The fashion industry emits more carbon than international flights and maritime transport combined: these are its biggest consequences on the planet

It is already known that some things in modern life, such as international flights, the use of plastics or even driving to work, for example, have an environmental impact. But when it comes to clothing, its impact is less obvious.

As consumers around the world buy more clothes, the growing market for cheap items and new styles is affecting the planet. On average, people bought 60% more clothing in 2014 than they did in 2000. Fashion products account for 10% of the world's carbon emissions, but this industry dries up water resources and pollutes rivers and streams .

What's more, 85% of textiles go to landfill each year. And washing certain types of clothing sends thousands of microplastics into the ocean.

Here you can see the most significant consequences that the fashion industry has on the planet.

Clothing production has almost doubled since 2000

Source:McKinsey & Company

While consumers bought 60% more clothes in 2014 than in 2000, they only kept the clothes half the time.

Source: McKinsey & Company, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

In Europe, fashion companies went from an average offer of two collections per year in 2000 to five in 2011.

Source: European Parliament

Some brands offer even more. Zara puts out 24 collections a year, while H&M offers between 12 and 16.

Source: European Parliament

Many of these garments end up in the landfill. The equivalent of a garbage truck full of clothing is burned or thrown into a landfill every second.

Source: United Nations Environment Program (UNEP)

In total, almost 85% of clothing goes to landfill each year. It's enough to fill Sydney Harbor every year.

Source: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), World Resources Institute (WRI)

Washing your clothes sends up to 500,000 tons of microfibers into the ocean every year, the equivalent of 50,000 plastic bottles.

Source: UNEP, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Many of these fibers are polyester, a plastic found in 60% of clothing. Polyester manufacturing produces two to three times more carbon than cotton, and polyester does not break down in the ocean.

Source: Greenpeace, WRI

A 2017 report by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimated that 35% of microplastics, small pieces of plastic that do not break down, in the ocean come from the washing of synthetic textiles such as polyester.

Source: IUCN

After all, microplastics are estimated to make up 31% of plastic pollution in the ocean.

Source: IUCN

The fashion industry is responsible for 10% of humanity's carbon emissions.

Source:UNEP

This implies more emissions than international flights and maritime transport combined.

Source:UNEP

If the fashion sector continues on this trajectory, this share of carbon could be 26% by 2050, according to a 2017 report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

Source: Ellen MacArthur Foundation

The fashion industry is also the second largest consumer of water in the world.

Source:UNECE

More than 2,600 liters of water are needed to produce a cotton jersey. This is enough water for a person to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day for three and a half years.

Source:WRI

More than 7,500 liters of water are needed to produce a pair of trousers. It is more than enough for a person to drink eight glasses of water a day for ten years.

Source:UNEP

This is because both the pants and the sweater are made from a water-intensive plant: cotton.

In Uzbekistan, for example, cotton farming consumed so much water from the Aral Sea that it dried up after 50 years. Once one of the four largest lakes in the world, the Aral Sea is now little more than a desert and some small ponds

Source: Business Insider

Fashion also causes pollution problems in the water. Textile dyeing is the second largest source of water pollution, as it is often discharged into streams, ditches or rivers.

Source: UNEP, The New York Times, The Guardian

The process of dyeing fabrics uses enough water to fill two million Olympic swimming pools each year.

Source:WRI

All in all, the fashion industry is responsible for 20% of all industrial water pollution worldwide.

Source: WRI,UNEP

Some retail companies are beginning to counter these trends with initiatives to reduce textile pollution and grow cotton sustainably. In March, the UN launched the Alliance for Sustainable Fashion, which coordinates the efforts of various agencies to make the industry less polluting.

Source: Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals, Better Cotton Initiative, UNEP