We have enough clothing on the planet right now for the next six generations

If we stopped manufacturing or disposing of clothing today, you wouldn’t run out of things to wear in your lifetime. In fact, nobody would – nor your children, nor your childrens’ children.

Fashion waste experts have suggested that the sheer excess of clothes in existence right now could clothe the next six generations of humanity.

We asked AI to help picture that future world: 100 years from now, with our 22nd century descendants still wearing the clothes made in 2024 – from the oversized hoodies and athleisure joggers down to the then-trendy sneakers.

While the flying cars may not exist yet, the almost comical excess of clothing in this science fiction scenario is already a reality. And it’s adding up to real, harmful waste and pollution.

How did we get here?

More clothes are made and sold today than ever before

Manufacturers are producing a lot more clothes than they used to. The amount of garments produced across the globe since the 1950s has ballooned to at least six times the volume. Globally, it’s over 100 billion pieces of clothing per year.

And consumers are buying more clothes, too. The ratio of clothing Americans buy nowadays compared to how many they bought in 2000 is 4 to 1. 

More clothes are being created, and they’re being bought more often and more cheaply. We’re keeping them for shorter amounts of time, either replacing them when styles change or wearing them out. 

And we’re throwing tons of clothes away – literally. The sheer volume of textiles getting sent to a landfill or being incinerated is staggering: The equivalent of one garbage truck’s worth every second of every day.

It’s a “fast fashion” cycle that’s being driven by clothing companies.

Clothing companies are making more clothes than they can even sell

You can walk into any mall or clothing store and see racks and racks of clothing – far more than anyone will ever wear. It’s far more than these companies can even hope to sell.

A big portion of the clothes that become waste were never even worn or used in the first place. A massive 30% of all clothes manufactured globally are never sold.

And in part, that’s intentional. The offerings at these “fast fashion” stores cycle with changing trends, not waiting until a previous stock is sold out. When the season or the fashion changes, retailers may destroy their old stock to make room for the new.

Manufacturing so many clothes is just not sustainable — especially when clothing producers’ plans for dealing with overstock clothing is to trash it or destroy it.

Nearly a third of clothing that we produce is thrown away or destroyed

What kind of waste do you think is the fastest growing problem in America?

Plastic is a good guess: Consider all the packaging on our food and the other things we buy.

But plastic waste is actually a distant second to textile waste. According to one study, textile waste is the fastest growing waste stream in America.

A big part of the reason is fast fashion companies’ practice of overstocking their stores and then destroying unsold garments. And it all adds up fast. In the US alone, we generate enough textile waste to fill the Mall of America– the largest shopping mall in the country — every six days.

We can change the fashion industry for a more sustainable future

If the problem of fashion waste is so enormous, how can we stop it?

It starts with the fashion brands manufacturing so many clothes in the first place – and destroying their unsold stock. Throwing away brand new clothes means that the resource-intensive process required to make new clothes must then be repeated over and over again.

Waste is a design flaw that the fashion industry can solve.  And you can help lead the fashion industry to a more sustainable future by urging Forever 21 to commit to not trashing or burning new, unsold clothing.