How to Dress Babies Adorably Without All the Waste

There’s a lot of talk about how much waste the fashion industry produces. Activists, influencers, and organizations raise their voices—online and offline—to denounce the excess and environmental impact of fast fashion.

Movements like Fashion Revolution and Remake are doing essential work but focus mostly on adult clothing. Baby and children’s clothing rarely get the same attention. At UpChoose, we believe baby clothing deserves more focus, in part because babies are more vulnerable to the health issues associated with waste. In this article, we’ll discuss why this happens, why it’s an issue, and what we can do to address it.

How Parents End Up With So Many Baby Clothes

If you’re a new or expectant parent, you may find it hard to resist cute baby clothes. But before you know it, those adorable outfits start piling up, filling storage boxes with outgrown, often unused or barely worn clothes.

Babies grow fast. New parents constantly have to shop for the next clothing size. Add to this all the clothes gifted by family and friends, and you're now drowning in onesies.

On Reddit, many parents share their frustrations trying to balance buying cute baby clothes with the desire to reduce waste and avoid clutter:

Many of these clothes eventually end up as waste. Even when families donate baby clothes, a large portion may still end up in landfills. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 85% of all textiles in the U.S. end up in landfills or are incinerated.

Why We Should Talk More About Waste in Baby Clothing

It's hard to find exact data on baby clothing waste, but we can safely assume it makes up a significant portion of fashion waste overall. Babies outgrow clothes so quickly that the turnover is rapid, creating a direct and recurring waste channel. For example, in the UK alone, it's estimated that over 183 million pieces of children’s clothing end up in landfills every year.

But baby clothing waste isn’t just about volume—it also comes with unique concerns, such as toxicity in fabrics, that deserve more attention. Here’s why it matters:

Waste and Toxicity Are Connected

Fast fashion relies on mass production, which pushes brands to use cheaper, lower-quality fabrics. To keep production fast and cheap, fast fashion brands often use low-cost synthetic dyes and chemicals to treat fabrics, which can be harmful to both the environment and human health. Babies and young children, with their sensitive and thinner skin, need more protection against these toxins in clothing. This is one reason why sustainable, organic cotton fabric is a safer choice for newborns and babies’ clothes.

Babies and infants are much more sensitive to what we put on their skin than adults. Choosing organic cotton means limiting a baby's exposure to potentially harmful chemicals usually found in non-organic clothing. (Picture: Quincy Mae)

Babies Outgrow Clothes Much Faster Than Adults

Babies outgrow clothes much more quickly than adults. In their first year, on average, they triple their birth weight and grow around 10 inches. They typically go through about seven to eight clothing sizes within their first two years, which means parents are constantly buying new clothes. This rapid cycle of outgrowing outfits leads to a faster and larger accumulation of clothing waste compared to adults, where clothes may last much longer.

Birth as a Moment to Change Habits

Birth is a pivotal life moment, when people are more open to question their lifestyle and consumption habits. It offers new parents a unique opportunity to explore more sustainable choices, including how they dress their baby. By choosing to reduce waste at this critical stage, they can set an example and create ripple effects that extend beyond baby clothing into broader family habits.

Enough Clothes to Dress the Next Six Generations

To understand how waste happens in baby clothing, it’s helpful to take a step back and look at it in the context of the broader fashion industry. Over the past few decades, fast fashion has revolutionized how clothes are produced and consumed. Fast fashion brands aim to quickly respond to the latest trends by rapidly producing high volumes of clothing at a very low cost.

According to McKinsey, clothing production has doubled between 2000 and 2014, and the number of garments purchased per person increased by about 60% during that period. In fact, according to the British Fashion Council, we currently have enough clothes on the planet to dress the next six generations.

And this isn’t slowing down. Brands like Zara, H&M, and Forever 21 have long dominated the fast fashion landscape, pushing new collections constantly and encouraging consumers to buy more. But in recent years, brands like Shein and Temu have taken this trend to an extreme. Zara might release around 40,000 new items annually, but Shein introduces up to 10,000 new designs every single day—that's millions of new products each year. So much that we had to come up with a new name: ultra-fast fashion.

Second Hand is Not The Answer

On average, Americans buy one new garment a week. That’s 52 new pieces of clothing each year. But how often are these clothes actually worn?

A UK study found that, on average, clothing is worn just seven times before being discarded. This trend is a massive contributor to the textile waste crisis we face today, with 11.3 million tons of textiles ending up in U.S. landfills in 2018 alone. That’s approximately 76 pounds of textile waste per person, all in a single year.

A lot of well-intentioned people advocate for a shift to second-hand clothing to avoid buying new and feeding the overproduction system. The problem is, over time, the secondhand market itself has become full of cheap, fast fashion items. Volumes have increased while quality has gone down so much that clothes are becoming harder to resell.

Many secondhand clothes from countries like the US and the UK are now exported to developing countries in Africa and South America. In Ghana’s Kantamanto Market, a massive secondhand clothing hub, only a portion of donated clothes can be resold. The rest, often of poor quality, end up in landfills or burned. Similarly, in Chile, the Atacama Desert has become a symbol of fast fashion’s waste crisis, with mountains of clothing that cannot be resold or recycled. Many of these clothes are made from non-biodegradable fabrics, further contributing to pollution.
 

An aerial view of used clothes discarded in the Atacama Desert, in Alto Hospicio, Iquique, Chile, on September 26, 2021. Photograph: Martin Bernetti/Getty Images (Source: WIRED)

Why Is Waste Such a Big Problem?

Waste from the fashion industry doesn’t just mean clutter or extra storage. It has real, damaging impacts on our planet and on human health. Let’s break down some of the biggest effects:

• Carbon Emissions: According to The World Bank, the fashion industry is responsible for 10 % of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. Every second, the equivalent of one garbage truck of textiles is landfilled or burned. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates that, at this rate, by 2050 the fashion industry will use up a quarter of the world’s carbon budget.

• Waste of natural resources like water: Water is one of the most heavily used resources in clothing production. For instance, it takes around 2,000 gallons of water to make a typical pair of jeans. Also, It is estimated that textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally. 

• Impact on Soil and Landfills: Textile waste, especially from fast fashion, creates long-term environmental damage when it ends up in landfills. Many synthetic fabrics like polyester can take over 200 years to decompose. During this lengthy process, textiles release harmful chemicals  and dyes that leach into the soil and water, contaminating local ecosystems and potentially affecting human health. 

• Microplastics and Water Pollution: When synthetic clothes are washed, they shed tiny particles called microplastics. Each year, approximately 500,000 tons of microplastics enter the oceans, largely from washing synthetic clothing. These particles are ingested by marine life, causing harm to ecosystems and entering the food chain, which ultimately impacts human health.

Are Gifts Increasing Waste?

When it comes to baby clothing, avoid excess and waste can be even more difficult because there is one thing that is hard for new parents to control: friends and loved ones bringing gifts or dropping hand-me-downs.

On the one hand, parents rely on their support system and it's helpful to receive gifts from loved ones. On the other hand, parents often receive sizes that the baby will quickly outgrow, or outfits that simply go unused. In fact, we ran a survey with our community and 85% of respondents said they don't like receiving baby clothing as gifts because of the clutter and waste it creates.

When parents receive too many clothes, they may not have time to use all of them before their baby outgrows them. This contributes to the cycle of overconsumption, as parents are left with piles of clothes they didn’t buy themselves but now have to manage.

A better option is to send gift cards instead of clothes. This way, parents can use it for what they actually need, in the right size and style for their baby. Gift cards offer flexibility and reduce the likelihood of clothes going unworn, contributing to less waste.

Rethinking Our Approach to Baby Clothing

The waste we see in baby clothing is a symptom of an inefficient system that generates overbuying and underusing. Baby clothes are produced, consumed, and discarded in a cycle that isn't designed to benefit parents, babies, and the environment.

Here are six practical ways we can reduce waste and make more sustainable choices:

1. Focus on What's Truly Needed: Instead of buying large quantities of clothes, invest in fewer, well-made, durable items. Focus on high-quality essentials that can be worn more often, last longer, and hold up better through washing, reducing the need for frequent replacements and cutting down on waste.

2. Embrace Second-Hand: Thrift stores, online marketplaces, and clothing swaps offer gently used baby clothes that are often in great condition and help cut down on waste. Be cautious — fast fashion has flooded even the second-hand market with low-quality clothes and synthetic fabrics, look for well-made, natural-fiber items that are better for your baby’s skin and last longer.

3. Wash Clothes Gently: Use non-toxic, natural detergents, wash in cold water, and air dry to extend the life of baby clothes and reduce their environmental impact.

4. Choose Sustainable Brands: Opt for clothing made from eco-friendly materials like organic cotton, and support brands that prioritize ethical production practices.

5. Consider Clothing Rental: Services like UpChoose provide curated bundles of organic baby clothes that you can swap as your baby grows, making it both cost-effective and waste-reducing.

6. Gift Thoughtfully: Encourage friends and family to gift practical items or gift cards instead of clothes, helping avoid clutter and ensuring parents get what they actually need.

UpChoose Makes It Easy: UpChoose takes the guesswork out of these steps. With curated bundles of organic baby clothes that are sent to you as your baby grows, we make it easy to avoid overbuying, embrace sustainability, and reduce waste—without compromising on quality or convenience. Get started by taking our style quiz.

A Circular Economy Model for Baby Clothing: Reducing Waste with UpChoose

The idea behind a circular economy is simple: instead of throwing things away when you’re done with them, we find ways to keep them in use. It differs from the traditional linear model, sometimes referred to the take-make-waste economy, where resources are extracted to make products that are used then eventually thrown away.

For baby clothes, this makes a lot of sense because babies outgrow clothes faster than they wear them out. In a circular economy model, instead of discarding these clothes, they are reused, repaired, or recycled—extending their lifecycle and reducing the need for new production.

At UpChoose, we implement this model by offering a circular baby clothing rental service. It follows these simple steps:

1. Parents receive a set high-quality, organic clothes for the size they need.

2. Once the baby outgrows the clothes, parents receive another set with the next size and return the previous set.

3. The clothes returned to UpChoose are carefully cleaned, inspected, and prepared for the next family waiting for that size.

This model has many benefits, like:

• Extended use: Clothes are reused by multiple families, reducing the need for constant production of new garments.

• Less waste: Outgrown clothes aren’t thrown away or sent to landfills. Instead, they are kept in circulation.

• Healthier for babies, affordable for parents: Because we use a circular model, we can provide premium, GOTS-certified organic brands at up to 80% less than retail, making healthy options more affordable.

• Convenience and Simplicity: Parents avoid the hassle of constantly buying new clothes, storing outgrown ones, and dealing with waste. The circular system ensures they always have the right sizes as their baby grows.

It's a practical, low-waste approach that benefits both parents and the environment.

Conclusion

Waste from baby clothing isn’t just an environmental issue—it also has implications for our children's health. At UpChoose, we believe that focusing on essentials, choosing sustainable materials, and reusing clothes leads to less waste and healthier options for families. By making thoughtful decisions today, we can create a better future for our children and the planet they will grow up in.

Read next: How Many Newborn Onesies Do I Need?