European Union

Three working machines that separate, open and analyse used textile items have been completed, marking a shift from concept to industrial-scale reality for the SORTED consortium. The machines demonstrate that fully automated sorting and processing can work together in practice, with sorting costs potentially falling by as much as 80 per cent once four further machines now in development are completed.

Textile extended producer responsibility (EPR) systems across Europe remain highly fragmented, with no harmonised approach to registration, reporting or invoicing, according to a new analysis covering 12 Producer Responsibility Organisations across 11 countries. The findings identify priority areas for alignment and call for a common core of rules to ease the compliance load on producers.

The EU's mandatory separate textile collection requirement came into force in 2025, backed by recyclability targets for 2030. What the policy framework has not accounted for is that the larger share of fibre loss in a cotton garment occurs before any consumer touches it. A new study traces a single t-shirt across its full global supply chain to quantify where that loss actually goes.

Is textile circularity entering a more mature phase of development within the European circular economy agenda? The just-concluded IFAT 2026 reflected a broader shift in the European debate: textile circularity is indeed increasingly being understood as an infrastructure and systems challenge rather than simply a waste-management problem. A report.

From July 2026, large companies will no longer be permitted to destroy unsold apparel and footwear placed on the EU market. The restriction, adopted under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, links surplus inventory to public disclosure and regulatory oversight. Disposal shifts from a private adjustment to a documented compliance issue with broader supply chain implications.

Finnish researchers and industry partners are developing a deposit-return collection machine that uses digital product passport data and AI-based imaging to sort used garments for resale or recycling. The TexMat system aims to simplify clothing returns for consumers, improve business profitability for reuse operators, and support higher textile collection and resale rates across Europe.

An OECD and EUIPO report has presented new empirical evidence linking illicit trade in counterfeit goods with labour exploitation, including forced labour and hazardous child labour. Using correlation analysis and econometric modelling, it finds that economies associated with illicit trade in counterfeit goods often show weaker labour protections, higher informality and poorer workplace safety. The findings call for integrated enforcement and labour-governance responses.

The textile industry’s circular transition hinges on how materials move between loops — from repair and reuse to remanufacture and recycling. A new mapping of “cascading circularity” reveals how companies relink fibres, technologies, and policies to extend value chains and slow waste flows, offering clues to where the system still breaks down.

Europe’s hemp story has shifted from policy to performance. Farmers can now grow and process fibre, yet consistent buyers remain scarce. Between luxury weavers, mass-market converters and new industrial users, the market is searching for direction. Its future will depend on whether certification and diversification can turn enthusiasm into genuine, recurring demand.

Europe’s hemp boom has filled fields but left factories waiting. The region now grows tens of thousands of hectares of fibre crops, yet only a handful of facilities can refine them for textiles. Hemp’s challenge is no longer agronomy but engineering — how to build the machinery, skills, and scale that make a crop an industry.