Fast fashion comes at an astonishing environmental and social cost. While the impacts of the fashion industry in terms of pollution, water use, carbon emissions, human rights, and gender inequality are increasing, the need for a shift to sustainable fashion is evident. Organizations in Geneva and beyond are joining efforts to shift the fashion economy and foster international cooperation on the issue.

The Environmental Cost of Fashion

The clothing industry represents an important part of our economies, with a value of  USD 1.3 trillion and employing over 300 million people along the value chain (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). In the last 20 years, global fibre production has almost doubled from 58 million tonnes in 2000 to 116 million tonnes in 2022, and is expected to continue to grow to 147 million tonnes in 2030 if business as usual continues (Textile Exchange 2023). While people bought 60% more garments in 2014 than in 2000, they only kept the clothes for half as long (McKinsey & Company, 2016).

While the fashion sector is booming, increasing attention has been brought to the impressive range of negative environmental impacts that the industry is responsible for. The fashion industry is the second-biggest consumer of water and is responsible for 2-8 % of global carbon emissions.

What’s more, 85% of all textiles go to the dump each year (UNECE, 2018), and washing some types of clothes sends significant amount of microplastics into the ocean.

The Environmental Footprint of Fast Fashion

• The equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017)
• Approximately 60% of all materials used by the fashion industry are made from plastic (UNEP, 2019)
• 500,000 tons of microfibers are released into the ocean each year from washing clothes — the equivalent of 50 billion plastic bottles (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017)
• The fashion industry is responsible for 2-8 % of global carbon emissions. If the fashion sector continues on its current trajectory, that share of the carbon budget could jump to 26% by 2050 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017)
• Each year, the textile value chain uses 215 trillion litres of water per year (the equivalent of 86 million Olympic-sized swimming pools ) (Quantis, 2018)
• Around 20% of industrial wastewater pollution worldwide originates from the fashion industry (Word Bank, 2020)
• Less than 1% of material used to produce clothing is recycled into new clothing, resulting in over $100 billion in material value loss (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017). The Circularity Gap Report Textiles (2024) finds that  only 0.3% of 3.25 billion tonnes of resources each year to produce items from the global textile industry comes from recycled resources
• An extra $20-30 billion annually is needed to make the textile value chain more sustainable, with 60% focused on energy, water, and waste issues alone (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2017)

More facts and sources on Business Insider

Fast fashion also has a human cost:  textile workers, primarly women in developing countries, are often paid derisory wages and forced to work long hours in appalling conditions (UNEP, 2018; WRI, 2019). In many places, these conditions create infringements on human rights (Human Rights Watch). Use of chemicals in clothes production also raise serious health concerns, both for the workers in the industry and consumers. Additional impacts on health also arise from the pollution described previously.

The environmental and social cost of the fashion industry forces us to rethink fast fashion, and stresses the need for more sustainable business models and practices. Resources hereunder provide additional information on the environmental impacts of fashion, and potential pathways for change.