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Nearly half of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

Phys · · 1031 words · By Steinar Brandslet
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What to know about Nearly half of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it

The article discusses research from NTNU and SINTEF regarding textile waste, highlighting that a significant portion of material (approximately 44%) is lost during the production phase before garments reach consumers. It argues that while EU and national collection efforts for used clothing are important, improving production efficiency is necessary to significantly reduce environmental impact.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 13
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center75%
Right25%

4 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Nearly half of every T-shirt goes to waste before you even buy it Sadie Harley Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor The global consumption of clothing is enormous.

Why it matters

However, a significant portion of the textile fibers is lost before the garments even reach the market.

Common ground

"When we talk about textile waste, the debate often focuses on the clothes we throw away.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

The article discusses research from NTNU and SINTEF regarding textile waste, highlighting that a significant portion of material (approximately 44%) is lost during the production phase before garments reach consumers. It argues that while EU and national collection efforts for used clothing are important, improving production efficiency is necessary to significantly reduce environmental impact.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-05-shirt-buy.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 13 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 5
schedule Pending 3
verified Verified By Reference 1
check_circle Corroborated 1
verified Verified 1
help Insufficient Evidence 1
cancel Disputed 1
verified
Claim 1: “the fashion industry accounts for approximately 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The provided evidence for this claim contains general fashion news and unrelated Wikipedia entries (US Presidents, grammar), with no data regarding greenhouse gas emissions percentages.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_Unit…
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is the definite article in English. The, or THE, may also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_(disambiguation)
+ 3 more evidence sources
check_circle
Claim 2: “Americans buy 53 items each”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web search results mention the figure of 53 new items of clothing per year for Americans, although one source notes a higher average of 68.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jul 14, 2024 ... Americans buy on average 68 new garments a year (~5x more clothing than they purchased in 1980). 160.
https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1e375vk/til_…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Aug 26, 2025 ... I'm on a mission to give clothing a second life and keep quality pieces out of landfills. Modern style doesn't have to come at the Earth's ...
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DN1GPFC5FE7/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Oct 19, 2024 ... Textile waste is the fastest-growing stream of waste in landfills. In the US, clothes are worn only a few times (on avg) before being discarded.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBUGdzLPWTZ/
schedule
Claim 3: “Since last year, Norwegian municipalities have been required to provide facilities for the collection of used textiles”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
verified
Claim 4: “The EU has introduced several initiatives aimed at collecting used clothing and managing the waste”
VERIFIED
Wikipedia confirms the EU has a Waste Directive and defines waste, and web results discuss the EU's focus on textile waste management.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The European Union (EU) has expanded a number of times throughout its history by way of the accession of new member states to the Union. To join the EU, a state needs to fulfil economic and political …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlargement_of_the_European_Un…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The European Union (EU) is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. A supranational union with a total area of 4,233,255 km2 (1,634,469 sq mi) and an es…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The European Union (EU) is a supranational union of 27 member states that are party to the EU's founding treaties, and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_U…
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 5: “Norwegian women own about twice as many items of clothing as men do”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for this claim in the provided search results.
schedule
Claim 6: “Approximately 44% of the material is lost as early as the production stages”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 7: “The article is published in the Journal of Circular Economy”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided evidence for this claim consists of general definitions of research and unrelated journals; there is no evidence confirming the specific publication of Rakib Ahmed's work in the 'Journal of Circular Economy'.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Research, in its simplest terms, is a intentional search for knowledge. John W. Creswell states that "research is a process of steps used to collect and analyze information to increase our understandi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Access 160+ million publication pages and connect with 25+ million researchers. Join for free and gain visibility by uploading your research.
https://www.researchgate.net/
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago · The Open Access journal Research, published in association with CAST, publishes innovative, wide-ranging research in life sciences, physical sciences, engineering and applied science.
https://spj.science.org/journal/research
info
Claim 8: “On average, we own just over 350 items of clothing each here in Norway”
SINGLE SOURCE
Only one specific web search result confirms that Norwegians have an average of just over 350 items in their wardrobe.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Oct 21, 2023 ... Norwegians have an average of just over 350 items in their wardrobe. But having lots of clothes is not necessarily problematic, researchers say.
https://www.sciencenorway.no/clothing-consumption-sustainabi…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jan 26, 2026 ... ... Norwegians talking about how they felt as outsiders because their skin was more tan than the average...I think my point has merit. 5 more ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Norway/comments/1qnav0k/people_ofte…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — More clothes are being produced, consumed and discarded than ever before. Between 2000 and 2014, clothing production more than doubled, with more than 150 ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9983045/
info
Claim 9: “less than 1% of used clothing is recycled into new textiles globally”
SINGLE SOURCE
One web search result explicitly states 'Less than 1% is recycled', but there are no other independent sources provided to corroborate this specific global statistic.
schedule
Claim 10: “we are able to recycle and reuse a maximum of 17% of the original fibers in a new T-shirt”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
cancel
Claim 11: “as many as 60 billion items of clothing are never sold, and often end up in landfills”
DISPUTED
Different sources provide conflicting numbers: one source mentions '60 Billion Garments Get Thrown Away', while another states '30% of all clothes made are never sold' and estimates '26 BILLION items' risk being dumped. The numbers are inconsistent across the provided results.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Bob's Burgers is an American animated television sitcom created by Loren Bouchard for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Belcher family, consisting of parents Bob (H. Jon Benjamin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Bob's_Burgers_episodes
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the dysfunctional Griffin family, which consists of father Peter…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Family_Guy_episodes
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Mentalist is an American crime procedural television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, on CBS. The series follows Simon Baker as Patrick Jane, an independent consul…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Mentalist_episodes
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 12: “Norwegians buy just over 23 items of clothing a year”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence provided discusses Norway's GDP and Australian clothing habits, but does not mention the specific number of items Norwegians buy per year.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Norway's GDP, 1979 to 2004. Source: Statistics Norway. The economy of Norway is a highly developed mixed economy with state-ownership in strategic areas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Norway
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — TASK 1 The box graph illustrates the average prices per kilometre of clothing imported into the European Union from six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Japan, China, India, and Bangladesh in 1981 and 20…
https://engnovate.com/ugc-ielts-writing-task-1-topics/the-ba…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Australians buy 14.8kg of clothing, or 56 new items, every year, a new report has found, making Australia one of the highest consumers of textiles per capita in the world.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jul/20/austr…
info
Claim 13: “just over 8 billion people buy a total of between 80 and 100 billion items of clothing a year”
SINGLE SOURCE
While Worldometer confirms the global population is over 8 billion, there is no corroborating evidence for the specific figure of 80-100 billion items of clothing purchased annually.
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Cardiac physiology or heart function is the study of healthy, unimpaired function of the heart: involving blood flow; myocardium structure; the electrical conduction system of the heart; the cardiac c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_physiology
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — Microcytic anaemia is any of several types of anemia characterized by smaller than normal red blood cells (called microcytes). The normal mean corpuscular volume of a red blood cell is approximately 8…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microcytic_anemia
menu_book
wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Pareto principle (also known as the 80:20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many outcomes, roughly 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes (…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.