Redress
Supporting Statistics
Redress, the Hong Kong-based, Asia-focused environmental NGO accelerating the change to a circular fashion industry, is pleased to provide as a general aid the following selection of statistics and reports to support understanding of the issues and solutions underpinning Redress’ work. For further information, please contact Shirley A. Wong, Communications Lead, at shirleyaun@redress.com.hk.
Contact Us
Shirley A. Wong – Communications Lead
Email: shirleyaun@redress.com.hk
Phone: +852 9257 0778
Operating Hours
Monday to Friday, 10am-6pm
FRAMING GLOBAL FASHION INDUSTRY
- Economic impact: In 2026, the revenue in the Apparel market worldwide is estimated to reach US$1.92 trillion.1 Approximately 2 to 2.5% of global GDP.2
- Social impact: 1 in 8 people are believed to work in some part of the apparel industry.3
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
- Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHG): The fashion industry is widely cited as being responsible for about 2-8 percent of global carbon emissions.4 Textile production is projected to use a quarter of the world’s carbon budget by 2050.5
- Asia produces 50% of the annual global GHG emissions.6
- Asia is hit hardest by climate change.7
- Water: The fashion industry is widely cited as being the second-biggest consumer of water.8 The volume of freshwater consumed by the fashion industry is nearly 79 billion cubic metres, enough to fill nearly 32 million Olympic-size swimming pools. This figure is predicted to increase by 50% by 2030.9
- Biodiversity: The textile industry significantly contributes to global biodiversity loss, accounting for over 3% of the total.10
- Microplastics: 35% of all microplastics found in the ocean come from the laundering of synthetic textiles like polyester.11
- (for waste see overleaf)
Global production and consumption
- The global fashion industry produces between 100 billion to 150 billion items of clothing per year.12
- Asia accounts for some 60% of global exports of garments and textiles.13
- Global apparel, footwear consumption may rise by 63% in 2030.14
- An estimated US$2.5 billion-US$5 billion items of excess stock were produced by the fashion industry in 2023, worth between US$70 billion and $140 billion in sales.15
THE FAILING LINEAR AND WASTEFUL SYSTEM
Textile and Clothing Waste Crisis - is worsening
- Global: Every second, the equivalent of one rubbish truck of textiles is landfilled or burned.16
- Global clothing and textile waste reached 120 million metric tonnes in 2024, with 80% ending up in landfills or being incinerated.17
- Global: Textile waste is estimated to increase by about 60% between 2015 and 2030.18
- Global: Majority of clothing is landfilled or burned within one year of production.19
- Global: For every five garments produced, the equivalent of three end up in landfill or are incinerated each year.20
- Global: It is estimated that more than half of fast fashion produced is disposed of in under a year.21
- In Hong Kong, an average daily quantity of 400 tonnes of textiles were landfilled in 2024.22 This is equivalent to approximately 17,000 suitcases of textiles landfilled every day.23
THE IMPORTANCE OF A CIRCULAR ECONOMY
Circular economies are not well developed - textile recycling failing
- The global textile industry is 0.3% circular: of the 3.25 billion tonnes of materials it consumes each year, over 99% come from virgin sources.24
Benefits of the circular economy and recycling textile waste
- Economic:
- Each year, textile waste worth an estimated US$150 billion in raw materials value is lost.25
- A transformation towards circular textile business models could generate US$700 billion in economic value by 2030. This is through the growth of four business models – resale, rental, repair, and remaking – which currently represent a US$73 billion market (or 3.5% of the global fashion market) which are estimated to increase to US$700 billion (or 23% of the global fashion market) by 2030.26
- Environmental: Each 1% increase in market share of circular business models is likely to reduce emissions by 13 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent (tCO2e).27
- Social: Transitioning towards a circular economy across all sectors around the world could create a net total of between 7 and 8 million new jobs by 2030, compared to a business-as-usual scenario.28
A CIRCULAR ECONOMY STARTS WITH GOOD DESIGN - BUT EDUCATION GAP REMAINS
- Around 80% of a product’s environmental impact is locked in at design stage.29
- In the UK, 71% of designers expected demand for green design to increase, yet only 43% felt they had the capability to meet that demand.30
- An integrative review of 81 papers states that mainstream fashion design courses still “scarcely incorporate sustainability within their curricula”, highlighting the need to strengthen sustainability education through both theoretical understanding and practical application.31
- UBS cites an urgent investment need in fashion circularity and the Circular Economy longer-term theme, with increased investment visibility especially in private markets. The workforce would require upskilling and reskilling.32
INCREASING CONSUMER AWARENESS BUT CONSUMER INTENTION ACTION GAP
- 98% of consumers think brands have a responsibility to make positive change in the world.33
- 71% of global consumers are concerned about sustainability in fashion, only 3% of them are willing to pay a premium for it.34
- 71% of consumers are indicating a shift towards investments in higher quality garments and a deepened interest in circular business models such as resale, rental or refurbishment.35
INCREASED LEGISLATION DRIVING IMPROVEMENTS FASHION INDUSTRY
- The European Union’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) is part of a package of measures that aims to significantly improve the sustainability of products placed on the EU market by improving their circularity, energy performance, recyclability and durability that came into effect in July 2024.36
- China’s 15th Five-Year Plan for Circular Economy Development contains various systematic goals including; designing for circularity; scaling up the use of recycled fibers and secondary raw materials in textile manufacturing; expanding Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).37
Footnotes
1 Apparel – Worldwide, Statista (2026)
2 Fashion For Good (2020), Financing the Transformation in Fashion
3 Common Objective (2018), Faces and Figures: Who Makes Our Clothes?; Data from World Bank (2017) Total Labor Force and See Wiego, Statistics on the Informal Economy; ILO, Informal Economy
4 United Nations Environment Programme (2019)
5 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017), A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future
6 Climate Watch, Historical GHG Emissions, 1990–2020
7 World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) 2024-Climate change and extreme weather impacts hit Asia hard
8 United Nations Environment Programme (2019)
9 Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group (2017), The Pulse of the Fashion Industry
10 Circle Economy, 2024, The circularity gap report, Textiles
11 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (2017)
12 More than 100 billion according to McKinsey & the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2015. The World Economic Forum & ShareCloth state that 150 billion garments are produced in a year, 2016
13 World Trade Organisation, World Trade Statistical Review 2023
14 Global Fashion Agenda & The Boston Consulting Group (2017), The Pulse of the Fashion Industry
15 McKinsey & Company & Business of Fashion, 2024, The State of Fashion 2025
16 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2017), A New Textiles Economy: Redesigning Fashion’s Future
17 Boston Consulting Group, Spinning Textile Waste into Value, August 2025
18 Global Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group (2017), Pulse of the Fashion Industry
19 UBS (2021) $2.5trn industry at risk – What if consumers stop buying disposable clothes
20 McKinsey & Company, Refashioning clothing’s environmental impact (2019)
21 Ellen MacArthur Foundation, A new textiles economy: Redesigning fashion’s future (2017)
22 Environmental Protection Department, HKSAR. 2025. Monitoring of Solid Waste in Hong Kong: Waste Statistics for 2024
23 Estimation by Redress, based on 23kg suitcase and rounded down
24 Circle Economy Foundation Circularity Gap Report Textiles (2024)
25 Boston Consulting Group – Spinning Textile Waste into Value – 2025
26 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2021), Circular Business Models – Redefining Growth for a Thriving Fashion Industry
27 McKinsey and Global Fashion Agenda Fashion on Climate.(2020).
28 Skills for a greener future. Key findings International Labour Office – Geneva: International Labour Organisation estimates 2019
29 European Commission: Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry and Directorate-General for Energy, Ecodesign your future – How ecodesign can help the environment by making products smarter, European Commission, 2012
30 Design Council, Green Design Skills Gap, 2024
31 Sonika Soni Khar, From review to reform: designing an elective module through an integrated review on fashion sustainability, Frontiers in Sustainability, 2025
32 GWM CIO report (Sept 2023)
33 Futerra (2019), The honest generation are here. Are you ready?
34 Boston Consulting Group, 2022: Consumers Are the Key to Taking Green Mainstream
35 Global Fashion Agenda (2020), CEO Agenda 2020: COVID-19 Edition
36 Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, European Commission
37 National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) a clear summary of which sourced by China’s Circular Economy Development Plan for the 15th Five-Year Period: Signals of a More Systemic Transition, August 4, 2026