Fast fashion may be in vogue, but what happens to all the clothes left on the rack? (2024)

FAQs

What happens to fast fashion clothes? ›

These unsold garments are often burned, as it's cheaper and easier for the company than finding a way to reuse or recycle them. Apart from wasting resources, the fast fashion industry pollutes waterways with toxic dyes, and increases the number of microfibres in the ocean through the use of fossil fuel-based fabrics.

Secondhand clothes that don't sell in the US or go into textile recycling are often exported. Roughly 700,000 tons of used clothing gets sent to other countries annually, reportedly creating a big market and contributing to job growth.

What does H&M do with its unsold merchandise? A team of journalists from the Danish program Operation X investigated this question for several months and recently revealed that the Swedish brand has been burning up to 12 tonnes of clothing a year since 2013.

Besides the sheer bulk of waste in landfills, fast fashion has an impact on the environment through carbon emissions. The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions each year, according to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. 4 That's more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Of the 100 billion garments produced each year, 92 million tonnes end up in landfills. To put things in perspective, this means that the equivalent of a rubbish truck full of clothes ends up on landfill sites every second.

People with higher incomes generate on average 76% more clothing waste than people with lower incomes. Once textiles are discarded, 66% of them are sent to landfills in the U.S. where they decompose — some quickly and others over hundreds of years.

A wide range of clothing brands have been caught throwing out unsold clothing over the years. Often this clothing is destroyed before it is tossed so that it cannot be salvaged by dumpster divers. Photo by thinkretail / Flickr. Viewers often express shock about the waste in the comments.

Burning stock is said to be the most cost-effective way for luxury brands to protect exclusivity and avoid devaluing their image. Luxury fashion is a status symbol, so burning excess inventory—as opposed to selling it at a discount—maintains the brand's value and sense of exclusivity.

infamous for its destruction of returned garments. Big brands like H&M and Burberry have admitted to burning hundreds of millions of dollars worth of their products. Many brands—especially luxury ones—would rather toss out their products than resell them at a lower price at the risk of tarnishing their image.

85% Of Our Clothes End Up In Landfills Or Burned

It might come to a surprise to learn that around 85% of textiles thrown away in the U.S. are dumped into landfills or burned — including unused textiles and unsold clothes.

Does Burberry burn unsold merchandise? ›

Fashion firms including Burberry destroy unwanted items to prevent them being stolen or sold cheaply. Burberry said that the energy generated from burning its products was captured, making it environmentally friendly. "Burberry has careful processes in place to minimise the amount of excess stock we produce.

Liquidation Wholesalers

You can find companies who specialize in liquidating unwanted inventory. Some of these companies specialize in selling to overseas markets, while others offer excess inventory to companies that offer bargain prices to customers.

The issue of fast fashion can be traced back to the unethical business practices of corporations and companies. The preceding reason as to why companies are primarily responsible for fast fashion is because not every consumer can avoid it. Many consumers cannot afford to buy ethically produced fashion.

The environmental impact of fast fashion comprises the depletion of non-renewable sources, emission of greenhouse gases and the use of massive amounts of water and energy.

Enter slow fashion. Simply defined as the opposite of fast fashion, slow fashion opts for a more sustainable approach to making clothes. Specifically, it hones in on reducing both consumption and production.

Nowhere is the failure of the fast fashion linear business model more visible than in the countries where many of these cheap clothes end up once their short lives are over: on huge dump sites, burnt on open fires, along riverbeds and washed out into the sea, with severe consequences for people and the planet.

We keep fast fashion items for about 35 days before throwing them away. Fast fashion produces 400% more carbon emissions than clothes we wear 50 times.

Our garment collecting program was rolled out in 2013, and we have recycling boxes in stores across the globe. It works like this: 1. Bring any unwanted clothes or textiles, by any brand and in any condition, to one of our stores.

Why returns end up in a landfill. One of the main issues with online shopping returns is that after going through this pollution-heavy process, most returned clothes end up in a landfill rather than being resold.

Some 59,000 tonnes of clothing arrive each year at the Iquique port in the Alto Hospicio free zone in northern Chile. Clothing merchants from the capital Santiago, 1,800km (1,100 miles) to the south, buy some, while much is smuggled out to other Latin American countries.

How toxic is the fashion industry? ›

The fashion industry is the second largest polluter of water globally, produces more carbon emissions than all international flights and maritime shipping combined, and harms worker health with toxic chemicals.

"The majority of any remaining stock is donated to charity, or for reuse by a reuse or recycling organisation," says a H&M spokesperson. This is the most common approach among the high-street retailers surveyed.

Faulty items, the company says, are either sold through its Clearance operation or donated to charity. Inditex, the parent company of Zara, says it focuses on reducing stock levels to cut down excess inventory, through short production runs and its proximity manufacturing model.

According to The Wall Street Journal, many luxury fashion brands first try to sell the products to employees, friends, and family, often at a discounted price. If the clothes don't sell in that way, they are then discarded.

Walmart Liquidation Auctions allows resellers to bid on excess inventory, store returns, and refurbished bulk lots directly from Walmart. Lots range in size from single pallets up to truckloads of excess inventory, and typically sell at a fraction of retail MSRP.

It is done to maintain exclusivity by making the goods less available. Demand and supply play a role here, the lesser the availability higher the demand. Also, the industry believes in keeping their luxurious goods away from those who cannot afford them at retail prices.

Luxury tends to fare better than other sectors during a downturn because of its exposure to high-income consumers.

In response to a question from ZDF and Greenpeace about whether masses of returned and new goods continue to be destroyed, the company says that only one percent of Amazon's own goods are destroyed—including recycling.

“Customers really believe that the product just goes into the black hole or ends up being resold to another customer as brand new. And in many instances, that's not the case.” As it turns out, returned products – even in brand new condition – can end up in liquidation warehouses, like Palacci's.

Does TJ Maxx throw away clothes? ›

Coach, CVS, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods and Party City have all been criticized for throwing away or destroying merchandise.

Items that aren't suitable for reuse or donating to charity can be recycled and repurposed into new items. Make sure old clothes and shoes are disposed of at recycling points rather than being put into the bin and destined for landfill. You can use our locator to find a clothing recycling bank near you.

The items available are sourced from mid-range fashion retailers like Topshop, Asos and Zara, usually from the past season. Although it's true many of these items' RRPs were likely well above £5, the nature of the app means it's never clear just how much of a bargain you're getting.

According to the Wall Street Journal, since 2020, Shein has been named as a defendant in over 50 U.S. federal lawsuits accusing the company of trademark infringement or copyright infringement.

Inspired by an original drawing from our archives, the Thomas Burberry Monogram ('TB') is used on its own and as a repetitive print. It celebrates the heritage of our fashion house in a return to the spirit of our founder, whose initials are referenced in the design.

While Nike is not considered fast fashion, they take advantage of cheap labor and materials, just like major fast fashion companies.

In the store or online, Walmart resells products returned in their original packaging. Products that have been opened or used are resealed and resold at a discount price or put on clearance. All returned groceries, defective, damaged, or recalled products are disposed of.

The target audience for fast fashion retailers are largely consumers aged 18 and 24 who are often students with low incomes (Lam etal., 2016). Females of this age group are found to shop in fast fashion retailers more often than any other demographic group.

Trapped in the cycle of labor exploitation, factory workers face sexual assault, threats towards their families, and extended work hours without bathroom or rest breaks. At-risk children are a key component of fast fashion. It is common for families in impoverished communities to be approached by traffickers.

The human rights violations that ultimately occur in countries that manufacture clothing for fast fashion companies include health and safety violations and unfair wages.

How much fast fashion goes to landfill? ›

This is exacerbated by a fast fashion business model which encourages the frequent purchase of low-priced and non-durable items. Around 30% of online purchases are subsequently returned, much of which goes to landfill.

Shein describes itself as “an international B2C fast fashion e-commerce platform (that) focuses on women's wear, but also offers men's apparel, children's clothes, accessories, shoes, bags and other fashion items” and it upholds the philosophy that "everyone can enjoy the beauty of fashion."

Fast fashion is hurting ecosystems and the planet in many ways. Aside from waste and plastic pollution, it also contributes to deforestation (see: the leather industry) and greenhouse gas emissions.

Target is an American retailer founded in 1902 in Minneapolis, United States, by George Dayton. The multinational retail company offers fast fashion for women, men, and children.

over 450 million items per year and 500 new designs each week. This fast turnover is the reason why it's recognized as one of the largest retailers in fast fashion.

Synthetic fabrics like polyester, spandex, nylon, … Though they will eventually decompose, this process might take twenty to two hundred years.

From 7 million tons, the textile waste that ended up in most landfills increased to 14 million tons. "When consumers throw away clothing in the garbage, not only does it waste money and resources, but it can take 200+ years for the materials to decompose in a landfill," said Roadrunner in an article.

Yes! People are getting more environmentally conscious and data shows we're becoming more driven to buy sustainable products. Consumers have pushed companies to evaluate their labour practises and effects on the climate crisis.

Also around this time, the molecular structures that hold your cells together break away, so your tissues collapse into a watery mush. And in a little over a year, your cotton clothes disintegrate, as acidic body fluids and toxins break them down.

How much fast fashion clothing ends up in landfill? ›

It comes after recent statistics revealed that of the 32 billion garments produced for the fashion industry each year, a whopping 64% will end up in landfill.

Similarly, the clothes that we wear also have an expiry date. Believe it or not, but it's the truth. It doesn't mean that they got damaged, but this means that it started causing health risks.

Due to the prevalence of synthetic fibres in fast fashion, returns can take up to 100 years to fully decompose, emitting carbon dioxide and methane in the process, as well as leaching harmful substances into the surrounding soil.

Buy higher-quality clothing

This is the most sustainable practice to adopt when giving up on fast fashion. Start caring more about quality to influence large brands and retailers to change their business models, producing less often with better quality.