The Clothes Sizing Crisis and Its Environmental Cost

Author: Ella Blake, Reviewed: Hai Le

Updated on July 30, 2025 • Estimated read time: 7 minutes

According to Earth.org, the fashion industry produces around 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually. That the equivalent of a garbage truck full of textiles ends up in landfill sites every second.

While fast fashion’s overproduction has long been in the spotlight, a less discussed but equally damaging issue is driving that waste: clothes that simply don’t fit.

Every year in the UK alone, millions of garments are returned, binned, or abandoned simply because they didn’t fit. And even worse, most of these returns are never resold. Many are incinerated or discarded — often after travelling thousands of miles.

The result? A hidden yet massive environmental cost.

In this blog post, I want to show you the clothes sizing crisis and its environmental cost. I'll also bring you a simple solution that could reshape the way you shop for clothes, and maybe could even fix this whole sizing problem.

The Problem With Clothes Sizing

The average UK shopper has around £1,000 worth of unworn clothes at home. These aren’t impulse buys gone wrong — they’re often items that arrived, looked good, but didn’t fit properly. Instead of returning, they’re forgotten. (Or worse, returned and destroyed)

When a size 12 at one brand fits like a 10 at another, consumers compensate by buying multiple sizes, returning what doesn't work, or simply giving up and letting ill-fitting purchases gather dust.

Poor sizing drives a staggering cycle of over-ordering, returns, and wardrobe waste.

Most of the items returned to retailers from the consumer end up in landfills. This is mainly because it costs more to the company to put them back in circulation than to get rid of them.

Fun Fact: According to a logistics company, Optoro, an estimate of 16 million tonnes of CO2 emissions were created by online returns in the US in 2020, the equivalent to the emissions of 3.5 million cars driving on the road for a year.

Also, according to a survey done by McKinsey & Company, sizing issues account for up to 70% of all returns. 

The result? Mountains of waste from a problem that shouldn't exist.

Summary: We all know that feeling when we order clothes online and they arrive completely wrong. Too tight, too loose, or just... off somehow. We're not imagining it. A size 12 at H&M fits nothing like a size 12 at Zara. And that confusion is creating a massive environmental problem.

Photo: © vova-shevchuk via canva.com

The Environmental Impact Of Clothes Sizing

Fun Fact: Besides being responsible for 20% of global water pollution, fast fashion also contributes to a massive amount of water being wasted every day. According to the same report from Earth.org, it takes about 20,000 litres of water to produce just one kilogram of cotton.

Most of us have wardrobes full of clothes we rarely wear. Maybe they don't fit quite right. Maybe the quality was disappointing. Maybe they were impulse buys that seemed perfect online but terrible in person.

According to Nature.com, the fashion industry produces 1.2 billion tonnes of CO2 annually—more than international flights and maritime shipping combined.

Returned items aren’t always cleaned, restocked, and resold. Many of them are sent straight to landfills or incinerators because they simply cost less to the company. However, this contributes directly to an overwhelming amount of textile waste.

And that’s not all. Remember the garments that remain in your wardrobe? They will soon go unworn and end up being discarded, feeding on the same cycle of waste.

Summary: Sizing inconsistencies across brands cause millions of unnecessary returns each year. Shoppers often order multiple sizes of the same item, hoping just one will fit. So most returns are due to poor sizing, and many of those never make it back into circulation. They’re incinerated, downcycled, or shipped abroad. What seems like a simple size issue has become a massive environmental and ethical problem hidden in plain sight.

Photo: © kokouu via Getty Images

The UK’s Leading Sizing Tool – Free and Game-Changing

When you order clothes that actually fit, you’re far less likely to overbuy, return, or waste. It’s a small switch but with a huge environmental impact. We are passionate about reducing waste, reducing returns, and reducing consumption of fast, throwaway fashion.

We launched Tellar.co.uk to give shoppers real-time sizing guidance across 1,500+ brands — with zero guesswork, no bias, and no cost.

Here’s how it works:

• You enter your body measurements (just once)
• Our proprietary database matches your exact body to the correct size in stores like Zara, H&M, COS, Arket, Net-a-Porter, and hundreds more (real time)
• You instantly see your size in each brand, based on actual measurement data (not vague size charts)

Sustainable fashion isn't about buying "eco" brands, it's about fundamentally changing how we consume clothing.

The current model: Browse → Guess → Over-order → Return → Waste
The Tellar model: Measure → Match → Purchase precisely → Wear extensively

This shift from volume to precision shopping can reduce individual fashion footprints by up to 60%, while building wardrobes that genuinely serve their owners' lives.

But smart sizing is only part of the solution.

We also created the Fashion Hub — the UK’s largest free, fully searchable library of fashion content, with over 4,000 honest and unbiased posts written by our team.

Think of it as a digital fashion magazine that actually helps — without ads, sponsors, or sales agendas. It answers every wardrobe question you’ve ever had!

Summary: At Tellar.co.uk, we've developed the UK's most comprehensive direct-to-consumer sizing solution, analysing measurement data across 1,500+ retailers to deliver unprecedented accuracy. No affiliate links. No sales pitch. Just honest advice to help you buy better.

Quick Takeaway

When we think about fashion’s environmental damage, we often picture overproduction, fast fashion hauls, and mountains of textile waste. But behind the scenes, one of the most overlooked contributors is something deceptively simple: incorrect clothing sizes.

When sizing is unpredictable, people over-order to get one item that fits. They return what doesn't work, except they didn't realize that a single returned item can double its carbon footprint through reverse logistics, reprocessing, or disposal.

Multiply that by the millions of sizing-related returns each year, and we're looking at an environmental catastrophe hiding in plain sight.

That's why you need to transform your relationship with fashion through precision and knowledge: (Through a sizing app like Tellar)

• Get your exact size: Add your measurements once and access accurate sizing across 1,500+ stores
• Make informed choices: Explore thousands of unbiased fashion insights to guide smarter purchases
• Build consciously: Create a wardrobe that fits perfectly, lasts longer, and reflects your values

The planet doesn't need you to stop buying clothes. It needs you to buy the right ones.

Frequently Asked Questions Relate To This Blog:

Question #1: Why does inconsistent clothing sizing create so much waste?

Answer: Inconsistent sizing leads shoppers to overbuy and return items that don’t fit. But the problem is that most returned clothing isn’t resold; it’s often incinerated, landfilled because it's cheaper for companies, wasting valuable resources and contributing to pollution.

Question #2: How does clothing fit impact the environment?

Answer: When clothes don’t fit, people buy more than they need, triggering excessive returns, duplicate shipments, or increased production. All of which lead to higher carbon emissions, landfill waste, and even water usage.

Question #3: What can shoppers do to reduce their fashion footprint?

Answer: Start by knowing your exact size or using size-recommendation tools, shopping intentionally, and avoiding over-ordering. This will significantly help reduce fashion waste.

About the author:

Ella Pillai Blake is currently the Brand Director at Tellar.co.uk, the UK's leading sizing and fashion advisory platform. Passionate about transforming fashion consumption through precision, transparency, and environmental consciousness. Ella Blake spent years of her life tracking her shopping habits and lived to tell the tale.