The dark secret of the fashion industry that not everyone knows

Statistics and future predictions are raising big questions for the present.

Up to 40% of the clothes produced each year – some 60 billion garments – go unsold. Experts say tackling such senseless waste will require radical changes in manufacturing – and legislation.

40% of clothes produced are unsold

To date, no one has been able to calculate exactly how many coats, jeans, T-shirts, and sneakers are produced worldwide each year. That also means no one knows how many garments remain unsold in warehouses, landfills, or are destroyed. Without this information, trying to reduce the fashion industry's carbon footprint is like trying to solve a puzzle in the dark.

Current estimates suggest that between 80 billion and 150 billion garments are produced each year , and between 10% and 40% of them go unsold . So there could be between 8 billion and 60 billion surplus garments each year – an alarming figure.

' Production volume is really important information to bring honesty back into the conversation ,' said Liz Ricketts, co-founder and CEO of the Or Foundation, an environmental justice charity based in Ghana. ' This is data that everyone can collect. It's just a matter of whether companies are willing to share that data . '

A mountain of waste at the Kpone landfill in Tema, Ghana.

Believing that transparency about production volumes is central to assessing and addressing the fashion industry's environmental issues, the Or Foundation launched the Speak Volumes campaign in November 2023, calling on brands to disclose how many products they have produced by 2022.

So far, 32 SMEs have taken part. The largest number comes from British brand Lucy & Yak, which produces 760,951 items. The smallest is Scottish brand Mlambo, which produces just 100 items. These figures are a far cry from the billions of garments produced by the biggest fashion companies. Yet none of the industry leaders have joined the campaign.

' The reason they don't really like to talk about how much product they have is because it's the industry's dirty secret, ' said Francois Souchet, a circular economy and sustainability strategist. ' There's likely to be a public backlash when people find out how much product isn't being sold .'

At the Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, where the Or Foundation works to support the global north's unwanted clothing trade, about 40% of each bale of textiles ends up as waste. This figure prompted Ricketts to ask brands to commit to reducing their new clothing production by 40% over five years, something that was only possible when the sheer volume of overproduction was visible. 'Why are they producing so much waste?' Ricketts says.

There are a number of reasons why brands produce more than they sell : ambitious manufacturers, the constant churn of fashion, or a failure to read the market. While there are some new technologies to address these issues, including AI to predict consumer demand and made-to-order models, there are no signs of widespread adoption.

Why does the fashion industry overproduce?

Overproduction is also a symptom of an outdated manufacturing system that encourages volume: the more T-shirts ordered, the cheaper each garment costs. This is because the biggest cost of fabric production and garment assembly is in the setup, and the longer the assembly line runs, the more efficient it becomes. 'Also, brands are afraid of missing out on a sale, so they always order too much, rather than enough,' says Souchet.

Christina Dean, founder of anti-waste charity Redress, said: 'It takes a lot of human effort to make our clothes, from the cotton picking, spinning and weaving to the work of garment workers, and think how often they miss seeing their children because of the long hours they work. The fact that these pieces of fabric are thrown away so thoughtlessly shows how out of tune we are with our fellow human beings in the world.'

A recent survey by Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) found that 78% of brands have a goal to reduce overproduction. But respondents said a lack of clarity about what overproduction means is a barrier to addressing the issue, according to Holly Syrett, GFA's director of sustainability and impact programs.

A textile factory in Guangzhou, southern China, supplies Western retailers.

'We define overproduction in a fairly straightforward way, which is when a company buys or produces more inventory than it can sell, leaving the inventory to then be sold at a discount, resold to other parties, or potentially destroyed. The feedback we get is that our definition isn't specific enough ,' Syrett said.

But overstocking isn't the only problem, says Ricketts: 'We try to use the language of "oversupply" rather than "overproduction", because the marketing mechanisms used to push oversupply to consumers are also a concern. Brands are manufacturing demand in the same way they overproduce clothes. This demand is created through relentless social media marketing, targeted digital advertising, email campaigns, and seemingly never-ending discounts and promotions. Of course, the flip side of this coin is overconsumption.'

It's a harsh truth that's largely avoided at industry summits and corporate goals. According to sustainability research group Hot or Cool Institute, the fashion industry will have to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least half from 2018 levels by 2030 if it wants to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

What is the solution for ourselves?

Some experts have suggested ways to 'deal' with this excess fashion inventory, such as creating alternative business models such as renting, reselling or repairing. But regardless, Hot or Cool says meeting the 1.5C target in the high-income G20 countries – including the UK, US, France and Australia – would require a 60% reduction in consumption.

On the current trajectory, the industry's emissions will double in the next 10 years.

' Rapid and radical changes in production and legislation are essential , ' said Lewis Akenji, chief executive of Hot or Cool. 'Extending producer responsibility for fashion brands to the post-use stage is a promising path forward… but should not be a burden-shifting mechanism' .

Illustration

According to experts, new laws need to be proposed to enable manufacturers to pay for and take responsibility for product lifecycle management. They can use initiatives such as textile recycling, upcycling, downcycling, leasing, resale and repair.

'How do we think we're going to cope with the future if we keep pumping out this endless amount of excess product? It's impossible,' Ricketts added. 'Policies have to take into account the volume of production. No matter how much money brands invest or innovate in solutions (like recycling textiles), we're not going to succeed if we don't stop now . '