Nearly 28 percent of consumers say they leave a brand after a garment failure, and only 5.9 percent bother to return the item. That gap is the core commercial finding of Samsara Eco's Circular-Conscious Consumer Report, released Oct. 8, and it means returns data may be hiding the true cost of poor quality for apparel brands.

The Australian enviro-tech company ran the online survey from July 22 to Aug. 23 among 5,208 members of its Sam for Change community across 120 countries. The sample skews young and self-selected: 86.7 percent of respondents were aged 18 to 24, 75.8 percent identified as female, and all had expressed interest in circularity. Sourcing teams should read the numbers with that caveat attached.

What does the brand-exit number actually mean?

Among the 27.7 percent who said they leave a brand after a garment failure, 15.8 percent said they never buy from that brand again and 11.9 percent said they switch to a competitor. Just 2.3 percent would replace the item with another from the same brand. More than 64 percent chose to repair the garment or keep wearing it with the flaw.

"Durability has always been a question of quality. It's now a retention question and, in Europe, it's becoming a compliance one—both showing up on the bottom line," said Lars Kissau, general manager at Samsara Eco.

The compliance reference is concrete. The European Commission has begun preparing textile rules under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, which sets a framework for product-specific requirements. Durability metrics are moving from marketing language into regulatory scope for brands selling into the EU.

Where do the failures sit?

The survey asked respondents to name up to three quality issues. The responses map directly onto fabric and construction decisions made at the sourcing stage:

• Fabric thinning or holes: 62 percent
• Splitting or unraveling seams: 55 percent
• Pilling: 50 percent

Expectations are high on the consumer side. 89 percent of respondents said they expect at least 30 wears from a garment. When asked who bears most responsibility for clothing quality, about 54 percent ranked brands first, against 27 percent for government regulation and about 9 percent for consumers.

Do cost pressures change the quality equation?

Yes, according to the buying-habit data. 88.6 percent said the rising cost of living had changed how they purchase clothes. The most common adaptation was buying more secondhand clothing, at 42.5 percent. Another 32.2 percent said they are buying less and expecting more from each item, while 13.9 percent said they are choosing cheaper options.

Material transparency also scored heavily. More than 80 percent said knowing what their clothing is made from matters to them. Asked what would most increase confidence that a garment is better made, respondents gave material transparency 36 percent of first-place votes and proof of performance 27 percent. Independent certification ranked last of five options at 6.6 percent—a signal that certification logos alone may carry less weight with this cohort than verifiable performance data and fiber disclosure.

Who is measuring durability?

The findings appear in The Pulse, Samsara Eco's new magazine, which launches Oct. 13 at the Textile Exchange Conference in Vancouver. Contributors include Deakin University, Debrand, the European Outdoor Group, LSKD, Seamless and The Lycra Company.

In a Q&A for the publication, European Outdoor Group ESG head Katy Stevens described the difficulty of substantiating durability across product categories. The association has formed a working group to assess durability and longevity in outdoor products.

"The biggest shift is from knowing that we make durable products to being able to measure and demonstrate that durability," Stevens said.

Samsara Eco itself develops enzymatic recycling technology that breaks polyester and nylon 6,6 into monomers for new polymer production, and Kissau argued durability and recycled content are not in conflict. "Durable products can be made from recycled materials—there's no trade-off in quality or performance," he said, adding that a garment must last to be resold, handed on or recycled into clothing again rather than downcycled. Whether EU textile rules under Ecodesign force standardized durability measurement across the industry is the question suppliers and brands will face as the Commission's preparatory work advances.