# 2700 litres of water to make one T-shirt **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805 "2025-03-19T02:06:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SpicyDuckBillyHunt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpicyDuckBillyHunt)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/1 "2025-03-19T02:06:24Z")
I saw an article saying we should stop buying clothes because of the water wasted. A search showed many websites giving this same figure of 2700 litres to produce one T-shirt. Red flag to me. Does anyone have any real data? Here is one example > **[Why does it take so much water to make a cloth?](https://sustainability.decathlon.com/why-does-it-take-so-much-water-to-make-a-cloth)** > > The production of a single T-shirt requires more thant 2,000 litres of water, the equivalent of 70 showers. How do we actually achieve such volumes? Quote from one article- ‘ It’s also worth mentioning that the production of one single T-shirt uses 2700 litres of water. So what then becomes of this cheap orange shirt, that could have supplied someone with clean drinking water for almost two and a half years?’ [https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/mum-sums-up-what-were-all-thinking-today/news-story/28e74dfaaede717c8a59d06aaa505dce](https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/mum-sums-up-what-were-all-thinking-today/news-story/28e74dfaaede717c8a59d06aaa505dce) ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/2 "2025-03-19T02:20:41Z")
The figure is including growing the cotton, processing and dyeing the fibers, and manufacturing. The Water Footprint Network [quotes similar figures](https://www.waterfootprint.org/resources/interactive-tools/product-gallery/) (scroll over to cotton to see their assessment). It’s the second part where the claims break down. It’s not all “clean drinking water,” it’s primarily irrigation water, which you don’t want to drink. That part was just emotional manipulation by the writer. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/3 "2025-03-19T05:01:20Z")
Just to put 2700 litres into perspective, that’s 713 gallons. Still a big amount but its not filling your swimming pool in one go. In physical terms its a cube 1.4 metres on a side, so if you have a normal refrigerator its about four of them taped together. Centralised industrial processes usually try to recover, filter and reuse water so that 2700 litres might actually be 500, but for agricultural production its usually single use. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/4 "2025-03-19T05:27:25Z")
Pretty much everything people do with water other than drinking it creates a number that’s really big if you use drinking-sized units to measure it. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/5 "2025-03-19T05:56:16Z")
> [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](#): > > ‘the production of one single T-shirt uses 2700 litres of water. So what then becomes of this cheap orange shirt, that could have supplied someone with clean drinking water for almost two and a half years?’ Based on an average U.S. family of four using 100 gal of tap water per person per day, and paying $73 per month, 2700 litres of clean drinking water is worth around USD$4.50. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/6 "2025-03-19T06:47:10Z")
> [@SpicyDuckBillyHunt](#): > > So what then becomes of this cheap orange shirt, that could have supplied someone with clean drinking water for almost two and a half years? This assumes that all of the water in the world is in one big bucket. It’s not. If we stop growing cotton in the U.S., and we all stop watering our lawns, the only thing that happens is we end up walking around naked on bare dirt lawns. It’s not like China and India (where that article specifically mentions shortages) are going to suddenly have more clean drinking water available. There’s no fresh water pipeline from Birmingham, Alabama to the outskirts of Beijing. Places that produce cotton tend to have plenty of water. They aren’t depriving anyone of drinking water. In fact, most places in the U.S. have plenty of drinking water. It’s only the southwestern desert areas that really need to be careful with their water usage (and California that has shortages because they do stupid things like using huge amounts of water to grow almonds and pistachios). ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/7 "2025-03-19T09:43:31Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > If we stop growing cotton in the U.S., and we all stop watering our lawns, the only thing that happens is we end up walking around naked on bare dirt lawns. “Bare dirt” is not the only alternative to a watered grass lawn. Far from it. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/8 "2025-03-19T09:52:25Z")
I like cotton fabric but I also liker synthetics for riding motorcycle. I wonder how much resources one of my strange looking shirts use. > **[Temu | Explore the Latest Clothing, Beauty, Home, Jewelry & More](https://www.temu.com/ul/kuiper/un9.html?subj=goods-un&_bg_fs=1&_p_jump_id=894&_x_vst_scene=adg&goods_id=601099529847940&sku_id=17592274357713&adg_ctx=a-eac3525e~c-871323cf~f-aebdbfc8&_x_ads_sub_channel=shopping&_p_rfs=1&_x_ns_prz_type=-1&_x_ns_sku_id=17592274357713&_x_ns_gid=601099529847940&mrk_rec=1&_x_ads_channel=google&_x_gmc_account=710728018&_x_login_type=Google&_x_ads_account=5483888441&_x_ads_set=22309554233&_x_ads_id=181217828532&_x_ads_creative_id=736793200303&_x_ns_source=g&_x_ns_gclid=Cj0KCQjw1um-BhDtARIsABjU5x47IiDyKQRXkvLs-AngSGP5V4qsDqqOFmVlwE7TP2hTiGdLrVB9hmsaArO4EALw_wcB&_x_ns_placement=&_x_ns_match_type=&_x_ns_ad_position=&_x_ns_product_id=710728018-17592274357713&_x_ns_target=&_x_ns_devicemodel=&_x_ns_wbraid=Cj4KCAjws-S-BhBYEi4Ay57uP4s8qRrUu5DPR29CfGyayCvIr3u7AxVL-LkFBcjW_7W8HBNGQ-moq3hoGgJC8w&_x_ns_gbraid=0AAAAAo4mICFXeUVY4ZhyVpt8qlmrqjDer&_x_ns_targetid=pla-2406101868671&gad_source=1)** They dry really fast and never really wear out. Very vibrant and low cost. Cool in hot weather, warmer than cotton in cool weather and no risk of hypothermia. A lot less water… > - It’s estimated that processing a kilogram of fiber (including polyester) requires 100 to 150 liters of water. > - Dyeing, washing, and finishing the fabric can use up to 200 liters of water per kilogram of fabric. > But of course there are other issues. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/9 "2025-03-19T09:52:51Z")
You could be growing cotton, for example! (Sorry, couldn’t resist) ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/10 "2025-03-19T10:03:02Z")
Shoot some of the over run of white tailed deer and make nice soft buckskin ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/11 "2025-03-19T10:21:00Z")
The environmental field uses “lifecycle analyses” to do these calculations. Here is an [example one for cotton shirts](https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/105201050/s10098-020-01826-x20230822-1-7efq5l-libre.pdf?1692708452=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DLife_cycle_assessment_of_cotton_woven_sh.pdf&Expires=1742382470&Signature=NKB0p5qcjparUhfPKrjEmzcSCwYH-9nN2z0F9tuai~DDTiuq-I9V-GngxtzdaY-IwLvzpo2M372XVUJ~UFGWPXl7Il7OIwe9GA8MNZnJU7P~vQp13alsv6dQAFk5Uyk5DxPWvYbT1hiNrN8eN5dZxo4N~cVA7dYfvtq-SQ2lH6qFfEOSh-1QVp9oTVLuXAmnFM6F-44hPDo3IT~Rhd9yAZ5VTX~DmxP8b4p7FS8qBdAKfUlsuY0jZPyG8SPrQsx36UqrAWDNrfhkT0el0rISeAkponS3TeXvbHNl2QBH4VG6nLvQ1Z2wviSwR9KB~btNycq~apJuSvht1OXvPloI-A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA). That shows about 1100 cubic meters of water per 1000 shirts, or about 1000 liters per individual shirt. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/12 "2025-03-19T11:05:58Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > This assumes that all of the water in the world is in one big bucket. It’s not. And its not like the water goes away after we use it for things. Its still water that most likely was not drinkable to begin with, but may become drinkable later of the life of the planet. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/13 "2025-03-19T11:09:49Z")
Also, I would say the number of uses matters. It would be one thing if the T shirt was used once and then landfilled – I have decades old T shirts – I’m sure some have had 100s if not 1000s of uses. Though a lifecycle analysis would also factor water used to launder them. Brian ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/14 "2025-03-19T12:50:31Z")
News Flash! Humanity has a large ecological footprint. Film at 11! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/15 "2025-03-19T12:54:22Z")
I saw a notice like this last week in a used clothing store, only it was talking about how many liters of water were needed to produce a pair of blue jeans. Their solution, of course, was for you to buy more used clothes. I have to admit, I never saw such signs until recently. An it’s alarmist and misleading. Damned near anything you do is going to require the use of water, raw materials, and energy. You could as easily shock people with the energy cost of making a T-shirt, especially if you included all the costs of growing the cotton in that total. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/16 "2025-03-19T13:06:23Z")
The article mixes units a lot, and “up to” versus “average” figures, which is a red flag. > Producing just one t-shirt can require up to 2,700 liters of water. > 2,000 litres for a t-shirt So which one is it? 2,700 or 2,000? > One kilo of cotton requires almost 10,000 litres of fresh water. Ok but how many kilos of cotton does it take to make one shirt? How much heavy-lifting is the word “almost” doing? > On average, each kilo of dyed textile requires 100 to 150 litres of water. Again, how many kilos of dyed textiles does it take to make one shirt? > In France, it is estimated that each household spends around 14,000 litres of water per year to wash its T-shirts, socks and other underwear… But what is that per shirt? Are they including that or is it just an extra factoid? It seems that most of the water use comes from growing the cotton in the first place. The article claims that rainwater isn’t enough, but that’s a baselessly broad generalization. This is super misleading. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/17 "2025-03-19T13:27:47Z")
Reminds me of the “factoid” on how many gallons of water it takes to make one almond. (Though for crops it might have some importance if the irrigation water is coming from rivers or artesian wells in drought-prone areas.) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/18 "2025-03-19T14:55:04Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > (Though for crops it might have some importance if the irrigation water is coming from rivers or artesian wells in drought-prone areas.) It has vast importance for the water situation in California which is arid, getting more so, relies on rapidly falling primordial aquifers and shrinking rivers for its water. California’s statewide water problems almost disappear the day they stop growing almonds. It’s that far out of whack. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/19 "2025-03-19T16:26:05Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > Places that produce cotton tend to have plenty of water. They aren’t depriving anyone of drinking water. > > In fact, most places in the U.S. have plenty of drinking water. It’s only the southwestern desert areas that really need to be careful with their water usage (and California that has shortages because they do stupid things like using huge amounts of water to grow almonds and pistachios). Arizona grow a lot of cotton. ---
**Author:** ![moes\_lotion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@moes\_lotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moes_lotion)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2025, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805/20 "2025-03-19T18:28:06Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > That shows about 1100 cubic meters of water per 1000 shirts, or about 1000 liters per individual shirt. The link you provided doesn’t work for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2700-litres-of-water-to-make-one-t-shirt/1015805.md?page=2)