The global fast fashion industry is generating mountains of reusable clothing that still end up discarded due to weak recycling systems, low resale value and overwhelming overproduction according to a new analysis examining Europe’s growing textile waste crisis.
The report Sorting for Circularity: Project Rewear studied more than 8,000 garments across four European Union countries and found that a majority of discarded clothing remained wearable.
Researchers discovered that 37 percent of the garments showed no damage at all, while another 41 percent had only minor flaws that could be repaired, cleaned, or restored for reuse.
Despite this, most of the clothing never re-enters circulation.
The findings have renewed concerns about the environmental impact of ultra fast fashion brands such as H&M and Shein, which rapidly introduce massive volumes of new styles into global markets every year.
According to the report, H&M added more than 4,000 new styles to its online catalogue in 2022, while Shein reportedly introduced over 300,000 new products, helping make it one of the world’s most searched fashion brands.
Researchers say the speed and scale of production are overwhelming the systems designed to support clothing reuse.
Globally, more than 92 million tonnes of textiles are discarded annually, yet only 0.3 percent are kept in circulation earlier estimates suggest.
The study found that while many garments are technically reusable, the infrastructure needed to process them remains severely underdeveloped.
Tasks such as cleaning, repair, depilling, restoration, sorting, authentication, and logistics require specialised labour, storage space, technology, and financial resources that many reuse operators especially charities and non profit organisations struggle to maintain at scale.
The report also highlighted how consumer behaviour and market perceptions undermine second hand fashion.
Researchers noted that the extremely low price of new fast fashion garments has reduced the resale value of used clothing. Only about 5 to 10 percent of second-hand garments are able to fetch strong resale prices.
“Consumer expectations are shaped by the artificially low cost of new clothing, while operational costs for logistics, authentication, and other services remain high,” the report stated.
Although resale platforms, repair businesses, rental services, charities, and social enterprises form part of the growing “rewear” economy, the study found that progress remains uneven. Some start-ups have grown successfully, while others continue struggling to remain financially sustainable.
The report warned that expanding rewear systems alone will not solve the fashion industry’s environmental crisis unless clothing overproduction is also reduced.
Researchers argued that the transition to a circular fashion economy requires broader structural change involving governments, businesses, financial institutions, and consumers.
One policy tool highlighted as promising was Extended Producer Responsibility, under which fashion companies would pay fees based on how environmentally damaging or sustainable their products are.
The report said such measures could help push manufacturers toward producing longer-lasting and less wasteful clothing.
The study also examined the global impact of second-hand clothing exports, particularly in economically poorer countries such as Ghana and Pakistan.
In Kantamanto Market, around 15 million second-hand garments reportedly arrive every week, supporting a vast informal economy of traders, tailors, and repair workers.
However, researchers noted that large quantities of unsellable clothing eventually become waste, leaving local communities to manage the environmental burden generated largely by wealthier countries.
In Pakistan the second hand clothing economy has evolved into a major sorting, recycling, and re export industry. The country imports more than 800,000 tonnes of used clothing annually, much of it processed through the Karachi Export Processing Zone before being exported to markets in East Africa.
The report concluded that without major changes to production systems and consumer culture, fast fashion’s waste crisis will continue to grow despite increasing interest in clothing reuse and circular economy models.