If you like our site, think our work is important and want to pledge your support, you can pledge a donation through Patreon. (YouGov 2017), 66. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017). The fashion world can be sceptical when it comes to shouting about important causes, especially considering relating issues like the environment and sustainability. In 2017, however, Jigsaw decided to break the mould, basing its print, social, and digital marketing campaign around the importance of immigration in fashion. This type of index is available for most storage engines, such as InnoDB and MyISAM. North Americans is the largest consumers of new textiles, consuming 37kgs each. Disclosure: The curated list is based on the writer’s research and all data and stats are current at time of publishing. Western Europeans consume 22kg of new textiles each. In Pakistan’s garment sector, 87% of women are paid less than the minimum wage. (Choice 2014), 33. The average UK household spends £1,700 on purchasing clothing annually. Never miss our posts. 2. (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017), 39. 20. In reality, little to no retailers focus on making production transparent and eco-friendly. It is usually characterised by high volume, low margin, fast-paced, cheap and disposable items. Jennifer Nini is a writer, activist and the founding editor of Eco Warrior Princess. 48. About the author: Jennifer is an aspiring content writer who likes to write about sustainable solutions, greener lifestyle options, and organic products. In the past year, 24% of Australians have thrown away an item of clothing after wearing it just once. The fast fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world and responsible for many social and environmental problems. Misleading with statistics is nothing new. (Global Fashion Agenda 2017), 31. Statistically, tonnes of fast fashion items are being thrown away every year. Eco Warrior Princess uses affiliate links. The total level of fashion waste is expected to be 148 million tons by 2030—equivalent to annual waste of 17.5 kg per capita across the planet. The clothing produced each year equates to 14 items of clothing for every person on earth. Yikes. (Oxfam 2017), 30. Speaking of the sustainability aspect, it’s also essential to know how brands avoid or dispose of waste products in the production process. The idea is that speedy mass production combined with cheap labor will make clothes cheaper for those buying them, thus allowing these fast fashion trends to maintain economic success. How to use fast fashion in a sentence. Find her on LinkedIn and Medium. (Greenpeace 2017), 3. By keeping water usage numbers secret, fashion giants leave the space for using open-loop cycles and polluting the environment with toxic water used during production. If you’ve landed on this page, we assume you already know the definition of fast fashion, but for those of you who don’t, fast fashion is a term to describe the speed at which fashion designs move from design concept to fashion product available for purchase. 2021’s Online Sales Statistics You Need to Know. About 1,900 synthetic plastic microfibers per garment are released when washed and due to its tiny sizes and shapes, aren’t caught in waste water treatment and enter our oceans. 57% of Australians dispose of clothes because they no longer fit. 28. The average Australian consumer spends $2,288 on clothing and footwear per year. It takes about 170,000 litres of water to grow a kilogram of wool. Eventually, every problem of fast fashion comes back around to the overall lack of transparency. Sales of clothing have almost doubled from one trillion dollars in 2002 to 1.8 trillion dollars in 2015. (Global Fashion Agenda 2017), 55. The LA Fashion District is the west coast hub of the apparel industry. We buy more clothes per person in the UK than any other country in Europe. The following statistics, published by the UNEP and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, ... Fast fashion. (Textile Beat 2016), 11. The structure is kept sorted at all times, enabling fast lookup for exact matches (equals operator) and ranges (for example, greater than, less than, and BETWEEN operators). Water-thirsty plant cotton linked to water depletion, accounts for 30% of all textile fibre consumption. Making one kilogram of fabric generates an average of 23 kilograms of greenhouse gases. (Quantis 2018), 6. We’ve broken them down into subcategories for your reading pleasure. The fashion industry’s CO2 emissions are projected to increase to nearly 2.8 billion tons per year by 2030— equivalent to the emissions of 230 million passenger vehicles driven for a year. Recycling is, unsurprisingly, a massive problem in the fast fashion industry. As the industry of fast fashion grows, our ideas on what is fresh and socially acceptable to wear also face a massive transformation. (WRAP 2011), 7. Shockingly, over one quarter of the world’s pesticides are being used to grow this conventional cotton. We may earn a commission on sales made using our offer codes or affiliate links. (Global Fashion Agenda 2017), 24. With over 2,000 wholesale businesses, the Fashion District is a creative hub that’s always happening. 47. In 2019, retail ecommerce sales throughout the world amounted to $3.53 trillion. You should be suspicious of any brand that is not prepared to fully account for where and how it makes the clothes it wants you to buy. In the UK, the estimated average lifetime for a garment of clothing is 2.2 years, or just under two years and three months. Feature image via Unsplash. You know, like its much nicer counterpart, slow fashion. If you make a purchase using a link we may receive a commission. Some fast fashion retailers have introduced recycling programs that give customers a store discount in exchange for their old clothing. Fast fashion factories are often dangerous for workers. Statistics are used to sell products, elicit support for a candidate, or get us to ‘Like’ things. As sad as it is, a vast majority of fashion retailers do not clean and reuse water from production facilities, using a so-called “open-loop cycle” method. (YouGov 2017), 67. (Lenzing 2017), 34. 41% of Australian have thrown unwanted clothes straight in the bin. Americans consume nearly 20 billion garments a year, equivalent to 62 garments each. By 2030, it is predicted that the fashion industry will use 35% more land for cotton, forest for cellulose fibres, and grassland for livestock. Here Are 5 Things to Keep in Mind as You Begin Your Sustainable Lifestyle Journey - Eco Warrior Princess, How to Be A Skeptical Shopper: A Primer on Identifying Greenwashing, Beyond America: 7 Podcasts to Learn More About World Politics and Global Affairs, Why You Need to Make Local Politics A Part Of Your Everyday Life, 9 Eco-Friendly & Ethical Sports Bras & Crop Top Styles For Fitness Lovers, Sustainable Textiles Spotlight: The Truth Behind Bamboo Fabric, Regenerative Sustainability: The New Frontier in the Sustainability Movement. (Alternatives Journal 2015), 35. 29. (Textile Beat 2016), 9. Polyester production emitted about 706 billion kg (1.5 trillion pounds) of greenhouse gases in 2015 equivalent of the annual emissions of 185 coal-fired power plants. Make sure to share it on social! 75% of Australians have thrown clothes away at some point in the past year. Fast fashion is growing, well… fast. (EPA), 56. (McKinsey 2016). *Boohoo is a possible dishonourable exception – their final production is in Leicester UK to reduce time to market, but they have still been accused of labour rights abuses. We rarely think about where our clothes go when we don’t need them anymore. One in six millennials (16%) aged between 16-34 say they generally keep their clothes for under two years before throwing them away. 49. Researchers anticipate the industry’s water consumption will increase by 50% by 2030 as cotton producers are located in countries suffering water stress, such as China and India. Anyway, enough about that, let’s get on with delivering you some cold hard facts. (World Resources Institute 2017). (Choice 2014), 8. Many low-cost clothing stores offer new designs every … The cost barriers have also been removed, with factories producing cheaper designer imitations that flood the market within days of the collections being launched at major fashion shows. Over the last couple of decades the production process has accelerated, fuelled by globalisation, industry competition, technology and customers’ obsession with “I gotta have it now” instant gratification mentality. Garment manufacturing accounts for 20% of global industrial water pollution. Then please support Eco Warrior Princess on Patreon! (Greenpeace 2017), 5. Some of the main sources of carbon emissions along fashion supply chains are things like pumping water to irrigate crops (like cotton), the harvesting machinery, general transport, and those pesky oil-based pesticides—all of which are inevitably increased in the notoriously overproducing world of fast fashion. Most of these items never get recycled. It’s no secret that fast fashion’s modus operandi is to produce as much as possible as cheaply as possible. 54. The resulting polyester AKA plastic-based materials also introduce the increasingly worrying issue of microfibres …: As terrifying as it sounds, well over half of fabrics that are used by fast fashion brands are actually made out of petrochemicals. Crude oil is incredibly damaging to the environment, and it goes into a huge amount of garments produced for fast fashion. UK disposes of 350,000 tonnes (£140 million worth) of clothing in landfills every year. Good on people,the planet and animals.Good on you. Wear the change you want to see. Apparel consumption is expected to rise by 63%  from 62 million tons today to 102 million tons in 2030. 19. UK disposes of 350,000 tonnes of clothing in landfills every year. Fashion consumption is expected to grow, with sales of clothing projected to rise to $2.1 trillion by 2025. A glut of second hand clothing swamping the market is depressing prices for used textiles. By 2040, over 95% of all purchases will be made online. By that score, we know that purchasing fast fashion items directly contributes to the global polluting machine that is to blame for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions. (Global Fashion Agenda 2017), 32. It’s not unusual these days for people to buy fashion designs direct from the catwalks and runways via social media and other shopping apps. In the end, it all comes to the way we treat our clothes. 22. On average, the global water footprint of a UK household’s clothing exceeds 200,000 litres per year – enough to fill over 1,000 bathtubs. As we’ve seen, most* fast fashion corporations locate their production facilities in emerging countries. Read CNN's Hurricane Statistics Fast Facts and learn information about the deadliest and costliest tropical storms, tropical depressions and hurricanes. Fashion has a huge impact on people and the planet, and fast fashion owns a large and growing share of the problem. 53. Combined with open-loop cycles, cotton production within the fast fashion industry poses a significant threat to health and well-being for agricultural workers, for eco systems and ultimately for all of us. Polyester and cotton dominate the global textiles and fibre market, 51% and 24% respectively (Lenzing, 2017), 36. 30% of clothing in the average UK wardrobe has not been worn in the past year or so. Use our Directory to search more than 2,000 brands. Ethical Fashion 101: The Top 5 Ethical Issues in the Fashion Industry”, Ethical Fashion 101: The Top 5 Ethical Issues in the Fashion Industry, Get Educated With These Free Sustainable Fashion and Ethical Business Online Courses, 4 Must-See Short Online Films on The Topic of Fast Fashion, 32 Thought-Provoking Quotes About Ethical, Sustainable and Fast Fashion, The Sustainable Fashion Blueprint Report 2018: Industry Overview and Business Opportunities, How to Create More Storage Space in a Tiny Garden Shed, How to Turn Leftover Wine Corks into Mini Succulent Planters, 10 Ways to Style Your Indoor Space with Plants, Flowers and Greenery, 'Eco' Perfection Doesn't Exist. Read on to discover some hard fast fashion facts and statistics—we guarantee you’ll put down that $10 t-shirt and back away slowly in case it bites. 18. The 2020 Fashion Transparency Index found that only 5 of the 250 large brands surveyed (2%) “publish a time-bound, measurable roadmap or strategy for how they will achieve a living wage for all workers across their supply chains”. If the industry doesn’t change, and it’s fashion business as usual, the apparel industry’s climate impact is expected to increase 49% by 2030. (McKinsey 2016), 21. Copyright © 2010-2018. To make the fast fashion industry eco-friendly, it needs to focus on quality rather than quantity. Of course transparency by itself is not enough – we need brands to commit to high standards and effective assurance systems to know if brands and their suppliers are actually delivering on their commitments. Australia is the second-largest consumers of new textiles, each person buying an average of 27kg of new textiles. (Elizabeth Cline, ‘Overdressed’ 2012), 17. Furthermore, given the speed at which designs are being produced, no longer are fashion collections limited to four seasons; new fashion collections are introduced each week, with some mainstream retail stores receiving fresh products daily. Buying new clothes without thinking twice is not only budget-unfriendly, but also unsustainable. Jennifer is also the founder of The Social Copywriter, a digital agency harnessing the power of copywriting and content marketing to help mindful businesses reach more people. Australians throw out 6 tonnes or 6,000 kgs of clothing textiles every 10 minutes (War On Waste 2017), 61. Of the 2,400 substances used in clothing manufacturing, researchers found that approximately 30% of the identified substances posed a risk to human health. (WRAP 2011), 14. On average a person consumes 11.4kg of apparel each year. (YouGov 2017), 69. It means that all of the waste goes straight outside to pollute waters and lands. The carbon emissions generated by the clothing of the average UK household is equivalent to driving an average modern car 6,000 miles. But this need to stay ‘on trend’ is having an impact on the environment and society at large. (ABS), 58. Such revenue helps keep this website running, helps us pay our growing core team and allows us to keep the content free for readers like you. But, offering discounts does act as a stimulus to drive more sales …. Fast fashion retailers have made their name by giving us a chance to buy cheaply made pieces that look like designer clothes for next to nothing. When she’s not in front of the screen, she reads, relishes traditional food, practices yoga, travels, and enjoys life! The average Canadian throws 32 kilograms of textiles into landfills each year. Thankfully for us conscious consumers, there are countless brands doing their bit to transform the fashion industry for the better. Collection launches are no longer seasonal; the replacement of clothing inventories has become much more frequent. (YouGov 2017), 68. The same fast fashion retailers sourcing from Leicester are also selling clothes so cheaply that they are being treated as single use items. 4% of what Australians spend on clothing goes to the wages of workers in garment factories across the globe. 72% of women shop online as compared to 68% of men. Fast fashion retailers have made their name by giving us a chance to buy cheaply made pieces that look like designer clothes for next to nothing. Approximately 300 million people who produce cotton are still living in poverty. Sign up for our weekly newsletter and receive our free sustainable lifestyle guide. Enjoyed this post & want to show your gratitude? However, the working conditions are still worth mentioning—and prioritising. (McKinsey 2016). Société Droits réservés. (WRAP 2011), 13. In Australia, some garment outworkers earn as little as $7 an hour and, in some cases, as little as $4 well which is below the minimum wage of $17.49 per hour. (McKinsey 2016), 26. That all comes at a huge cost to the lives of the workers who make the clothes, as well as the environment. (McKinsey 2016), 38 Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new textiles and fibres. (Greenpeace 2017). Americans throw away a total of 14 million tonnes of textiles each year. One way to combat the huge amounts of waste generated by these fabrics is to invest in clothes made from recycled plastic. There is also a problem with fabrics that brands claim as natural and organic. Check out the Directory or download the app to discover ethical fashion brands that meet your needs while treating people, the planet, and animals with the respect they deserve. So, the exact opposite of what we want! (EJF), 43. Life in a world where our wardrobes can be upgraded with a couple of new pieces for the price of breakfast makes us neglect the terrible reality of fast fashion. When she's not perfecting a sentence or coaching business clients, you will find her at her certified organic farm reconnecting with nature. Let’s take a deeper dive into the industry and see the statistics that lay behind the ever-changing garments that won’t stop flying off the shelves. For more information, click here. Download our app to discover ethical brands and see how your favourites measure up. It takes about 2,720 litres of water to produce just one cotton shirt – a number equivalent to what an average person drinks over three years. More than 50% of the emissions from clothing production comes from three phases: dyeing and finishing (36%), yarn preparation (28%) and fibre production (15%). The most well known proof of this is the collapse of the Dhaka garment factory in 2013 that took the lives of 1,134 people and left around 2,500 injured. A tree data structure that is popular for use in database indexes. So whether you’re writing a report on the global fashion industry, completing a fashion-related assignment for school or just interested to learn more about fast fashion, here are 69 facts and statistics about fast fashion that will shock you… and hopefully inspire you towards ethical shopping and sustainable fashion consumption. Check out the top marketing in fashion statistics to see what strategies are propelling brands in 2021 and beyond. This list also contains affiliate links. Fast fashion is "an approach to the design, creation, and marketing of clothing fashions that emphasizes making fashion trends quickly and cheaply available to consumers." The main goal of fast fashion giants is all about lowering production costs. 63% of textile fibres are derived from petrochemicals. Instead of recycling or donating clothing that wasn’t sold, most fast fashion companies are often spotted tossing or burning the unsold stock, which leads to terrifying losses of natural and financial resources. But their sales techniques are having a drastic impact on consumer behaviour around the world. (Global Fashion Agenda 2017), 4. (Greenpeace 2017), 41. (YouGov 2017), 63. Clothing has become more readily available than ever, triggering our consumer behaviors to change for the worse. It is our duty as consumers to look a little deeper to ensure that our hard-earned cash is going to companies we want to support. Over 50% of workers within the fashion industry are not paid the minimum wage in countries like India and the Philippines. (Julian Cribb ‘The Coming Famine‘ 2010). 60% of clothes are made of synthetic materials derived from petrochemicals. Not only do these people have to work exhausting hours, but the payment they get is far from fair. (McKinsey 2016), 40. By thinking of the garments we wear as short term tools rather than long term investments, we contribute to wasteful consumption patterns that inevitably lead us towards drastic climate change. It takes about 10,000 litres of water to produce enough cotton for a pair of jeans. The contents of the average UK household wardrobe are worth £4,000 or more. Fast fashion is not just a sustainability problem, but a key feminist issue. RCA-Bakouma : braquage de 7 véhicules humanitaires Publié le 06.04.2021 By thinking of the garments we wear as short term tools rather than long term investments, we contribute to wasteful consumption patterns that inevitably lead us towards drastic climate change. Fast fashion retailers employ thousands of people from Bangladesh, India, China, Indonesia, and other developing nations as a cheap workforce. What can’t be sold is torn up and turned into insulation and mattress stuffing. (YouGov 2017), 64. Whether buying the latest trends to stock boutiques and shops, or finding the perfect materials to bring visions to life, this nexus of apparel, florals, textiles and décor is truly a place to be inspired. As much as the latter might be technically “organic”, the unsustainable production process often diminishes that statement. Love this post? However, the statistics paint a different picture: the Fast Fashion market is booming, which begs the question - why is this kind of clothing still so popular among consumers despite high-profile negative press? Marketing can make or break the success of a brand’s campaign or product launch. Each year 1.3 trillion gallons of water is used for fabric dyeing alone. Entire business models are built on the premise of “fast fashion,” providing clothes cheaply and quickly to consumers through shorter fashion cycles. (Quantis 2018), 23. (Browne et al. It goes without saying, fast fashion poses a huge threat to the planet and all of its inhabitants and is one big trigger for climate change.