Three Apparel Sustainability Problems (And How Tersus is the Solution)

By Abby Manwiller, Partnership Manager

Picture the first warm day of spring. You pull out your favorite shorts and tank top, ready for the season ahead—only to notice the winter clothes you didn’t wear once all season, still hanging in your closet. Inspired to declutter, you fill a donation bag and head to the local thrift store.

But as you approach, you pause. Looking at the aisles overflowing with used clothes—and the mountain of donation bags already dropped off that day—you wonder: Where does all of this clothing go? How did we end up with so much stuff?

You step inside, considering picking up a few new-to-you items for your refreshed wardrobe, but another hesitation stops you: Are these clothes actually clean? Will they hold up, or just fall apart and end up back in the waste stream?

If this sounds familiar, you're not alone. Growing awareness of fashion’s sustainability issues has made moments like this increasingly common. Each part of this experience reveals a deeper problem in the apparel industry—problems that Tersus is solving.

Problem #1: We Create (and Waste) Way Too Much Clothing

Every year, the world produces around 62 million tons of clothing—roughly 80 to 150 billion garments—for a global population of just 8 billion people (Franklin-Wallis, 2023). That’s enough for every person on Earth to have 10+ new garments each year. This level of overproduction fuels a throwaway culture where clothes are bought fast, worn briefly, and discarded quickly. Because of this, nearly 92 million tons of textile waste end up in landfills annually (Ruiz, 2024). That’s a trash truck full of clothes dumped every second.

Most of these garments are made from polyester, or plastic. It takes hundreds of years to break down, releasing microplastics into waterways and food systems along the way. These particles accumulate in ecosystems and even in our bodies.

The problem goes beyond the environment—it becomes a social issue. When synthetic clothes pile on top of organic waste in landfills, it disrupts natural decomposition and increases methane emissions, polluting the air and disproportionately impacting nearby communities.

Consumers and brands are both contributing to this mess. Unsold inventory, returns, and items from past seasons often end up trashed instead of resold.

How Tersus Helps

At Tersus, we give garments a second life. Using advanced waterless cleaning and textile processing technologies, we rescue clothing, shoes, and gear from the landfill and prepare them to be resold or reused.

In 2024 alone, Tersus saved over 527,000 pounds of apparel from becoming waste.

Whether it's post-consumer clothing, unsold retail inventory, or outdoor gear that's seen a little adventure, Tersus helps it go back into the world—clean, wearable, and ready for a new story.

Problem #2: The Options for Used Clothing Aren’t Great

Dropping off used clothes at a donation center has become second nature for many. But here’s the truth: only 10–30% of donated clothing is actually resold. The rest? It’s either incinerated, sent to landfills, or exported—often to the Global South.

Take Kantamanto Market in Ghana, for example. It’s the largest secondhand market in West Africa and receives around 15 million garments each week . Yet about 40% of those garments become waste immediately—too damaged, too outdated, or simply too much (Franklin-Wallis, 2023).

And that waste doesn’t just disappear. Unsold clothing is often abandoned in the streets. Local waste systems struggle to keep up. When it rains, textiles soak up water, dirt, and silt, forming dense, rock-like masses that are hard to break down. These compacted bundles are tough on landfill equipment and end up taking three times more space than other types of waste.

In short, flooding communities with clothing they didn’t ask for—and often can’t use—creates more problems than solutions.

How Tersus Helps

Tersus is the engine behind many brand-led take-back programs. Thanks to our processing and cleaning technology, you can return your used gear directly to the brand it came from. In most cases, you’ll even earn store credit for doing it.

More importantly, you’ll have peace of mind knowing your clothes won’t end up in a landfill or a street halfway around the world. Instead, they’ll be carefully cleaned, evaluated, and either resold or responsibly recycled—put to their next best use.

Problem #3: Buying Secondhand Clothing Isn’t Always a Great Experience

Even as awareness of fashion’s environmental impact grows, many people still hesitate to buy secondhand. In 2024, during my graduate research, I surveyed 130 New York residents about their experiences with secondhand fashion. The results were telling:

●      Over 25% said they avoid buying used clothing due to hygiene concerns

●      22% said they were worried about quality

Creating a circular system for apparel only works if people are willing to buy pre-owned clothes. Without demand, even the most well-intentioned take-back programs just lead to more unwanted garments—and more waste.

How Tersus Helps

At Tersus, we’ve redefined what it means to buy secondhand. Every item we process goes through a rigorous quality check and condition grading system—and is cleaned using our proprietary waterless liquid CO₂ technology.

This system doesn’t just sanitize—it removes dirt, sweat, oils, and stains at a molecular level, leaving garments fresh, clean, and ready to wear. It’s like giving each piece a brand-new start.

The environmental benefits are just as impressive:

●      Our CO₂ cleaning is closed-loop, meaning the liquid CO₂ is filtered and reused after every cycle.

●      The system captures heavy metals and microplastics, preventing any wastewater contamination.

●      Best of all, it uses no water at all—in 2024 alone, Tersus saved 1.12 million gallons of water.

Once cleaned and quality-checked, items are shipped directly from our warehouse, reducing emissions by skipping unnecessary transit and storage.

Because Tersus powers these operations behind the scenes, everything is brand-owned. That means consumers can shop pre-owned pieces directly on the brands’ own websites, with the confidence that you’re getting clean, high-quality apparel—without compromising on style, sustainability, or peace of mind.