Fashion spans raw materials, manufacturing, trade, household consumption and disposal. The statistics below distinguish global textiles and clothing trade, EU-27 consumption footprints, U.S. municipal solid waste, and USDA cotton marketing-year estimates, so the figures are not interchangeable.
Key Fashion Industry Statistics
These highlights capture the most useful figures across the fashion value chain:
- In 2022, textiles and clothing represented 3.7% of world merchandise exports.
- In 2022, Asia accounted for 70.6% of world textiles and clothing exports.
- In 2022, services supplied 34.7% of the value added in world textiles and clothing exports.
- In 2022, EU-27 residents consumed an average of 19 kg of clothing, footwear and household textiles per person.
- In 2022, EU apparent textile consumption reached about 8.5 million tonnes.
- From 2019 to 2022, average EU textile consumption increased from 17 kg to 19 kg per person.
- In 2022, EU textile consumption caused 159 million tonnes of CO2e across its upstream value chain.
- In 2022, EU textile consumption used 234 million tonnes of raw materials.
- In 2022, about 85% of the blue-water footprint of EU textiles occurred outside Europe.
- In 2022, the EU textile land-use footprint was about 323 m2 per person.
- In 2018, the United States generated 17.03 million tons of textiles in municipal solid waste.
- In 2018, the U.S. textile recycling rate was 14.7%.
- In 2022, EU-27 textile waste totaled an estimated 6.94 million tonnes.
- In marketing year 2024/25, world cotton production was estimated at 119.53 million 480-pound bales.
- For marketing year 2025/26, USDA projected world cotton production at 121.95 million 480-pound bales.
- In 2022, China’s domestic content was 89.1% of its textiles and clothing exports.
Contents
- Key Fashion Industry Statistics
- Global Fashion Industry Trade Statistics and Value Chains
- EU Fashion and Textile Consumption Statistics
- Fashion Industry Environmental Statistics: Materials, Emissions, Water and Land
- Textile Waste and Recycling Statistics
- Cotton Supply Statistics and the Fiber Base of Fashion
- Fashion Manufacturing Statistics by Region and Country
Global Fashion Industry Trade Statistics and Value Chains
The WTO textiles and clothing definition covers manufacture of textiles and wearing apparel under ISIC Rev. 3.1 divisions 17 and 18.
In 2022, this sector represented 3.7% of world merchandise exports, while Asia supplied 70.6% and Europe 21.1% of world sector exports. WTO Global Value Chains Sectoral Profiles: Textiles and Clothing Industry
Asia’s share rose from 59.4% in 2017 to 70.6% in 2022. About 80% of Asia’s textiles and clothing exports were regional in 2022, whereas Europe’s regional value-added content was 65%, the lowest regional rate identified in the WTO comparison.
The export value is distributed across a wider chain than textile and apparel manufacturing alone:
- The textiles and clothing industry supplied 36.4% of the value added embodied in its world exports in 2022.
- Services supplied 34.7% of that value added in 2022, including services used across the supply chain rather than only fashion retail.
- Agriculture supplied 10.9% in 2022, covering upstream inputs such as cotton and wool.
- Chemicals supplied 5.6% in 2022, including chemical inputs and synthetic-fiber production.
These are trade-in-value-added estimates, not retail sales or counts of garments. The remainder is supplied by other upstream and service sectors in the WTO accounting framework.
EU Fashion and Textile Consumption Statistics
The European Environment Agency defines apparent consumption as production plus imports minus exports. Its EU-27 measure excludes carpets and industrial or technical textiles, so it describes clothing, footwear and household textiles rather than every textile product.
EU residents consumed 19 kg per person in 2022, equal to about 8.5 million tonnes across the EU-27. Clothing accounted for about 8 kg per person, footwear 4.4 kg, and household textiles 7.6 kg. Circularity of the EU textiles value chain in numbers
| EU-27 apparent consumption category | 2022 quantity | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| Clothing | About 8 kg per person | Component of textile consumption |
| Footwear | About 4.4 kg per person | Component of textile consumption |
| Household textiles | About 7.6 kg per person | Component of textile consumption |
| Total clothing, footwear and household textiles | 19 kg per person | Apparent consumption |
Average consumption increased from 17 kg per person in 2019 to 19 kg in 2022. Across 2010–2019, the series fluctuated between 14 and 17 kg per person, while textiles represented about 5% of EU household expenditure over approximately 2012–2022.
The EEA reports that EU textile consumption per person was 15% higher in 2022 than in 2010. COVID-era changes affect the 2019–2022 interval, and the expenditure share is not clothing-only spending.
Fashion Industry Environmental Statistics: Materials, Emissions, Water and Land
The EEA footprint allocates upstream impacts to products consumed by EU households, including impacts outside Europe. In 2022, EU textile consumption used 234 million tonnes of raw materials, or 523 kg per person, and two-thirds of those materials were extracted or produced outside Europe.
| EU-27 textile-consumption footprint | 2022 estimate | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Greenhouse-gas emissions | 159 million tonnes CO2e; 355 kg per person | Upstream life-cycle footprint |
| Raw materials | 234 million tonnes; 523 kg per person | Includes oil, natural gas and cotton fibers |
| Blue water | 5,300 million m3; 12 m3 per person | Consumed surface and groundwater |
| Land use | 144,000 km2; 323 m2 per person | Upstream land-use footprint |
About 70% of emissions from EU-consumed textiles were released outside Europe in 2022, mostly attributed to Asian production. Emissions decreased 22% from 2010 to 2022, while emissions intensity fell 32%; intensity is an EEA-derived measure of emissions per volume consumed, not a laboratory measurement per garment.
Producing textiles purchased by EU households required about 5,300 million cubic metres of blue water in 2022. About 85% occurred outside Europe, with much of the water use associated with cotton production, and per-person water use was nearly unchanged from 2010 to 2022, changing by -1%.
More than 80% of the land-use impact was generated outside Europe in 2022. Land use increased 3% from 2010 to 2022 while consumption per person increased 15%; both comparisons are based on EEA modeled footprint and apparent-consumption estimates. Circularity of the EU textiles value chain in numbers
Textile Waste and Recycling Statistics
Waste statistics use different national and regional systems. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency measures municipal solid waste, while the EEA’s EU-27 estimate combines separately collected waste with estimated textile content in mixed household waste.
In the United States, 17.03 million tons of textiles entered municipal solid waste in 2018, representing 5.8% of total MSW generation. The EPA estimated that 2.51 million tons were recycled, a 14.7% recycling rate for all textiles in its MSW system. Textiles: Material-Specific Data
- Clothing and footwear had an estimated 13% recycling rate in the United States in 2018.
- Sheets and pillowcases had an estimated 15.8% recycling rate in the United States in 2018.
- U.S. facilities combusted 3.22 million tons of textiles with energy recovery in 2018, equal to 9.3% of all U.S. MSW combusted with energy recovery.
- U.S. landfills received 11.30 million tons of textiles in 2018, equal to 7.7% of all MSW landfilled.
The EPA generation estimate does not include textiles entering reuse markets until they later enter municipal solid waste. The product-specific clothing and footwear estimate is partly based on American Textile Recycling Service information.
For the EU-27, textile waste totaled an estimated 6.94 million tonnes in 2022, or about 16 kg per person. Of that total, textiles and shoes not separately collected amounted to 11.1 kg per person, while separately collected textiles from households and economic activities amounted to 4.6 kg per person. Textile waste generation per person in the EU per year
The EU post-consumer estimate excludes textiles sent for reuse, and its mixed-waste component relies on country waste-composition analyses that are not harmonized. Collection systems and reporting also differ by country.
Cotton Supply Statistics and the Fiber Base of Fashion
Cotton is one upstream input in the fashion fiber base, but USDA figures are agricultural marketing-year measures rather than calendar-year totals for fashion production. World cotton production was estimated at 119.53 million 480-pound bales in marketing year 2024/25.
USDA projected 121.95 million 480-pound bales for 2025/26, with a reported year-over-year change of 2%. The 2025/26 figures are forecasts subject to revision. Cotton
| Cotton area harvested | Marketing year 2025/26 | Measurement status |
|---|---|---|
| India | 11.5 million hectares | USDA forecast |
| United States | 3.2 million hectares | USDA forecast |
| China | 3.1 million hectares | USDA forecast |
These area figures describe cotton production geography, not the location of finished garment manufacturing or the share of cotton in all clothing. The marketing-year basis also means they should not be compared directly with the calendar-year trade and waste figures above.
Fashion Manufacturing Statistics by Region and Country
WTO domestic-content and foreign-value-added measures show how much export value is generated inside or outside the exporting economy. They do not measure factory employment, garment counts or retail sales, and countries with different production structures should be compared cautiously.
| Economy | 2022 textiles and clothing export measure |
|---|---|
| China | 89.1% domestic content |
| India | 83.2% domestic content |
| United States | 85.4% domestic value added |
| Brazil | 82.9% domestic value added |
| Mexico | 65.8% domestic value added |
| Vietnam | 64.2% foreign value-added content |
| Cambodia | 58.0% foreign value-added content |
| Indonesia | 49.0% foreign value-added content |
China’s textile and clothing companies represented 13.5% of world sector exports in 2022. Vietnam’s 64.2% foreign-input share reflects imported materials used in cut-make-trim production, while the comparable foreign-input shares for Cambodia and Indonesia were 58% and 49%, respectively. WTO Global Value Chains Sectoral Profiles: Textiles and Clothing Industry
The WTO’s sector definition and TiVA method allocate value across manufacturing, agriculture, chemicals, services and other upstream sectors. That structure explains why export shares and domestic-content percentages describe different dimensions of the fashion industry.