Fashion Industry Environmental, Waste, and Recycle Statistics

Fashion Industry General Statistics

The global textile and garment industry is valued at 3 trillion dollars, and accounts for 2 percent of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).¹
The global retail apparel and footwear market-value forecast: 2022 at 1.7 trillion dollars; 2023 at 2.0 trillion, with United States, China, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan accounting for more than half of the 2021 global demand.¹

2018 Source: FashionUnited.com¹
Retail value of luxury goods market:	339.4 billion dollars
Value of the menswear industry:	402 billion dollars
Value of the womenswear industry:	621 billion dollars
Bridal Wear market:	57 billion dollars
Childrenswear market:	186 billion dollars
Sports footwear market:	90.4 billion dollars

2020, China is the largest exporter of textiles and clothing worldwide and the European Union is the largest importer of these goods.¹
United Nations Alliance on Sustainable Fashion reports the fashion industry employs over 75 million people worldwide.
According to Statista, in September 2022, LVMH was by far the clothing company with the highest market capitalization, at approximately 317 billion U.S. dollars. This was over 150 billion dollars more than Nike, the company in second place.
Find more statistics at Statista

Emissions/Air Pollution

A 2021 report from the World Economic Forum identified fashion, and its supply chain, as the planet’s third largest polluter (after food and construction).
United Nations Climate Change News states, the fashion industry contributes around 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions due to its long supply chains and energy intensive production; more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.
Quantis found that over 90% of the emissions for apparel come from four activities: dyeing and finishing, fabric preparation, yarn preparation, and fiber production. Quantis 2018 Report –Measuring Fashion | Environmental Impact of the Global Apparel and Footwear Industries Study.

Waste

According to Roundup.org data [sources: UNEP, Global Fashion Agenda, Science Advances, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation], between 80 and 100 billion new clothing garments are produced globally every year. 87% of the materials and fibers used to make clothing will end up in either incinerators or landfills. Only 20% of discarded textiles are collected. Only 1% of clothes will get recycled into new garments.
208M lbs. of waste were generated by single-use outfits in 2019.¹¹
1 in 2 people are throwing their unwanted clothes straight in the trash. The result? 64% of the 32B garments produced each year end up in landfill.¹¹
The Environmental Protection Agency reports that Americans generate 16 million tons of textile waste a year, equaling just over six percent of total municipal waste (for context, plastics make up 13 percent of America’s waste stream).

Environmental Protection Agency Clothing and Footwear Waste Management 2018 report: Landfilled: 9,070,000 US tons; Recycled: 1,690,000 US tons; Combustion with Energy Recovery: 2,210,000 US tons. From 1960 – 2018 all data higher than previous years.

1960-2018 Data on Clothing and Footwear in MSW by Weight (in thousands of U.S. tons)
Management Pathway	1960	1970	1980	1990	2000	2005	2010	2015	2017	2018
Generation	1,360	1,620	2,170	4,010	6,470	7,890	9,100	11,940	12,800	12,970
Recycled	50	60	150	520	900	1,250	1,250	1,690	1,740	1,690
Composted	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Combustion with Energy Recovery	–	10	50	590	1,080	1,210	1,390	2,010	2,160	2,210
Landfilled	1,310	1,550	1,970	2,900	4,490	5,430	6,460	8,240	8,900	9,070

Sources: American Apparel & Footwear Association, Council for Textile Recycling, and International Trade Commission. A dash in the table means that data is not available.

Between 2000 and 2014, clothing production doubled with the average consumer buying 60 percent more pieces of garment compared to 15 years ago. Yet, each clothing item is now kept half as long. ⁹
Nearly 20% of global wastewater is produced by the fashion industry.⁹
According to Green America, textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally.
20,000 liters is the amount of water needed to produce one kilogram of cotton; equivalent to a single t-shirt and pair of jeans.¹⁰
It takes more than 5,000 gallons of water to manufacture just a T-shirt and a pair of jeans. ³
Textile industry is one of the top 3 water wasting industry in China, discharging over 2.5 billion tons of wastewater every year.²
About 15% of fabric intended for clothing ends up on the cutting room floor. This waste rate has been tolerated industry-wide for decades.⁴
According to Christina Dean, Redress, waste generated in China is not known, with estimates that China will soon make 50% of the world’s clothing – the indications for textile waste there are mind-blowing. Daily in Hong Kong, there are 253 tons of textiles sent to landfill.

Toxic Chemical Stats and Brand Scorecard

43 million tons of chemicals are used to dye and treat our clothes every year AND there are 8,000 different chemicals used to manufacture clothing.
According to Green America, textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally.
Cotton farming is responsible for 24% of insecticides and 11% of pesticides, despite using only 3% of the world’s arable land.⁹

Source: Green America Toxic Textiles Scorecard; Green America Toxic Textile Report

Recycle

More than USD 500 billion of value is lost every year due to clothing underutilisation and the lack of recycling.
Consumers throw away shoes and clothing [versus recycle], an average of 70 pounds per person, annually. ⁵
A few communities have textile recycling programs, about 85% of this waste goes to landfills where it occupies about 5% of landfill space and the amount is growing. ⁵
Up to 95% of the textiles that are land filled each year could be recycled. ⁷
Landfill space is expensive and hard to find. ⁵
Using recycled cotton saves 20,000 liters of water per kilogram of cotton, a water-intensive crop.⁸

Used Clothing – the secondhand market

According to Statista, the market for secondhand apparel is estimated to go from a value of 96 billion in 2021 to 218 billion U.S. dollars by 2026.
The secondhand market projected to nearly double the size of fast fashion by 2029.¹¹
208M lbs. of waste were generated by single-use outfits in 2019.¹¹
1 in 2 people are throwing their unwanted clothes straight in the trash. The result? 64% of the 32B garments produced each year end up in landfill.¹¹
The United States is the largest exporter of secondhand clothing. It exports over a billion pounds of used clothing every year.⁶
Over 70% of the world’s population use secondhand clothes.⁷
Consumers in the United Kingdom have an estimated $46.7 billion worth of unworn clothes in their closets. ²

More on Sustainable Fashion:

Take a look at the category Sustainable EDGE and be informed on designers, brands, and global initiatives that are making the case for a circular fashion economy. Sustainable fashion is a big topic and as you tour the website, you’ll find vetted resources, reports, and links documenting this massive topic. In the right column you will find over 35 links in the section: Sustainable Fashion: Be Informed | EDGE Suggested Resources. With periodic updates to this page and throughout the website, we’ve done the homework for you.

What is Circular Fashion?

Apparel, footwear, accessories that are made to be made again, are made from safe and recycled or renewable inputs, are used and cared for more, and after use re-enters the economy, never ending up as waste.

Published: 20 July 2016; periodically updated

Updated: 08 July 2023

Reference Notes: