Europeans buy more clothes than ever before, according to the EU Environment Agency

According to the report, EU citizens bought an estimated average of 19 kilograms of textiles in the most recent reference year 2022, including 8 kilograms of clothing, 4 kilograms of shoes and 7 kilograms of household textiles.

This is enough to fill a large suitcase with new textiles, emphasize the experts at the Copenhagen-based EU authority. In 2019, the total amount was still 17 kilograms, compared to 14 to 17 kilograms in previous years.

Consequences for the environment and climate

According to the EEA, textile consumption has a major impact on the environment and climate, for example through the consumption of materials, water and land, but also in the form of emissions, chemicals and microplastics. The report shows that politicians, industry and consumers must do their part to ensure that Europe moves away from fast fashion and produces better, more durable textiles that can be reused, repaired and recycled. Innovations towards a circular economy could ultimately also contribute to the EU's competitiveness, according to the report.

According to the report, around 6.94 million tons of textile waste were generated in the 27 EU member states in 2022. This corresponds to a good 16 kilograms per person. The environmental experts see a problem in the fact that far too many discarded textiles still end up in mixed household waste instead of in recycling waste: in the reference year, 85 percent of all textile waste from households was not collected separately.

No more clothes in the residual waste

The EEA is pinning its hopes on a new EU directive having an impact in this regard: from January 1, 2025, textiles must be disposed of separately from other waste. This means that old clothes and used textiles may no longer be thrown into residual waste.

The EEA does not break down the consumption volumes for the individual EU countries. It also pointed out in the report that the estimated quantities are associated with a certain degree of uncertainty. They are therefore calculated from the production and import minus the export of textiles.