Researchers found that Britain’s 12.7 million children typically bin 17 items every year.
And if each item was folded down to 1cm and stacked in a pile, it would be 2,160,000 metres high – 244 times the height of Everest’s 8,848m.
While 66 per cent of parents actively consider more sustainable clothes for themselves, nearly 48 per cent admit to getting rid of their children’s clothes in the quickest and easiest way possible.
A study of 7,000 parents from the UK, France, Portugal, Italy, Spain, Germany and Poland, found British respondents throw away nearly twice as many items (17 a year) as their French counterparts (nine).
It also found the typical British parent with children aged 1-16, spends £794.60 a year on their child’s wardrobe, with 12 per cent buying them new clothes every single week.
To show how innovation can help tackle this growing waste problem, Epson – which commissioned the report – collaborated with fashion designer and sustainability trailblazer Priya Ahluwalia to create Fashion Play.
The doll-sized fashion collection was made from textile waste using Epson’s Dry Fibre Technology and printed with Epson’s water-saving Monna Lisa digital textile printer.
Maria Eagling from Epson said: “Fashion offers every age a creative avenue for self-expression, but we all have a part to play in making better choices when it comes to what we buy and how we get rid of it when we’re done.
“While there are simple actions consumers can take – from reducing the amount they buy and prioritising pre-loved – we wanted to show how innovation like Dry Fibre Technology can also help cut down the amount of clothes that go into landfill.
“The Fashion Play collection is a playful nod to our love of dressing up, which starts when we are children, but using methods and materials such as these could make a seismic change to the fashion industry and planet.
“We’re really excited to be working with Priya Ahluwalia, a designer who we hugely admire for her upcycling endeavours and commitment to creating beautiful pieces that don’t cost the earth.”
The study went on to find the average item of children’s clothing is worn just 20 times before being binned or moved on.
And 35 per cent of parents admitting to chucking some in the bin because they didn’t have time to do anything else.
Children are bought around nine items of clothing by friends and family during the Christmas period, three of which won’t ever be worn.
Designer Priya Ahluwalia said: “Travelling to India and Nigeria, I witnessed the true scale of textile waste as a result of the Western second-hand clothing industry.
“That experience has stayed with me, and I have since endeavoured to work in a way that is better for people and the planet, especially in the global south.”