Fast Fashion: Drowning in Clothes

Many of us have grown accustomed to getting what we want, when we want, and the clothes we wear are no exception – the latest fashions are usually easily accessible and readily available in the developed world, for the right price.

The industry supporting our clothing choices is vast – globally the textile industry generates roughly $1.3 trillion annually (£997.5 billion), and employs more than 300 million people. Clothing accounts for more than half of the industry’s trade, the production of which nearly doubled between 2000 and 2015.

Why such a drastic increase in production? Much of it is attributed to the rise of fast fashion, the industry term used by fashion retailers to describe clothing that’s manufactured quickly and sold cheaply, in an effort to meet consumer demand for the latest trends.

Textile manufacturers now churn out literal mountains of clothing in an effort to capitalize on the world’s demand. Once we’re finished with them, all of those articles of clothing have to end up somewhere. And in 2020 an estimated 18.6 million tonnes of clothing will be dumped in landfills.

The Ellen Macarthur Foundation estimates that if things don't change, more than 150 million tonnes of clothing will end up in landfills or be incinerated in the year 2050. We created this video to put this figure into perspective.