UK Clothing Consumption

This article is first and foremost a Report Review, outlining relevant information gathered by the organisation WRAP.

The organisation behind WRAP is a waste and resources action programme registered in the UK as a charity (No. 115912).

You can visit their website and learn more about What they do.

If you already know this industry plater, find out more about WRAP's specific efforts in Collections and recycling.

Fashion Aftermath recycles used clothing from diverse eras and origins, to gift them a new life by connecting them with new owners via online shop. 

The need for recycling textiles is a global issue and demands increased attention across sectors and capabilities.  

On that note, in 2019, the UK government committed a fund of 4.7 GBP towards hard-to-recycle materials (GOV.UK, 2019)

The Clothing Lifecycle Stages: From Production to Disposal

 

The mentioned report above discusses observations like a higher rate of clothing purchases in recent years.

At the same time, consumers do not keep clothing for time as in earlier times.

Year 2016: There has been a decrease of 8.29% in tons of carbon generated, which accumulates to 23.2 tons.

When comparing all processes of a garment´s lifecycle the ranking shows that extraction, washing spinning, processing to fibre, and dying have the highest carbon footprint.

The same Diagram on page 12 ´Figure 1: The carbon footprint of clothing in the UK (t CO2e) in 2016, by process´ notes some processes that have reverse outcomes.

Reducing Footprint of Textiles

For example,

Weaving

Making Up

Re-Use in the UK

Re-use Overseas

Recycling

All these activities are in fact reducing the footprint of textiles.

Apart from those opportunities within the supply chain, there are currently more activities measured supporting higher carbon contributors.

 

´Taking Stock: UK Clothing Consumption´ Table 1, p. 9

Clothing Type	Est. Lifetime in years
Coat	4.58
Dress	3.62
Jumper	3.46
Jeans	3.40
Blouse/Shirt	3.03
Top	2.74
Average	3.3025

 

Data source:

´SCAP Sustainable Textiles Consumer Tracker Survey´, (2015) Respondents Q16.

• 1,130,000 tons of textiles have been purchased in the UK
• How much water is used for 1 kg of Cotton? (WRAP, 2017)

 

Environmental Impact of The UK Fashion Industry 

We have looked up some other resources for you because not only businesses need to progress with sustainability efforts.

Also, consumers have to rethink their buying decisions and be well-informed about what Is happening behind warehouses and social media glamour.

The House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee published a long report in 2019 named  ´FIXING FASHION: clothing consumption and sustainability´.

The publication discussed the way we produce, use, and discard clothing in the UK is not environmentally friendly.

Production

The production of textiles uses quantities of freshwater equivalent to lakes.

Additionally, it produces pollution from chemicals.

Furthermore, the overall clothing production contributes more to climate change than international aviation and shipping put together.

Fish, shellfish, and Arctic Sea ice contain synthetic fibres.

Fair Labour

The garment production takes place in nations with low wages, scant union representation, and weak protection of the environment.

Poverty wages and working conditions are typical in many nations.

For the majority-female industry of garment workers.

Additionally, we are concerned about the usage of bonded labour, forced labour, forced labour in prisons, child labour, and the supply chain for clothing.

Globalisation comes in hand with the overproduction and consumption of fast fashion contributing to the variety of issues mentioned above (Environmental Audit Committee, 2019).

 

 

The UK Buys Most Fashion in the EU

Compared to other nations in Europe, we purchase most clothing per person actually in the UK.

The market is oversupplied with used apparel, which is driving down the cost of used textiles.

Anything that cannot be sold is destroyed and used as insulation and mattress filling.

Nevertheless, each year, 300,000 tonnes of textile waste are disposed of or sent to a landfill or a fire pit.

Approximately 1% of the materials used to make garments are recyclable into new garments.

Retailers are simultaneously burning fresh unsellable inventory simply to protect their brand (Environmental Audit Committee, 2019).

The Need For a Circular Economy – Fashion Industry

Multiple factors are playing into assessing the need for a circular economy. 

Read more in this article, about what a circular economy could mean for the fashion industry.

Initiatives for voluntary corporate social responsibility have largely failed to cut waste or enhance compensation and working conditions.

The sustainability warnings from science are stern.

Climate change and excessive consumption are causing a global extinction.

A new economic model is required for the fashion industry to survive.

The status quo is no longer effective.

The legislation ought to be changed to oblige businesses to do supply chain due diligence audits (Environmental Audit Committee, 2019).

The Future of Fashion & Solutions for Business

• Innovation is needed from fashion designers & brands
• Proposed UK tax on virgin plastics in 2022 – applied to textile products containing less than 50% plastic
• The government needs to limit the operational freedom of fast fashion brand
• Companies should be rewarded for sustainable efforts
• A charge of just 1p can create a fund of 35.000.000 GBP to be invested in improved clothing & sorting
• Progress towards the pledge for the textile industry to be achieved by 2025 is way too slow

 

 

UK Fashion Industry Data

The Textile & Apparel Market Size

In the UK, the textile sector is huge and is expected to grow throughout the next couple of years.

The number of users to be expected in the year 2027 may rise to 51.000.000 just in this region.

Apart from market growth, it should be mentioned that the e-commerce segment within the fashion industry will overtake brick-and-mortar sales (B2C) (Statista, 2022). 

In comparison to other European nations, we purchase more clothing per person in the UK.

In 2017, the fashion industry contributed £32 billion to the UK economy.

This represented a rise of 5.4% over 2016 and a growth rate that was 1.6% greater than the national average.

Employment in the Fashion Industry

There are approximately 890,000 people in the UK being are employed by the sector in retail, manufacturing, branding, and fashion design enterprises.

Between 2003 and 2013, the worldwide garment, fashion, and luxury business outpaced all other market indices in terms of profitability, "outpacing even high-growth sectors like technology and telecommunications," according to consultants McKinsey (Environmental Audit Committee, 2019).

Some UK high street stores have struggled recently due to online competition, yet UK manufacturing is growing.

Disposed Clothing

According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the underutilization and lack of recycling of garments result in a loss of value of more than $500 billion annually (Gueye, 2021).

The consumption of clothing worldwide is expected to increase by 63% by 2030, from 62 million tonnes.

According to the UN, by 2050 it may be necessary to use the energy of nearly three planets, which we simply do not have (UN, 2025).

Given the increase in demand for natural resources to support existing lifestyles, the worldwide population.

The United Kingdom joined the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015.

SDG 12's commitment to ensuring sustainable consumption and other objectives and patterns of production.

References

Ellenmacarthurfoundation.org. (2021). The trends and trailblazers creating a circular economy for fashion. [online] Available at: https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/articles/the-trends-and-trailblazers-creating-a-circular-economy-for-fashion [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].

Environmental Audit Committee (2019). Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability - Report Summary - Environmental Audit Committee. [online] Parliament.uk. Available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1952/report-summary.html [Accessed 14 Oct. 2022].

Martin (2023). Sustainable consumption and production. [online] United Nations Sustainable Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-consumption-production/#:~:text=Our%20planet%20is%20running%20out,needed%20to%20sustain%20current%20lifestyles. [Accessed 3 Feb. 2025].