Reference data
U.S. Apparel Shopping & Textile Waste Statistics
Current figures on household apparel spending, online retail, and textile waste, gathered in one source-ready reference.
Last updated: August 31, 2026
Household apparel spending
$2,001
Average annual household spending on apparel and services
U.S. consumer units spent an average of $2,001 on clothing, footwear, and dry cleaning in 2024.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024 data published February 12, 20262.5%
Share of total household spending
Apparel and services accounted for 2.5% of average annual U.S. household spending in 2024.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024 data published February 12, 2026Online retail context
$340.2B
U.S. retail e-commerce sales in Q2 2026
Seasonally adjusted retail e-commerce sales reached $340.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, August 18, 202612.2%
Year-over-year e-commerce growth
Second-quarter 2026 retail e-commerce sales were 12.2% higher than the same quarter in 2025.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, August 18, 202617.1%
Share of retail sales placed online
E-commerce accounted for 17.1% of seasonally adjusted U.S. retail sales in the second quarter of 2026.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, August 18, 2026$1.234T
U.S. retail e-commerce sales in 2025
U.S. retail e-commerce sales totaled an estimated $1.2337 trillion in 2025, representing 16.4% of total retail sales.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 data published March 10, 2026Textile waste and recovery
17.0M tons
Textiles generated in the U.S. waste stream
The EPA estimated that textiles generated in 2018 totaled 17.0 million tons, or 5.8% of municipal solid waste generation.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data14.7%
Textile recycling rate
The EPA estimated that 2.5 million tons of textiles were recycled in 2018, equal to a 14.7% recycling rate.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 data11.3M tons
Textiles sent to landfill
U.S. landfills received 11.3 million tons of textiles in 2018, representing 7.7% of all municipal solid waste landfilled.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018 dataSources and methodology
How to use these figures
Every statistic above links directly to its primary source. Figures are reported as published, including the original time period, rather than being projected or adjusted. Online retail figures describe the wider U.S. retail market, while apparel spending and textile figures describe the consumer and material context around clothing.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Consumer Expenditure Surveys for 2024
- U.S. Census Bureau, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, second quarter 2026
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Textiles: Material-Specific Data for 2018
Cite this page: Wear Your Message, “U.S. Apparel Shopping & Textile Waste Statistics,” updated August 31, 2026, https://wear-your-message.com/apparel-shopping-statistics.