It’s no secret that fast fashion is a major contributor to the growing problem of post-consumer textile waste across the globe, not to mention the stress manufacturers are putting on our planet, but what does that mean in terms of numbers? Here are a few pretty staggering statistics that provide a lot of insight into how damaging the industry truly is. They also point to the fact that the individual decisions we make as consumers really do matter because, collectively, these actions have serious consequences that affect us all. So without further ado, here are a handful of stats to make you think twice about your next purchase or toss, whichever may come first.

• The average American discards more than 80 pounds of clothes each year.
• Annually, an estimated 100 million tons of textile waste is created worldwide. By 2030, that number is expected to pack on close to another 50 million tons.
• The industry as a whole is responsible for 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions and 20% of global wastewater.
• Textile production alone releases 1.3 billion tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere every year.

In short, how the vast majority of us allow trends to dictate a garment’s shelf life and how that causes us to overconsume is, in fact, the driving force behind all of these statistics. Understand that without paying customers, companies couldn’t possibly afford to produce as much clothing as they do. It’s the turnover rate of our own closets that is single-handedly driving this industry. As simple as it may sound, we are that demand, and so in some way, we are the problem.

But the customer shouldn’t be the one to bear the burden of having to educate himself on an industry in which he doesn’t even work. That’s the brand’s responsibility, yet it’s rarely taken on, and so most Americans are left not considering how labor and resource intensive garment making actually is.

For something as seemingly inconsequential as a T-shirt, from seed to finished product, it can take upwards of a year to make. And the stress that the production of that single T-shirt places on the environment shouldn’t be disregarded to the extent that it is.

It’s said that the average garment is worn just about seven times before it’s tossed aside to make room for something else. On the high end of the spectrum, our T-shirt example will stick around for two years tops.

Half of it has to do with trends and how trends influence consumer behavior, and the other half of it has to do with a pre-ordained shelf life as a result of shoddy materials and construction. Pair that with the companies routinely tapping into non-renewable resources to manufacture cheap, synthetic fibers to use to make fabric and churn out a nauseating amount of clothes across innumerable brands, and we have an entire industry setting us up for irreversible damage to our planet.

Considering this, Gomorrah set out to make clothes that will not only outperform their counterparts from a construction standpoint, but will also score higher on any sustainability metric currently used to measure eco-friendly apparel.

Aside from the zippers we use in our bottoms, every inch of the clothing we manufacture is 100% compostable, so it will safely disintegrate into non-toxic, natural elements, provide food for microbes and bugs, and enrich the soil. What’s more is that we see benefits all throughout the supply chain as well as the life cycle of the garment itself whenever we choose to make clothes this way. And unlike other clothes, our microfiber emissions are inconsequential as a result of the goods we source being completely safe from a human-ecological perspective. Likewise, our factory workers aren’t exposed to anything that is considered to be hazardous to their health while working on our runs. And because our dye houses are committed to wastewater treatment, surrounding communities remain by and large unaffected.

On the D2C side of our business, we offer deep discounts for those subscribed to our mailing list, and we generally drop new styles twice a year. Subscribe today to be the first to know about our limited runs and expect to receive discounts below the price of wholesale.