Help us continue to do this work. Become a supporter
Support this work
Our World in Charts

Our World in Charts is a unique collection of hundreds of charts published by The Outlier. The charts cover key issues both in South Africa and around the world on topics such as education, economy, politics, sport and more. Republish our charts for free.

Click To View More Charts
Water 2023-08-16
  • The textile and fashion industry is one of the largest consumers of water, using 79-trillion litres a year-Because cotton production is so water-intensive, it takes the equivalent of 3 years of one person's drinking water to make one T-shirt from crop to end product

The textile and fashion industry is one of the heaviest consumers of the world's water. It uses more than 79-trillion litres of water a year – enough to fill 31.6-million Olympic-sized swimming pools. The industry has a long supply chain – from production to retail – and each has an environmental impact. Take cotton, for example. Between 7,000 and 29,000 litres of water are used to produce 1kg of raw cotton, depending on where it's grown. One T-shirt can take up to 2,700 litres of water to make. That's enough drinking water for one person for 3 years.

— 16 August, 2023

Subscribe to the weekly newsletter for more charts like this

Read by 10k+ professionals every week ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Our charts have been featured in ...
BusinessTech
Daily Investor
Daily Maverick
Experian
GroundUp
MoneyWeb
MyBroadband
Reuters
The Continent
The Conversation
The Open Letter
The South African
Times Live
Top Auto
Vestact