Key Insights
Essential data points from our research
The global fashion industry generates approximately 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually
In the United States alone, 17 million tons of textile waste were generated in 2018
The average European consumer generates about 11 kg of textile waste per year
Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing globally
The recycling rate for all textiles in the US was only 14.7% in 2018
About 12% of textile waste is downcycled into lower-value applications like insulation or mattress stuffing
The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions more than international flights and maritime shipping combined
Textile production impacts climate change through high energy use contributing 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
35% of all microplastics released into the ocean come from laundering synthetic textiles
The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago
Consumers bought 60% more clothing in 2014 than in 2000 but kept each item for half as long
One in two people throw their unwanted clothes straight in the trash
An estimated $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing being barely worn and rarely recycled
The global recycled textile market size was valued at $5.6 billion in 2019
EU regulations will require separate collection of textile waste by 2025
Consumer Behavior & Usage
- The average number of times a garment is worn before it ceases to be used has decreased by 36% compared to 15 years ago
- Consumers bought 60% more clothing in 2014 than in 2000 but kept each item for half as long
- One in two people throw their unwanted clothes straight in the trash
- The average American buys 68 garments per year
- 30% of clothes in wardrobes across the UK have not been worn for at least a year
- Gen Z consumers are 33% more likely to buy second-hand than Boomers
- Women wear a garment approximately 7 times on average before disposing of it used to be much higher
- 69% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable clothing but only a minority actually do
- The secondhand clothing market is projected to grow 3 times faster than the overall apparel market
- 95% of discarded textiles could be reused or recycled yet consumers are unaware
- In the UK approximately 300,000 tonnes of clothing end up in household bins every year
- 40% of consumers admit to buying clothes they never wear
- Returns of online clothing purchases reach up to 40% often leading to direct disposal by retailers
- Extending the life of a garment by just nine months could reduce carbon waste and water footprints by 20-30%
- Only 16% of people donate their old clothes to charity to avoid landfill
- 60% of millennials say they want to shop at sustainable fashion brands
- Consumer demand for rental fashion is expected to reach $2.08 billion by 2025
- 1 in 3 women consider clothes "old" after wearing them once or twice
- The "wardrobe utilization rate" has dropped significantly driven by cheap garment prices
- 88% of consumers want brands to help them be more environmentally friendly and recycle
Interpretation
Despite buying roughly 60% more clothes and the average American snapping up 68 garments a year, we keep items half as long and toss one in two garments even though 95% could be reused or recycled, which proves our pledge to sustainable fashion is mostly talk while our throwaway habits quietly wreck the planet.
Environmental Impact
- The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global carbon emissions more than international flights and maritime shipping combined
- Textile production impacts climate change through high energy use contributing 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
- 35% of all microplastics released into the ocean come from laundering synthetic textiles
- The textile industry is responsible for approximately 20% of global industrial water pollution
- Fashion causes water scarcity; making a pair of jeans uses 7,500 liters of water
- Synthetic fibers like polyester can take up to 200 years to decompose in a landfill
- Decaying natural fibers in landfills release methane a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than CO2
- Textile dyeing involves over 3,600 chemicals many of which are hazardous to the environment
- 190,000 tons of textile microplastic fibers end up in the oceans every year
- Cotton production covers 2.5% of the world's arable land but uses 16% of all insecticides
- Viscose production is linked to deforestation of ancient and endangered forests affecting biodiversity
- Incinerating clothes releases hazardous toxins and micro-pollutants into the air
- The water footprint of the EU's textile consumption is mostly outside Europe (about 90%)
- Washing clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean each year equivalent to 50 billion plastic bottles
- Soil degradation from intensive cotton farming reduces the land’s ability to sequester carbon
- 20% of freshwater pollution comes from textile treatment and dyeing
- Fast fashion's carbon footprint is projected to increase by 50% by 2030
- The environmental cost of the fashion industry is estimated at 33 billion EUR annually in the EU
- Producing one kilogram of fabric generates an average of 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases
- Nitrate pollution from fertilizers used in cotton farming contaminates rural drinking water sources
Interpretation
Fashion is dressing the planet in crisis, responsible for about 10 percent of global carbon emissions, more than aviation and shipping combined, guzzling water and chemicals with a single pair of jeans needing roughly 7,500 liters, shedding hundreds of thousands of tons of microplastic fibers into the oceans each year, carving up forests for viscose, poisoning soils and waterways with dyes, pesticides and nitrates, burying or burning long lasting synthetics that release potent greenhouse gases and toxins, and saddling society with tens of billions of euros in environmental costs while its carbon footprint is set to rise by fifty percent by 2030.
Industry Economics & Policy
- An estimated $500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing being barely worn and rarely recycled
- The global recycled textile market size was valued at $5.6 billion in 2019
- EU regulations will require separate collection of textile waste by 2025
- The cost of sending textile waste to landfill in the UK is approximately £82 million annually
- France is the only country with an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for textiles in force since 2007
- The global textile recycling market is expected to reach $9.4 billion by 2027
- Investing in circular fashion models could unlock a $700 billion economic opportunity by 2030
- Sweden has proposed a tax on hazardous chemicals in clothing and shoes to fund recycling
- The Dutch government has set a target to have 50% recycled content in textiles by 2030
- Major fashion brands have pledged to use 100% sustainable cotton by 2025 affecting market pricing
- The sorting and recycling industry creates 20 times more jobs than landfilling per tonne of waste
- In 2022 the European Commission proposed new rules to make physical destruction of unsold goods illegal
- Only 20% of global textile waste is collected for reuse or recycling representing a massive lost economic resource
- The recycled polyester market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.7% from 2020 to 2027
- Lack of infrastructure for textile recycling costs the US economy billions in lost material value
- UK "Fast Fashion" retailers face a potential 1p per garment tax to fund recycling centers
- By 2030 the textile recycling sector drives a forecasted 15% reduction in raw material costs for adopters
- Subsidies for fossil fuels keep virgin polyester cheaper than recycled alternatives hampering economic viability
- The global second-hand apparel market will double in the next 5 years reaching $77 billion
- Achieving circularity in fashion requires an estimated annual investment of $20-30 billion globally
Interpretation
We are literally sewing away about $500 billion a year by barely wearing garments and recycling only 20 percent, even though a growing recycled textile market projected to reach roughly $9.4 billion by 2027, a recycling sector that creates far more jobs than landfilling, EU rules forcing separate collection by 2025 and France's long-standing producer responsibility law show that with $20 to $30 billion a year in investment, sensible taxes to fund infrastructure and an end to fossil fuel subsidies that keep virgin polyester cheaper, fashion could turn waste into a $700 billion economic prize by 2030 instead of stuffing it in landfills.
Recycling Rates & Methods
- Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing globally
- The recycling rate for all textiles in the US was only 14.7% in 2018
- About 12% of textile waste is downcycled into lower-value applications like insulation or mattress stuffing
- Mechanical recycling is the most common method but shortens fiber length limiting quality
- Chemical recycling of polyester currently accounts for less than 1% of the recycled polyester market
- 73% of the world's clothing eventually ends up in landfills
- Only 1% of collected clothing is recycled into new garments due to blended fiber complexities
- It takes approximately 20,000 liters of water to produce 1kg of cotton which recycling can save
- Using recycled polyester (rPET) reduces carbon emissions by up to 32% compared to virgin polyester
- Automated sorting technologies can sort up to 1 ton of textiles per hour to aid recycling
- About 60% of clothing materials are plastic (nylon/polyester) making them difficult to compost or recycle biologically
- The recovery rate of textile waste in the EU remains below 25%
- Recycling 1 tonne of textiles saves 6 tonnes of CO2 compared to producing virgin materials
- Cotton recycling is mechanically limited to 20-30% blend with virgin fiber to maintain strength
- Elastane mixed with cotton makes the garment almost impossible to recycle using current mechanical methods
- Reuse and recycling of textiles in the UK saves 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year
- Currently only 13% of total material input for clothing comes from recycled sources
- Manual sorting of textiles for recycling has an accuracy rate of roughly 80-90% but is labor intensive
- Upcycling (creative reuse) keeps materials out of landfills but represents a niche market share
- The separation of zippers and buttons is a major bottleneck in automated textile recycling
Interpretation
Fashion guzzles water and spews carbon while most garments end up in landfill—73% globally—yet less than 1% of material becomes new clothing and only 13% of inputs are recycled, US textile recycling was 14.7% in 2018 and EU recovery is below 25%, mechanical recycling shortens fibers and forces about 12% of waste into downcycled uses, blended fibers, elastane, zippers and buttons stump recyclers, chemical polyester recycling is almost non-existent at under 1% of the recycled market and roughly 60% of clothing is plastic and resists biological recycling, manual sorting is accurate but labor intensive while automated systems can sort up to a ton per hour, and because recycling one tonne saves six tonnes of CO2 and rPET can cut polyester emissions by up to 32%—with the UK already saving 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 a year from reuse and recycling—scaling smarter design and technology could finally make recycling a serious climate solution rather than a boutique hobby.
Waste Generation & Volume
- The global fashion industry generates approximately 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually
- In the United States alone, 17 million tons of textile waste were generated in 2018
- The average European consumer generates about 11 kg of textile waste per year
- China generates approximately 26 million tonnes of textile waste annually
- Globally, one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second
- Textile waste in the municipal solid waste stream in the U.S. has increased by 78% since 2000
- In Australia, 800,000 tonnes of textile waste are discarded annually
- The UK generates an estimated 206.456 tonnes of textile waste annually
- Clothing production has doubled between 2000 and 2014, significantly increasing waste volume
- Post-consumer textile waste is expected to rise to 134 million tonnes per year by 2030
- In Canada, the average person throws away 37 kg of textiles annually
- Hong Kong discards approximately 370 tonnes of textiles daily
- Only 15% of used textiles are collected for reuse or recycling in the US
- New York City residents alone throw out 200,000 tons of clothing and textiles every year
- In France, 600,000 tonnes of clothing linen and footwear enter the market annually creating a massive waste stream
- 5.8 million tonnes of textiles are discarded every year in the EU
- Shoes account for a significant portion of textile waste with 24.2 billion pairs produced globally in 2018
- Carpet waste accounts for 3.5% of all waste going to landfill in the US
- In India, the textile industry generates over 7.8 million tonnes of scraps annually
- 85% of all textiles thrown away in the US are dumped into landfills or burned
Interpretation
Fashion is quietly engineering an environmental crisis: 92 million tonnes of textile waste every year worldwide, with China producing about 26 million tonnes, the United States 17 million tons in 2018, Canadians tossing 37 kilograms per person, New York City discarding 200,000 tons, only about 15 percent of used textiles collected for reuse or recycling, and global post consumer waste headed toward 134 million tonnes by 2030, so our wardrobes are fast becoming tomorrow’s landfills.
References
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