Despite news that Zara has quietly closed 60 of its stores across many major cities in 2025, the company is still up 10% year-over-year. The store closures hint at a pivot towards more interest-specific stores, such as Zara Man or Zara Home, and it seems they are closing stores in preparation for this shift. This news comes at the same time the consulting company, McKinsey (a diabolically inept firm but that is for another time), reports three in five garments produced globally end up in landfills or incinerators each year.
So for every five new garments placed on the shelves, three of them, 60%, are discarded per year. This highlights a serious problem in the fashion industry: the “take—make—dispose” linear model of clothing consumption:
Take - extract raw materials
Make - manufacture garments using the raw materials
Dispose - end of life means landfill or incineration
McKinsey cited three main reasons for the rise of this model in the past few decades:
1. The rise of fast fashion and lightning fast trends, which come and go within months or even weeks, leaving many items unworn or barely worn and already out of style
2. The lack of viable textile recycling - most recycling plants do not have the technology or ability to turn discarded clothes into usable fibers
3. Overproduction from the industry - while Zara and H&M are churning out billions of garments a year, consumer demand is struggling to keep up. I had an experience the other day at a retail store where I was returning a bra for in-store credit. The shop clerk let me know I had “numerous” coupons I could use towards the purchase of something else in the store. I wandered around for about five minutes, heady with the idea of getting to purchase something new, when I realized I did not need anything in the store. I had plenty of pajamas, and the ones they had displayed were mainly poly blends. I had enough things, regardless of whether or not they were a “great deal”.
So I walked out without using the coupons and with my small refund in hand. It’s the same feeling I get when I walk past an H&M or Walmart clothing section: there’s just SO MUCH clothing. And I live in a fairly small community. When I multiply the amount of cheap sweatshirts I’m seeing in just one store across the thousands of stores in America, it makes me shudder to think where all these items are supposed to go. Not home with me, and, apparently, not home with anyone else either given 60% will end up in a landfill within the next 8 months.
4. Lack of End of Life Solutions - only a small percentage of donated clothing makes it onto the rack and into someone else’s closet. This aligns with my experience volunteering at a local Youth Ranch Donation Center when I was in college. There were mountains of donated clothes (even one bright red, fishnet bodysuit… used, of course). It was our job to sift through them and find things worth saving. The volume of clothing was overwhelming, and only a quarter of it was in good enough condition to re-sell in the adjacent thrift store. The rest was tossed. Many times have I fallen prey to the mindset of “as long as I’m donating it, it doesn’t really count as waste”.
Even with my experience in the donation center; even with my understanding of all the statistics around donated clothing; I still fall into the false virtue trap absolving my clothing sins through the cleansing words of “At least I donated it”.
This linear model of fashion contrasts heavily with the more circular model clothing had for the vast majority of human history. In the Regency era of England, for example, a dress which had become too worn to wear out would then be turned into an everyday wear item for errands and chores. From there, it would be refashioned into another gown with the style updated to the latest fashion and regularly passed down to the next generation. Once the fabric was truly past its prime, they would turn it into a nightgown and from there into kitchen rags.
In contrast a circular clothing model replaces the take-make-dispose system with a system where clothing is design - use - recover - regenerate.
Design - It starts with using durable fabrics with high-end construction which can easily be altered, repaired, and relined for long-term wear and re-wear. The components (buttons, zippers, fabrics) can be disassembled and re-used. If a component cannot survive time; it cannot be circular.
Use - use more, and use better. Meaning clothing is created to be worn for a longer period of time. This model assumes higher cost per garment and much lower cost per wear. Tailoring, fit, and durable construction matter significantly in this model.
Recover - maintenance and repair of items is a critical component to a circular model. Buttons, zippers, belts, linings - every piece can be replaced to add to the life of the garment. Repair is a feature of this model, not a failure.
Regenerate - regeneration comes in many forms: garments are resold, passed down, traded back to the brand, or remade into something entirely new. Recycling is the last resort in this model. High quality pieces naturally retain their value - something we have seen with the rise of Gen Z and Millennials purchasing more used luxury items than new luxury items.
However, even with Zara still showing year-over-year growth and little intention of curbing overproduction, there are glimmers of hope.
- 93% of American purchased something second-hand in the past year, with the younger generations showing a keen interest in second-hand items with over half preferring second-hand when available.
- Second-hand garments now account for nearly 30% of people’s wardrobes, a clear indication this is no longer a niche thrifting hobby.
- Online resale is projected to grow more quickly than the broader apparel market over the next four years.
All is not lost, and indeed, I am eager to see a real change in the fashion consumer’s mindset over the next five years. Perhaps it has already begun.
Elise
