Fast fashion has long been blamed for turning clothes into disposable goods. But how much difference would it make if we changed the way we shop, wear, and pass on our wardrobes? A team of researchers in Norway has just given us some answers – and they’re both promising and sobering.

Who Did the Study?

The research was led by María Carolina Mora-Sojo, Kamila Krych, and Johan Berg Pettersen from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), and published in Resources, Conservation & Recycling in 2023.

How Did They Do It?

Instead of looking at individual garments, the team examined the entire clothing system of Norwegian households in 2018, a country known for high clothing consumption per person. They combined:

Material Flow Analysis (MFA): mapping how clothes enter households (new purchases, second-hand, inheritance) and how they leave (waste, incineration, resale, exports).
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA): calculating the environmental footprint of clothing across production, use, and disposal, including impacts on climate, water, and energy.

Then, they tested a “circular scenario” where Norwegians embraced second-hand shopping, clothing rentals, and better textile collection systems.

How Long Do Clothes Actually Last?

One of the most eye-opening findings was just how short the lifespan of many garments really is:

T-shirts & underwear – the biggest category by volume, are worn so frequently that they have the shortest life. They dominate new purchases (over a third of items) but are rarely reused. On average, they last only about 2 years in active use before being discarded.
Outerwear – coats, jackets and ski suits, has the highest climate impact per piece because of heavy materials and production energy. Yet these items are often rented or resold, stretching their life to 5–6 years on average.
Pullovers & knitwear – cardigans, sweaters – fall in between, typically lasting around 3–4 years, but many end up incinerated rather than reused.
Trousers, skirts & dresses – make up nearly 30% of purchases by weight and last roughly 3 years, though quality and fabric type matter a lot.
Accessories & baby clothes – accessories (scarves, gloves) are reused longer, while baby garments are quickly outgrown, often lasting less than a year before being passed on or discarded.

In short: our wardrobes are dominated by short-lived basics, while the longest-lived pieces (outerwear, accessories) are fewer but far more resource-intensive to make.

What Did They Find?

The results reveal just how linear, and wasteful, our wardrobes are:

In 2018, Norwegians bought 58,000 tonnes of clothing, around 41 items per person.
95% of garments were new, and most left the system via incineration (41%) or export (58%), with very little domestic resale.
Production of new clothes caused 87% of the climate impact and 97% of water use in the system.

When the researchers modeled a circular fashion future, with second-hand and rental scaled up, the results were striking:

Circularity jumped from 5% to 74%.
Climate impacts dropped by 57%.
Water scarcity impacts fell by 62%.
Energy demand shrank by 47%.

But here’s the catch: those reductions still assume we keep buying the same number of garments. To go further, we’d need to buy less overall.

Why Does This Matter for Fashion?

The study confirms what many in sustainable fashion have long argued: second-hand and rental aren’t just trends, they’re key to reducing fashion’s footprint. But it also highlights the cultural challenge: unless we tackle overconsumption and our desire for constant newness, the system will hit a wall.

As lead author Mora-Sojo points out, “Even in a highly circular scenario, the benefits plateau if consumption levels stay the same.” In other words: buying differently helps, but buying less is the real game-changer.

What Can Consumers Do?

Prioritise second-hand: Each pre-loved piece delays production of a new one.
Try rentals for occasion wear: Outerwear, dresses, and accessories show the greatest environmental savings when rented.
Invest in longevity: Well-made clothes that last through multiple owners multiply their impact savings.
Embrace sufficiency: Fewer purchases, more creativity with what you own.

How Long Do Our Clothes Really Last? A Groundbreaking Study Reveals the Answer