Seamless CEO Ainsley Simpson shares her insights on the new clothing benchmarking data. While Australians are shopping for more second hand clothes, in 2023 we each bought 53 new items of clothing on average and 222,000 tonnes of clothing was sent to Australian landfill, reinforcing the need for systemic change.
The new national clothing benchmark, released in November 2024 is our baseline to credibly demonstrate that the clothing industry is making progress toward a more sustainable, circular, low emission future.
It will enable us all to track what is working well, and where improvement is needed across our strategic priorities of circular design, circular business models, closing the loop through reuse and recycling and citizen behaviour change.
Importantly, we have referenced our data sources and have been transparent about our assumptions, so that every year our dataset becomes stronger and more refined. The next stage is to analyse the economics and emissions against our baseline, which will be shared in early 2025.
Major findings
There are three major findings for our sector which reflect on yesterday and today, and chart our course for tomorrow.
1. Clothing production and consumption remains high
Clothing production for the Australian market has increased dramatically over the last 30 years, with 1.46 billion units placed on the market last year.
Clothing consumption remains very high with 1.42 billion new items of clothing sold in Australia in 2023. That’s an average of 53 new items of clothing per person and is a staggering four-fold increase on the number of items sold 30 years ago.
Notably however, the present day is a significant moment in time; for the very first time we saw a reversal in a 30 year growth trajectory, with clothing consumption falling by 12% since 2018.
2. Australians are buying differently
More than ever, Australians are selling, swapping and sharing clothing. The number of second-hand clothes sold in Australia increased by 18% to 240 million garments in the last five years, which is an average of nine preloved items entering the wardrobe of every Australian.
This is being enabled by responsible clothing brands and retailers, commercial and charitable reuse operators, and everyday Australians, like you and me. What’s interesting is that this reflects what is happening in more progressive markets like Europe, where clothing is the best performing re-commerce category in the UK.
These findings can also be attributed to the inflationary pressures impacting cost of living and the retail sector, and a growing awareness about sustainability, as well as the many opportunities for government, business and each of us to be more environmentally and socially responsible. These include positive changes through policy, procurement and personal commitment.
3. We’re recycling more, but over 200,000 tonnes of clothing ended up in landfill
The efforts of innovative recycling operators, charities and their brand partners are having an impact, with a 17% increase in the total volume of clothing recycled last year, including over 10,000 tonnes here in Australia.
Despite these encouraging signs, last year we sent 222,000 tonnes of clothing to Australian landfill. While this is a small 4% reduction from 2018, this figure is still far too high - we are running out of landfill space and clothing is contaminating our environment.
Where to from here?
The new clothing benchmark shows that while individual organisations are making some progress, and Australians are starting to change their buying behaviours, now is the time to be part of a collective and collaborative national solution.
It is the time because government, clothing brands and industry stakeholders are uniting through Seamless. For the first time in 30 years, demand for Australian clothing is decreasing and there is no better place to start with shared investment in new business models and infrastructure than now. Opportunity is knocking and it’s time we all stepped through the open door.
Work is well underway for the Seamless collective, with our immediate priorities being:
- Developing better practices, principles and methodologies for circular design
- Supporting brands to help their customers keep clothing in circulation for longer
- Working together on a national system for collection, sorting and recycling clothing.
Uniting industries is powerful work. It requires persistence, professionalism but most of all it requires humility – because it’s not about being the best, or the biggest; it’s about collectively being better than we all were the day before.
So, as we continuously improve for a more promising circular future, prioritising nature, and helping people choose, enjoy and recycle their clothes more responsibly, I want to thank you all for uniting.
Find out more and download the data summary.
