The broken apparel industry – and how to fix it

The apparel industry is broken. The ever-increasing incentive-driven desire for fast fashion has drawn consumers and manufacturers into a wasteful cycle. The average garment is now worn less than 10 times before it is discarded and the volume of material resource that is finding its way into waste piles is growing by the day.

The global fashion industry expanded rapidly in the first quarter of this century. The average US adult will now purchase 53 new items per year and more than 100 billion clothes are now produced on an annual basis [2] and if things stay the same, that consumption is predicted to rise by 63% in the next five years.

The focus on fast turnarounds and high production volumes has increased the inefficiency of the processes used for many modern garments on the market. Extremely wasteful of resources and harmful to the environment, this results in an industry that causes an estimated 10% of global carbon emissions and around 20% of global water waste. [5]

The replacement of natural fibres such as cotton and wool with cheaper and easier to resource synthetic fibres such as polyester, nylon and acrylic not only fuelling the production problem, with around 35% of all primary microplastic pollution in the ocean coming from fashion, while textile dyeing is the second-largest polluter of water globally.

When it comes to consumption, throwaway culture has made many people more frivolous and clothes are being more regularly discarded. Although global sales of pre-owned clothes are now around 18% of the market more than 92 million tonne weight of textiles waste still ends in landfill every year – one rubbish truck of clothes every second.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says conspicuous overconsumption is now locked in a deeply problematic relationship with conspicuous overproduction and, speaking on the International Day of Zero Waste earlier this year, explained: “The waste crisis is an issue that goes to the heart of how we produce and how we consume.

“Unless we accelerate action, dressing to kill could kill the planet. Textile production often uses thousands of chemicals – many of them harmful to people and the environment. It devours resources like land and water – putting pressure on ecosystems – and it belches out greenhouse gases – inflaming the climate crisis.

“Clothes are being produced and discarded at a staggering rate – driven by business models that prioritize newness, speed, and disposability… We need a different approach: one that delivers on the commitment in the Sustainable Development Goals for sustainable production and consumption.”

This different approach will require smaller order quantities, local production and a focus on quality, longevity and lifetime repairs. The new Arksen Asgard Parka, for example, is only available on pre-order, so manufactured volume tailors with market demand. The tide is turning, but there is still a long way to go to reverse the consumption spiral.

Rapid production

The term ‘fast fashion’ was first coined in a 1989 article published in the New York Times. In it, the writer noted how two new stores in the city had been set up to feed the desire of young cost-conscious fashion followers to ‘change their clothes as often as the colour of their lipstick.’

Stock was changed every three weeks to ‘keep on track of the latest trend’ and one of the managers proudly stated that it would take just ‘15 days between a new idea and getting it into the stores.’ The rapid subsequent growth of fast-moving low-budget clothing lines changed the game, forcing higher market brands to follow suit.

The introduction of new products on such a regular basis, combined with highly targeted marketing strategies, turned them into indispensable items in the minds of consumers. As a result, the number of garments purchased per capita increased by around 60% between 2000 to 2014 and the average lifespan of a single item decreased dramatically.

Fashion seasons started to blur and by the end of the 2010s, with around 30% of the world’s population comprising of millennials, the on-demand society increasingly wanted everything immediately. To keep up, the industry slashed average lead times in clothing production from 120 days to 60 days . The result: more turnaround. And more waste.

In the modern world, there is an increasing conscience of environmental issues yet demand for the latest trends has not only continued unabated, it has gone stratospheric. The growth of online shopping, with virtual changing rooms to try before you buy and free and easy returns, has again changed the way people buy their clothes.

Fast fashion has been replaced by ultrafast fashion. Chinese retailer Shein now consistently churns out up to 10,000 new designs per day. Yes, 10,000. And is there a market for it? Sadly so – as some 40 percent of US consumers and a report showed just over a quarter of all UK consumers shopped there or at the similarly-focused Temu store in 2023.

This, said Friends of the Earth France Overproduction Campaigner Pierre Condamine during this year’s Zero Waste Festival has led to a fashion industry based on a system of “extrinsic obsolescence” – explaining: “Clothes aren’t discarded because they’re worn out, but because they’re deemed out of style.

“This deliberately accelerated fashion cycle is the cornerstone of overproduction. Without addressing marketing practices that fuel unnecessary consumption and implementing strong producer responsibility measures, individual actions will remain insufficient to stem the tide of textile waste.”

Wasteful and harmful processes

The result of this 35-plus years of growth is a world in which 62 million tonnes of textiles are consumed per year. By 2030, this is expected to reach 102 million tonnes – which is around 460 fully-loaded container ships of materials per year. Most if this will have been produced from newly created, non-recycled resources.

Synthetic fibres, such as polyester – which is used in 82% of fabrics – are manufactured from fossil resources, removing carbon from the Earth’s carbon store. This also releases micro plastic fibres into the environment, with a scientific model estimating annual global output of 5.69 million tons of fibres from laundry, 93.7 percent from machine washing.

Inefficient production processes require huge amounts of water – around 2,700 litres to create one cotton shirt – and the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of global water waste. This also leads to excessive material use and, worse still, this is often for garments that do not actually see an end use.

Fast-paced manufacturing has led to a higher volume of defective products – which are discarded before they even make it to market – and overproduction to meet anticipated but un-realised demand results in an estimated 10 to 40 percent of garments going unsold each year; all that energy, water, materials and human effort simply going to waste.

Much of this is caused by the volume-driven model. The highest cost of product production is in the set-up, so per-item costs reduce as manufacturing numbers increase. Brands therefore often prefer to order more at marginal cost, rather than risk not having enough to sustain sales if a product gets on trend and has a popularity-driven sales boom.

Even when items do make it to market, up to nine percent of products in Europe are destroyed without being used. Fast-buying online culture means that around 30 percent get returned and are either resold at reduced prices, donated to charity, liquidated or sold to middlemen and sent to less developed, low-income countries.

Unwanted clothing, much of it in perfect condition, ends up in places like Africa or Chile, being touted by market sellers for fractions of its original price. Despite their efforts, up to 70 percent still ends up being thrown away – often not even into land-fill but into giant waste piles, like one in the Atacama Desert that can be seen from space .

Ultimately, every garment will reach its end of life eventually – and currently 87% of the total fibre input used for clothing is either landfilled or incinerated. Even if a piece of clothing has had many multiples of wearers, at the end of the day, less than 1% of the total materials are recycled into new garments.

Conscious consumption

The fashion industry needs to rapidly shift to a more planet-conscious approach – and there are many pieces of the puzzle that must be put in place to achieve that. Core to it all is the development of conscious consumption – where consumers are encouraged to ditch the ‘buy now, throw later’ culture and consider how to satisfy their needs more sustainably.

Arksen is leading the way in the high-performance apparel industry, making quality garments in small numbers, designed for longevity, with 90 percent or more recycled or organic fabrics that are recyclable after use. Certain products use Water Zero technology to slash water use while free repairs and a buy-back scheme through Birl maintain a circular lifecycle.

That vision even goes beyond the garment, supporting the 10% for the Ocean philanthropy fund for ocean recovery. This ensures the growth of the brand and the purchase of clothing supports the worldwide restoration and regeneration of ocean habitats through the most promising conservation, research and restoration initiatives.

The launch of the Asgard Parka on pre-sale takes this to conscious approach to another level and the company states: “The Asgard Parka is built to last and to perform for a lifetime and our shift to a pre-order system shows that the future lies in considered consumption: fashion that’s far less frivolous and far more purposeful.”

The average UK adult in 2025 has 118 items in their wardrobe – and more than a quarter of these will go unworn for at least a year. This includes an average of 15 pairs of socks, of which two pairs will barely ever be used; the same goes for underwear; while three of the average 12 t-shirts and three of the average nine shirts will rarely be given an outing.

Consumption is driven by flash sales like Black Friday, which last year saw consumer spend reach a record-breaking $10.8bn in the US and £1.12bn in the UK, with apparel sales up by 374 percent versus an average day. [29] To move forward, brands must try to resist this, taking measures like Arksen’s ‘Blackout Friday,’ where the online store will close for the day.

Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme says it has to stop, stating: “Unsustainable fashion is aggravating the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature, land and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. We need to focus on a circular economy approach that values sustainable production, reuse and repair.”

The findings of a recent study point to a need for better knowledge at the consumer level. The new generation is demanding change, yet older generations remain less moved to counteract textile waste, with a lack of interest driven by a lack of awareness seen to be one of the main motivators for post-purchase clothing-disposal behaviours.

The fast fashion era has been so defined by razor-thin margins and lightning-quick fulfilment, but there are now suggestions that it could naturally fade, at least to some extent, due to market forces. Rising shipping tariffs are not only nudging up costs but also making ‘fast’ less viable as rapid procurement and delivery becomes more impractical.

This, coupled with regulatory pressures and a changing consumer mindset could ultimately lead to a step change and, in a post on LinkedIn earlier this year, logistics CEO Maggie Barnett projected: “The future isn't a return to pre-internet retail, nor is it the continuation of the disposable fashion model. Instead, we're advocating for what we call hybrid fashion.”

This is an approach that balances fast and slow elements. It is based on consumers choosing core garments that are not season-dependent, can be sustainably produced and are delivered on a slower timeline, and blending them with trend products that are consciously purchased through a manufacture-on-demand model, rather than high-volume supply.

“Businesses must increase circularity, waste reduction and resource efficiency across their supply chains,”Guterres concluded. “We need accountability for corporate sustainability commitments. We need transparency for customers. And we need consumers to use their purchasing power to encourage change.”

Achieving this approach in the face of the continued onslaught of relentless retail will require conscious consumers and intelligent brands that place greater focus on quality and durability. Developing responsible supply chains, pioneering pre-orders and ship-later approaches are all methods of achieving cost-effective and resource-conscious production.

The process also delivers products that are more exclusively owned – which ultimately gives consumers waste-free individualism that outlasts trends. “The old model of overproduction and discounting is financially unsustainable,” concludes Barnett. “The brands that will thrive in this new era will be those rethinking their entire approach to inventory.”

Sources:

[1] https://pirg.org/articles/how-many-clothes-are-too-many

[2] https://earth.org/statistics-about-fast-fashion-waste/

[3] https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/mckinsey-explainers/what-is-fast-fashion

[4] https://unfccc.int/news/un-helps-fashion-industry-shift-to-low-carbon

[5] https://www.europarl.europa.eu/topics/en/article/20201208STO93327/fast-fashion-eu-laws-for-sustainable-textile-consumption

[6] https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/microplastics-from-textiles-towards-a-circular-economy-for-textiles-in-europe

[7] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/putting-brakes-fast-fashion

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/27/secondhand-clothing-on-track-to-take-10-of-global-fashion-sales

[9] https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/unsustainable-fashion-and-textiles-focus-international-day-zero

[10] https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/topics/fashion/overview

[11] https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2025-03-27/secretary-generals-remarks-the-general-assembly-the-international-day-of-zero-waste-delivered