There is an environmental cost of fashion and some figures may help understand the impact fashion has on the environment: the equivalent of one garbage truck full of clothes is burned or dumped in a landfill every second; approximately 60% of all materials used by the fashion industry are made from plastic; the fashion industry is responsible for 8-10% of humanity’s carbon emissions – more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. 

Also, the fashion industry contributes significantly to the loss of biodiversity. It is estimated that cotton alone uses about 23% of the insecticides used globally and that 25% of water pollution results from dyeing and treating textiles. Likewise, the textile clothing industry is responsible for an estimated use of 93 billion cubic meters per year, the equivalent of 4% of all fresh water available. When focused only on the clothing industry, water consumption is around 62 million cubic meters per year.

This means that there is an urgent need to slowdown the environmental footprint of fashion.