How to take action against clothing waste?

The textile industry is the 2nd most polluting industry in the world, ahead of international flights and maritime traffic combined. Its carbon footprint reaches 1.2 billion tons of greenhouse gases.

It is also the 3rd largest water-consuming sector in the world:

• 2,700 liters of water are needed to produce a simple t-shirt — the equivalent of 70 showers.
• The textile industry uses 4% of the planet's available drinking water.

In Europe, 4 million tons of textiles are discarded each year. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation report:

• 73% of textile fibers are disposed of, incinerated, or landfilled.
• Less than 1% are reused to make new clothes.
• Waste accounts for $460 billion annually worldwide.

For more information, the ADEME has published a reference study on the environmental impacts of fashion and fast fashion.

Clothing waste refers to the misuse of TLC — Textile clothing, Linen, Clothes — to the point of losing them without benefiting from them.

It is particularly manifested by the destruction of unsold goods that are still usable. Three emblematic cases illustrate this:

• H&M (2017) — a Danish investigation revealed that the brand had incinerated 60,000 tons of unsold goods.
• Burberry (2017) — the luxury brand admitted to destroying clothing and cosmetic products worth 31 million euros, in the name of preserving its brand image.
• Amazon (2019) — the giant was accused of discarding more than 3.2 million new items in one year in France.

In France, up to 20,000 tons of textiles are destroyed each year, according to the government — equivalent to twice the weight of the Eiffel Tower.

In February 2020, France became the first country in the world to prohibit companies from destroying their unsold non-food items, whether by incineration or landfill. This is the AGEC law — law on combating waste for a circular economy, explained in detail on the Ministry of Ecology's website.

At the European level, the European Union issued several directives in 2018 aimed at reducing the impact of textile waste. Member states must transpose these objectives into their national law but remain free to choose their own measures. As a result, legislations remain very disparate in Europe. The challenge now is to unify European standards so that all companies are subject to the same rules.

Fighting clothing waste means giving a second life to textiles that still have potential. Four concrete actions:

1. Resell

Platforms like Vinted, Vestiaire Collective (high-end), Once Again (online thrift store), or la Reboucle (household linen, created by La Redoute) allow you to easily sell what you no longer wear.

Your responsibility as a consumer begins from the moment of purchase. The idea is not to stop consuming, but to consume better.

2. Donate

45,000 collection points exist in France. Find the one closest to you using Refashion's interactive map.

Check that your textiles are in good condition before dropping them off.

3. Repair

A hole, a stain, a missing button? That's no reason to throw it away. Three useful resources:

Repair cafés — over 300 in France, find yours on repaircafe.org.

The YouTube channel Couture Académie to learn how to repair everything from home.

The Djossye stain guide to remove the stain that prevents you from wearing your clothes again.

4. Reinvent

Customize — transform your clothes with your creativity.

Recycle — add value to your textiles: jeans can become insulation, sneakers can become sports field surfacing. Products made from recycled fibers processed locally have an almost zero ecological impact, making them an essential link in the circular economy.