Send less to landfill

The textile industry relies mostly on non-renewable resources, including oil to produce synthetic fibres, fertilisers to grow cotton, and chemicals to produce, dye, and finish fibres and textiles.

The industry’s immense footprint extends beyond the use of raw materials. Greenhouse gas emissions from textiles production total more than those of all international flights and maritime shipping combined.

There are other environmental costs such as:

Textiles production uses around 93 billion cubic metres of water annually, contributing to problems in some water-scarce regions
around 20% of wastewater worldwide comes from fabric dyeing and treatment
Every year approximately half a million tonnes of plastic microfibres shed during the washing of plastic-based textiles such as polyester, nylon, or acrylic make their way into the ocean, impacting the ecosystem, and even entering the food chain for those consuming seafood.
The use of substances of concern in textile production has negative effects on farmers, factory workers, and the surrounding environment
Switching to recycled polyester fabric can release half to a quarter of the emissions of virgin polyester, but polyester takes hundreds of years to decompose and can lead to microfibres escaping into the environment
Textiles made from recycled bottles takes those bottles out of their own closed-loop system where they could be recycled up to ten times, as bottles. Being placed in a new process, where it's unlikely they can be recycled again, will probably be destined for landfill sooner

Where do our shoes and clothing end up?

of the total fibre input used for clothing, 87% is incinerated or disposed of in landfill
95% of the textiles that are landfilled each year could be recycled
less than 1% of used clothing is recycled into new garments
more than 85% of sports shoes end up being incinerated or in landfill
in New Zealand approximately 220,000 tonnes of textile waste is sent to landfill each year, equating to 397,440,000 CO₂e in emissions

References