likely to buy from sustainable brands than other generations
- Online return rates for clothing can be as high as 40%
- 40% of consumers have purchased secondhand items in the last 12 months
- The average American family spends $1,700 on clothes annually
- 75% of consumers view sustainability as extremely or very important
- Impulse buying accounts for nearly 40% of all e-commerce fashion purchases
- 1 in 3 women consider an item "old" after wearing it just once or twice
- Social media drives 25% of traffic to fashion retail websites
- 92% of consumers say they trust recommendations from people over brands
- 30% of Gen Z shoppers have purchased a luxury fashion item
- The average woman in the UK has 95 items in her wardrobe
- 60% of millennials say they want to shop at companies that support social causes
- Wardrobing (buying, wearing, and returning) costs retailers over $10 billion annually
- Shopping via mobile devices accounts for over 65% of all e-commerce traffic
- 50% of consumers switch brands if supply chain practices are found to be unethical
- Consumers cite "Price" as the number one barrier to sustainable shopping
- 33% of consumers have "punished" a brand by not buying due to poor social stance
Interpretation
The garment industry feels like a guilty carnival ride: consumers buy 60% more clothes and keep them for about half as long, returns and wardrobing are costing retailers billions, secondhand and Gen Z-driven sustainability preferences are rising while most people say sustainability matters and trust peers over brands, and with mobile impulse buys, price barriers, and ethical supply-chain concerns prompting brand switching and punishments, retailers that don’t trade disposability for durable, ethical value will lose both profit and trust.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of global carbon emissions
- It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton shirt
- The fashion industry consumes approximately 93 billion cubic meters of water annually
- Textile dyeing serves as the second largest polluter of water globally
- Synthetic fibers like polyester rely on nearly 342 million barrels of oil every year
- Washing clothes releases half a million tonnes of microfibers into the ocean every year
- Cotton farming is responsible for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides used globally
- The carbon footprint of a polyester shirt is more than double that of a cotton shirt
- Fashion produces more CO2 emissions than international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Approximately 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing
- The apparel industry accounts for 4% of the global annual extraction of fresh water
- Viscose production is responsible for around 150 million trees being logged annually
- 35% of all microplastics in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles
- Without change the fashion industry will use 26% of the world’s carbon budget by 2050
- Leather tanning is often ranked among the top 10 pollution threats globally due to chromium
- Producing a single pair of jeans generates 33.4 kilograms of CO2 equivalent
- Conventional cotton requires 10,000 liters of water to produce 1 kilogram of fabric
- The footwear industry alone accounts for 1.4% of global greenhouse gas emissions
- Over 70 million barrels of oil are used specifically to make polyester for fabrics each year
- 80% of a garment's climate impact occurs during the production phase
Interpretation
The clothes we buy on impulse are quietly running a pollution empire: the fashion industry now emits more CO2 than international flights and shipping combined, guzzles and fouls tens of billions of cubic meters of water, levels forests for viscose, burns millions of barrels of oil for synthetics, and sheds microplastics and toxic chemicals into oceans and soil, risking about a quarter of the world’s remaining carbon budget by 2050 unless we change how we make and wear our clothes.
Market & Economics
- The global fashion industry is valued at approximately $1.7 trillion USD as of recent estimates
- The United States fashion market size is projected to reach approximately $494 billion by 2023
- China is the world's largest exporter of textiles and clothing with a market share of over 30%
- The global luxury fashion market is expected to reach roughly $300 billion by 2025
- E-commerce share of fashion sales is expected to reach 30% globally next year
- The global secondhand apparel market is projected to grow 3 times faster than the global apparel market overall
- Fast fashion market value is expected to reach $185 billion by 2027
- The sportswear segment accounts for approximately 20% of the total fashion industry revenue
- Vietnam’s textile and garment export turnover reached $44 billion in 2022
- The European Union accounts for approximately 23% of the global market for textile and clothing imports
- India’s domestic textile and apparel market is estimated to reach $190 billion by 2025
- Menswear currently accounts for about 40% of the global apparel market
- The children's wear market is projected to reach $325 billion by 2027
- The global footwear market size was valued at over $365 billion in 2020
- During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic the global fashion industry profit declined by 93%
- LVMH became the first European company to surpass a $500 billion market value
- Online sales of apparel in the UK account for nearly 38% of total spending
- Bangladesh derives over 80% of its total export earnings from the ready-made garment sector
- The global bridal wear market is estimated to be worth over $73 billion
- The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of the ethical fashion market is roughly 9%
Interpretation
The global fashion industry is a $1.7 trillion runway where China stitches most of the clothes, the United States and Europe buy the bulk, luxury houses like LVMH strut billion‑dollar valuations, e-commerce and secondhand sales are rewriting the choreography, fast fashion and sportswear feed mass demand while Bangladesh and Vietnam depend on garment exports for livelihoods, COVID showed how fast profits can collapse, and booming niches from India to menswear, children's wear, bridal, footwear and ethical fashion prove that profit, power and purpose are now all vying for the same hemline.
Production & Labor
- The garment industry employs approximately 60 to 75 million people worldwide
- Approximately 80% of the world's garment workers are women
- Asia accounts for almost 60% of global exports of garments, footwear, and textile products
- Less than 2% of garment workers worldwide earn a living wage
- Global clothing production has doubled in the last 15 years
- The industry produces over 100 billion garments per year
- In Bangladesh the minimum wage for garment workers is roughly $75 per month
- Approximately 150 million people rely on the cotton sector for their livelihood
- Child labor is found in the supply chains of fashion in nearly 100 countries
- Over 50% of the workers in the fashion supply chain lack a formal employment contract
- Lead times for fast fashion production have dropped to as little as two weeks
- China has roughly 45,000 textile and garment manufacturing enterprises
- 98% of garment workers in major production hubs are not paid enough to meet basic needs
- Forced labor generates $150 billion in illegal profits annually much of it linked to supply chains like fashion
- The number of garment factories in Cambodia is approximately 1,200 employing 700,000 workers
- Home-based workers make up a significant portion of tier 2 and tier 3 production in India
- Automation endangers up to 80% of existing textile jobs in developing nations
- Turkey is the 3rd largest supplier of clothing to the EU employing over 1 million people
- Only about 5% of major fashion brands publish a full list of their suppliers
- Migrant workers constitute a large percentage of the textile workforce in countries like Jordan and Thailand
Interpretation
Picture a global industry employing 60 to 75 million people, about 80% women, churning out over 100 billion garments a year and doubling production in 15 years while depending on 150 million cotton livelihoods and manufacturing hubs from China to Bangladesh, Cambodia and Turkey where minimum wages can be as low as $75 a month; yet less than 2% of workers earn a living wage, more than half lack formal contracts, supplier lists are mostly hidden, child and forced labor fatten illicit profits, migrant and home-based workers staff the lower tiers, and automation and two-week fast-fashion cycles threaten millions of jobs, proving that the real cost of cheap fashion is paid by people, not price tags.
Waste & Recycling
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- The US EPA estimates that 17 million tons of textile waste were generated in 2018
- Consumers throw away shoes and clothing worth an estimated $460 billion each year
- Synthetic fibers can take up to 200 years to decompose in a landfill
- Only 12% of the material used for clothing ends up being recycled in some form
- The average US citizen throws away 81 pounds of clothing each year
- 73% of used clothing is sent to landfill or incinerated worldwide
- Approximately 30% of clothes produced are never sold and often destroyed
- The UK generates 350,000 tonnes of used clothing in landfills annually
- Deadstock fabric costs the industry $120 billion a year in lost revenue
- 40% of donations to thrift stores are of too poor quality to sell and are baled for export
- The Atacama Desert in Chile contains a dump of 39,000 tons of discarded fast fashion
- Recycling cotton requires removing all buttons, zippers, and dyes making it cost-prohibitive
- Africa imports over $150 million worth of secondhand clothes from the US annually often overwhelming local markets
- Burning clothing releases airborne toxins and greenhouse gases at a rate significantly higher than burning coal per unit of energy
- Only 1% of clothing is collected for reuse or recycling in China
- The EU Waste Framework Directive mandates separate textile collection by 2025
- Upcycling currently accounts for less than 0.1% of the fashion market volume
- 60% of consumers are unaware that textiles can be recycled
Interpretation
Less than one percent of clothing material becomes new garments while the equivalent of a garbage truck of textiles is burned or landfilled every second, consumers toss $460 billion of shoes and clothes yearly, synthetic fibers can persist for 200 years, nearly three in four used garments end up in landfill or incineration, about 30% of production is never sold and is often destroyed, deadstock costs the industry $120 billion, and with recycling and upcycling rates microscopic and 60% of people unaware textiles can even be recycled, the fashion industry has quietly turned our closets into an ecological disaster.
References
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