The fashion industry's impact on our planet is massive—from pollution to worker exploitation. But I want to zero in on one of its biggest problems: the overwhelming amount of clothing being manufactured and thrown away. Let’s look at why our current systems simply can't handle it, and what our role is in fixing this system.
From Necessity to Excess: When Clothing Stopped Being Precious
Before the Industrial Revolution, clothing was made by hand and made to last. People owned just a handful of garments – carefully sewn, meticulously mended, and passed down through generations. Then machines changed everything.
Mass production made clothes cheaper and faster to make, and the fashion industry started telling us we need new wardrobes every season. What started as two fashion seasons a year has exploded into a ludicrous churn of trends. For example, ultra-fast fashion brand Shein now releases thousands of new designs every single day.
This isn't progress. It's manufactured desire, it’s brainwashing, convincing us that last season's clothes are somehow obsolete, and that buying new clothes will bring satisfaction and joy.
A Tsunami of Clothing
We're living in an era of unprecedented clothing production. Garment production has doubled since 2000 while human population grew only 18%. The fashion industry now churns out over 100 billion items annually, more than a dozen new pieces for every person on Earth.
Americans buy an average of 53 items per year, four times more than in 2000. Consumption has skyrocketed while the lifespan of each garment has plummeted. Approximately 85% of the clothing Americans consume eventually ends up in landfills; that’s nearly 3.8 billion pounds annually, or about 80 pounds per person per year. We purchase far more than previous generations, yet discard items twice as fast. This isn't happening by chance. It's the result of a deliberate business model.
How Fast Fashion Trained Us to Throw Clothes Away
The rise of cheap, trend-driven fashion has fundamentally altered our relationship with clothing. Fast fashion brands release new designs constantly, creating endless pressure to keep up with the latest styles. This business model depends on volume, and to make this viable, companies cut costs everywhere – cheaper construction, lower quality, meager pay for workers – and relentless marketing to convince us we need more.
The result? We've developed a habit of discarding clothes without much thought. The fashion industry has trained us to see clothing as disposable, to feel restless with what we have, to constantly crave newer and more. So we buy more than we need, wear only a fraction of what we own, and discard what's still perfectly wearable.
We've accepted this as normal, but it represents a radical departure from how we should think about clothes: that good garments are an investment worth caring for, and that durability matters. We've traded quality for quantity, longevity for novelty, and a healthy planet for fleeting trends.
Why Textile Waste is So Difficult to Handle
Why is it so hard to recycle unwanted clothes? Reconstituting textile fibers is extremely difficult. Most clothes are made with mixed materials, and there's no easy way to separate these fibers. The technology and labor for these processes are expensive, and it's nowhere near capable of handling millions of tons of waste. Even when recycling works, the resulting material is usually lower quality, so most textiles get downcycled into insulation, mattress fillings, or rags, not the brand-new piece of clothing you might imagine.
Most unwanted clothing ends up in landfills, and these stick around. Natural fibers like cotton and wool break down eventually, but very slowly, especially in the compacted, low-oxygen environment of a modern landfill. Synthetic fabrics are even worse. Polyester and acrylic are forms of plastic that persist for hundreds of years, slowly releasing microplastic particles into soil and water as they degrade.
Perhaps the biggest problem is just the sheer volume. Humans generate roughly 92 million tons of textile waste globally each year, and that number keeps climbing. You might have heard the figure that every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is dumped or burned. No recycling system could possibly keep pace with that. Even donation systems are buckling under the weight. Thrift stores receive far more clothing than they can sell. Much of what you drop off at donation centers eventually ends up in landfills, sometimes after being shipped overseas, where it undercuts local textile industries before ultimately being discarded.
We Must Choose Better and Buy Less
Better disposal methods won't fix the textile pollution problem. The mountain of textile waste keeps growing because we keep feeding it. The real answer is simple but not easy: we need to drastically reduce production and consumption. We need to stop treating garments as throwaway items and start valuing them as long-term possessions again.
As consumers, we have the power to reject the myth that wardrobes should constantly change, and that last year's clothes are "outdated." We must buy less, choosing and investing in well-made products that last, and make the most of the clothes we already own.
Practical Steps Forward
We're not saying never buy new clothes. What's important is becoming more aware and choosy about what we purchase. So here are four practical ways to reduce the consumption of new clothing:
1. Shop your closet first - Try new combinations, use that shirt or pair of jeans gathering dust. You might rediscover pieces you'd forgotten about.
2. Choose second hand - Visit thrift stores, borrow from a friend, go to a clothing swap. Some of my favorite pieces came from secondhand shops.
3. Avoid impulse buys - Unsubscribe from promotional emails. Have a plan for what you need before you go to the store so you don't fall for sales and promotions.
4. Before purchasing, ask yourself: Do I have something similar already? Will I be willing to wear this for years? Would I want it at full price? If any answer is no, reconsider.
Change is Already in Our Closets
Every garment you choose not to buy reduces demand for new production. Every item you wear for a long time is a small victory against a system designed to keep us buying. The fashion industry won't change its practices until we change our habits.
The clothes in your closet right now? They're enough. Learn to see them that way – to value what you have, and resist the manufactured urge for constant newness. This isn't just good for the planet, it’s also good for your wallet and mental well-being.
Written by a human with assistance from AI