How Long Should Clothes Last? 47,000 Garments Give One Answer and 13 Warranty Pages Give Another
Nobody prints a lifespan on a hangtag. So I went to the two places where somebody had to write a number down: a wardrobe survey that counted the age of 46,857 garments across five countries, and the warranty pages of 13 brands, read one clause at a time. The two sets of numbers don't match, and the gap is the useful part.
· · Updated August 23, 2026 
The question shows up in the third week of August, in a fitting room, holding a $300 coat that won’t be on sale until November. Is this a five-winter coat or a two-winter coat? The label says 70 percent wool and dry clean only. It does not say how long. Nothing does. So I went looking for the two places where somebody was made to write a number down.
How long do clothes actually last on average?
The largest wardrobe survey of its kind puts the average garment at a 5.2-year lifespan and about 80 total wears, counted across 46,857 items in five countries.
The first place is that survey. In the winter of 2018 to 2019, a team led from Consumption Research Norway (SIFO, at OsloMet) asked over two hundred people in each of five countries, the US and UK among them, to go through their closets and report on specific items: when they got it, how many times they’d worn it, how many more times they expected to. Kirsi Laitala, Ingun Grimstad Klepp and Beverley Henry published the results in Sustainability in 2020, and the sample was 46,857 garments. The average item was 2.6 years old, which the authors read as a full lifespan of about 5.2 years. Total wears came out to about 80: 34.8 so far, 46.3 more expected. Some of the sub-findings are more useful than the average. Garments that cost over $100 were being kept two years longer than ones under $10. Things washed after every wear got 94 fewer wears than things washed every 30. And people who said brand mattered a lot to them wore their clothes 33 fewer times than people who said it didn’t matter at all, which is a sentence I’ve read four times now.
How long do clothing brands guarantee their clothes for?
Thirteen brand warranty pages, read one clause at a time in August 2026, run from six months at adidas to two years at Nike and Levi’s, and only Darn Tough covers ordinary wear.
Then there’s the warranty page, the one place a brand’s lawyers have to commit to something. Here is what each one promises, in years, and whether ordinary wear (the thing that actually kills clothes) is covered.
| Brand | The written promise | Covers wear and tear? |
|---|---|---|
| adidas | Manufacturing defects within 6 months of purchase | No |
| Lululemon | Replaces items that “don’t perform as intended” within 1 year; after that, “case-by-case” | No |
| L.L.Bean | Returns within 1 year; after that, defects “considered.” No time limit at all until February 2018 | No |
| Duluth Trading | Refund within 1 year; defects considered after | No |
| Nike | Material or workmanship flaws within 2 years of the manufacture date | No |
| Levi’s | 2-year warranty against defects, “excluding normal wear and tear” | No (fading, hem wear, pilling all listed as excluded) |
| Canada Goose | Lifetime of the product for insulated outerwear; 2 years for everything else | No |
| Arc’teryx | “Practical Product Lifespan,” which the page says “does not mean for your lifetime” | No |
| Filson | “The lifetime of the item,” defined as when it “can no longer function” | No, “general wear” is separate |
| Patagonia | No number. Wear and tear “repaired at a reasonable charge” | Repairs, for a fee |
| Carhartt | No number; “all apparel has an expected service life” | No |
| Darn Tough | Unconditional, for life | Yes: “If you wear a hole in them, we will replace them” |
| Zara | A defects page with no time period on it anywhere | n/a |
| J.Crew, Everlane | No warranty. 30-day returns | n/a |
Read the top half of the table. Nike, Levi’s and Canada Goose (for a sweater, say) will put two years in writing. adidas will put six months. Lululemon, L.L.Bean and Duluth put one year, and L.L.Bean’s one year is famous because before February 2018 there was no year at all. Everyone further down uses “lifetime,” and everyone who uses “lifetime” defines it, in the fine print, as the product’s, not yours. Arc’teryx says so in as many words. So the honest range that a lawyer will sign is six months to two years, and the only brand on the list that will pay for the thing that actually wears out is the sock company.
Which is a smaller number than the survey’s, by a lot. The 46,857 garments were lasting five years and 80 wears on average, in real closets, without anybody promising anything. The brands are promising a fraction of what their own customers already get.
If you’re in the UK, there’s a third number, and it’s the biggest one. The Consumer Rights Act 2015 lists durability as part of “satisfactory quality,” and gov.uk says customers have up to six years to make a claim (five in Scotland) on something that failed early. The EU floor is two years. The US has no national clock, so the warranty page is the whole promise.
So, back in the fitting room, with the $300 coat. I don’t have a lifespan for it. Nobody does. What I have is a floor: the brand’s number, if it has one, is the shortest life it’s willing to be sued over, and the survey’s five years is what the average garment is already doing in a real closet, with the over-$100 ones beating it by two. Price it between the two. If the label’s brand won’t write down more than one winter, do the cost-per-wear on one winter, and see if you’d still buy it. Or buy socks. Those come with a promise to outlive you.