Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
Global production of clothing doubled between 2000 and 2014
Approximately 100 billion garments are produced globally every year
The number of times a garment is worn has declined by 36% in 15 years
The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
The fashion industry creates 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually
85% of all textiles throw away in the US are dumped into landfills or burned
The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater
It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton t-shirt
Producing a single pair of jeans requires approximately 7,500 liters of water
The fashion industry accounts for about 8-10% of global carbon emissions
Textile production emits 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
Fashion consumes more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
The fashion industry loses $500 billion annually due to lack of recycling and clothing utilization
Only 13.6% of textiles in the United States are recycled
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- The fashion industry accounts for about 8-10% of global carbon emissions
- Textile production emits 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
- Fashion consumes more energy than the aviation and shipping industries combined
- Polyester production releases two to three times more carbon emissions than cotton
- If the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory its share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050
- The carbon footprint of a single polyester shirt is approximately 5.5 kg CO2e
- 70% of the fashion industry's emissions come from upstream activities like material production
- Nylon manufacturing creates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas 300 times more potent than CO2
- One pair of running shoes generates 30 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions
- Extending the life of a garment by just 9 months reduces its carbon footprint by 20-30%
- The apparel industry’s global emissions are projected to increase by 50% by 2030
- Producing one kilogram of fabric generates an average of 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases
- Transportation of textiles accounts for only 3% of the industry's total CO2 emissions
- A cotton t-shirt produces 2.1 kg of CO2e during its lifetime
- Buying one used item reduces its carbon footprint by 82%
- Ironing and drying clothes accounts for a significant portion of the consumer use phase emissions
- Manufacturing leather is the most carbon-intensive material stage in fashion
- Replacing 20% of new garment purchases with resale would cut carbon emissions by 16%
- The carbon cost of online returns in the US alone is 15 million metric tons annually
- 40% of fashion's total emissions are from the dyeing and finishing phase
Interpretation
Our wardrobe is a climate problem in plain sight: fashion already accounts for roughly a tenth of global emissions and 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2e a year—driven mostly by material production and carbon-heavy polyester, nylon and leather, with dyeing, finishing and upstream processes doing most of the damage, while transport is a small sliver and simple fixes like extending garment life, buying used, and cutting returns and unnecessary ironing could dramatically shrink individual and industry footprints before this runaway sector claims a quarter of the carbon budget by 2050.
Production & Consumption
- Global production of clothing doubled between 2000 and 2014
- Approximately 100 billion garments are produced globally every year
- The number of times a garment is worn has declined by 36% in 15 years
- 60% of all clothing produced is made from synthetic fibers like polyester
- Consumers buy 60% more clothing today than they did in the year 2000
- Polyester production has multiplied by nine times in the last 50 years
- The average American throws away approximately 81 pounds of clothing each year
- Global production of textile fibers increased from 58 million tons in 2000 to 109 million tons in 2020
- Fast fashion retailers introduce new clothing lines as often as every two weeks
- The fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global plastic production for textiles
- By 2030 global apparel consumption is projected to rise by 63% to 102 million tons
- 40% of purchased clothes in some developed nations are never worn
- Spending on clothing in the UK reached £59.3 billion in 2019
- China produces more than 50% of the world's fabric
- The global faux fur market is expected to grow to $125 million by 2027 due to animal welfare concerns
- In the last 20 years the volume of clothing Americans throw away has doubled
- Cotton cultivation uses 2.5% of the world's arable land
- The average consumer keeps a garment for only half as long as they did 15 years ago
- Online return rates for clothing can be as high as 40%, driving excess production
- The sports apparel market is expected to reach $208 billion by 2025
Interpretation
By churning out and buying vastly more, mostly polyester garments that we wear far less and throw away by the ton, fast fashion has dressed the planet in a synthetic coat of waste that devours arable land, drives pollution and plastic production, and risks turning our closets into tomorrow’s landfills.
Recycling & Circularity
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing
- The fashion industry loses $500 billion annually due to lack of recycling and clothing utilization
- Only 13.6% of textiles in the United States are recycled
- The second-hand market is projected to be twice the size of fast fashion by 2030
- 95% of discarded textiles could theoretically be recycled or reused
- Mechanical recycling of cotton weakens the fiber quality limiting its use in new clothes
- Only 1% of the cotton produced globally is organic, making circularity harder due to chemical contamination
- Collection rates for textiles in the EU occupy only 30-35% of waste generated
- 73% of the world's clothing eventually ends up in landfills due to poor circularity
- Chemical recycling technologies for polyester are struggling to reach commercial scale
- Rental clothing models could reduce the waste footprint of garments by effective reuse
- Mixed fiber blends (like poly-cotton) are currently very difficult to recycle
- 60% of consumers say they would be willing to pay more for sustainable brands
- The resale market grew 25 times faster than the overall retail market in 2019
- Recycling 2 million tons of clothing per year removes the equivalent of 1 million cars from the road
- Upcycling prevents waste whereas downcycling (rags/insulation) degrades value
- Europe aims to require separate collection of textile waste by 2025
- Automated sorting technologies for textiles are only just emerging
- Only 20% of textiles collected by charities are sold at their retail shops
- Scaling fiber-to-fiber recycling could reduce the fashion industry's petroleum use by 20%
Interpretation
Fashion is a treasure trove of value left to rot: although 95% of textiles could theoretically be recycled and resale, rental, and consumer demand are rising, less than 1% of material actually becomes new clothing, the industry loses $500 billion a year while 73% of garments end up in landfill, mechanical and mixed-fiber recycling and chemical polyester recycling are still bottlenecks, charity and collection systems only capture a fraction, and scaling true fiber-to-fiber recycling could cut petroleum use by 20% and make recycling two million tons of clothing the carbon equivalent of removing a million cars from the road.
Waste Generation & Landfill
- The equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned every second
- The fashion industry creates 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually
- 85% of all textiles throw away in the US are dumped into landfills or burned
- Textiles can take up to 200+ years to decompose in landfills
- In the US textiles occupy nearly 5% of all landfill space
- 39,000 tons of unsold clothes from around the world are dumped in Chile's Atacama desert each year
- New York City households alone throw out 200,000 tons of clothing and textiles annually
- The UK generates 350,000 tonnes of used clothing in landfills every year
- Only 12% of textile waste is recycled in the US
- Synthetic fibers release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, as they decompose
- 15 million used garments pour into Ghana’s Kantamanto market every week, with 40% ending up as waste immediately
- The volume of textile waste is expected to increase by 60% between 2015 and 2030
- 5.8 million tons of textiles were wasted in the EU in 2020 which is 11 kg per person
- Total municipal solid waste generation of textiles in the US was 17 million tons in 2018
- Shoes can take up to 1,000 years to decompose depending on the material
- Australia sends 6,000 kilograms of fashion and textile waste to landfills every 10 minutes
- Every year France throws away 600,000 tonnes of clothing
- Burning clothing releases toxic microfibers and chemicals into the atmosphere
- Landfilled textiles contribute to soil and groundwater leachate pollution due to dyes and bleaches
- It costs UK local authorities £82m annually to deal with household textile waste
Interpretation
Fast fashion has become a trash tsunami, burying or burning a garbage truck of textiles every second, fouling land, air and water for decades to centuries, emitting potent greenhouse gases and toxic microfibers as synthetics rot, recycling only a tiny fraction, and leaving households, deserts and city councils to shoulder the environmental and financial fallout.
Water & Chemical Pollution
- The fashion industry produces 20% of global wastewater
- It takes about 2,700 liters of water to make one cotton t-shirt
- Producing a single pair of jeans requires approximately 7,500 liters of water
- Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally
- Washing clothes releases half a million tonnes of microfibers into the ocean every year
- 35% of all primary microplastics in the marine environment come from synthetic textiles
- Cotton accounts for 16% of global insecticide use
- 43 million tons of pesticide-laden dust is blown into the air from cotton fields annually
- Transforming raw materials into textiles uses approximately 79 billion cubic meters of water annually
- Leather tanning utilizes chemicals like chromium which is toxic to water supplies
- 17 to 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment
- Up to 200,000 tons of dyes are lost to effluents every year during textile production
- The Aral Sea has shrunk to 10% of its original size largely due to cotton irrigation
- A single load of laundry can release up to 700,000 microfibers
- Viscose production is linked to the discharge of carbon disulfide, a toxic chemical
- The Citarum River in Indonesia is one of the most polluted rivers due to 400+ textile factories
- 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used to turn raw materials into textiles
- Conventional cotton farming uses 6% of the world's pesticides
- Non-organic cotton production consumes 11 times more water than organic cotton
- Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) used for water repellency are persistent environmental pollutants
Interpretation
Fashion may be fleeting, but its environmental damage is not: a single cotton t‑shirt can guzzle about 2,700 liters of water and a pair of jeans roughly 7,500, while the industry as a whole consumes tens of billions of cubic meters of water, dumps hundreds of thousands of tons of dyes and half a million tonnes of microfibers into waterways each year, and blankets land and sea with pesticides, toxic tanning chemicals and persistent pollutants, so our wardrobe choices may look great today but cost the planet dearly tomorrow.
References
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