It ain't fashion, if it ain't sustainable

EU Textiles Strategy

Greenwashing / EU Laws

15 February 2024

2 minutes

Any future environmental marketing claims would be assessed by accredited verifiers within 30 days and those who break the rules may be excluded from procurements, lose their revenues and face a fine of at least at 4% of their annual turnover.

Greenwashing: Panel Adopts Position on How EU firms Can Validate Green Claims

The so-called green claims directive moved a step further as European Parliament adopted a position on the rules on how firms can validate their environmental marketing claims.

Staff Writer

Textile Waste / EU Directive

15 February 2024

2 minutes

The new rules, as adopted by MEPs, would cover textile products such as clothing and accessories, blankets, bed linen, curtains, hats, footwear, mattresses and carpets, including products that contain textile-related materials such as leather, composition leather, rubber or plastic.

Europe Moves Closer to Laws on Preventing and Reducing Textile Waste

Europe gets closer to implementing the extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes as European Parliament votes in favour of the proposed changes that would mandate producers to cover costs for collecting, sorting and recycling waste textiles.

Staff Writer

EU Textiles Strategy / Transition Pathway

18 September 2023

2 minutes

The Transition Pathway for the Textiles Ecosystem was published on 6 June 2023. It is an EU initiative which seeks to build a greener, more circular and digital future for the textiles ecosystem and to make it more resilient and competitive.

EU Transition Pathway for Textiles Ecosystem Calls for Commitments by 30 Sep

The deadline to contribute to the EU initiative to support specific actions towards the textiles pathway in the bid to build a greener, more circular and digital future for the textiles ecosystem and to make it more resilient and competitive, ends 30 September.

Staff Writer

EU Textiles Strategy / Waste Framework

6 July 2023

3 minutes

The EU generates 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste per year. Clothing and footwear alone accounts for 5.2 million tonnes of waste, equivalent to 12 kg of waste per person every year.

EU Wants Mandatory EPR: Producers to be Responsible for Full Lifecycle of Textile Products

Producers would soon be held responsible for the full lifecycle of textile products, according to the new proposals to introduce mandatory and harmonised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes for textiles in all EU Member States.

Special Correspondent

Ecodesign / Europe Rules

16 June 2023

3 minutes

MEPs want the Commission to prioritise a number of product groups in its first working plan to be adopted within three months after the entry into force of the new rules. These priority products include iron, steel, aluminium, textiles (notably garments and footwear), furniture, tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants and chemicals.

New EU rules to Make Sustainable Products the Norm, Ban on Destruction of Unsold Textiles

Europe has moved a step ahead in its bid to make products in the EU more environment-friendly, circular and energy efficient throughout their lifecycle with a key committee of the European Parliament voting to to make sustainable products the norm.

Staff Writer

EU Textiles Strategy / Transition Pathway

8 June 2023

5 minutes

In June 2023, the European Commission published a call for commitments for stakeholders in the textiles ecosystem. The purpose of the call is to collect commitments from stakeholders on the concrete actions that they will take in order to bring forward actions identified in the transition pathway.

EU Lays Out Transition Pathway for Textiles Ecosystem

The just-released Textiles Transition Pathway of the European Union aims to identify what the digital and green transitions, increasing resilience and competitiveness mean for the textiles ecosystem and what specific actions and commitments are needed to accompany this transition.

Special Correspondent

EU Textiles Strategy / Harmonisation

2 June 2023

3 minutes

Global textiles policy at the moment is undeveloped, and there is a significant opportunity for industry, policymakers and NGOs to come together to identify the most appropriate way to deliver circularity and achieve reductions in environmental impact.

There's a Need for Harmonisation of Textile Policies Across EU Member States, Says Policy Hub

Policy Hub, a voice seeking to emerge as one for circularity in the global fashion-apparel-footwear industry, has released a report calling for a harmonisation of textile policies across EU member states.

Staff Writer

EU Textiles Strategy / Recommendations

1 June 2023

3 minutes

The European Parliament says consumers should have more information to make sustainable choices, and has called for a ban on the destruction of unsold and returned textile goods in the upcoming revision of the ecodesign regulation.

European Parliament Sounds Death Knell for Fast Fashion; Issues Call for EU and National Measures

The European Parliament today adopted with brute majority recommendations for the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles that would work to end fast fashion and help consumers make more ethically responsible and sustainable choices.

Special Correspondent

EU Textiles Strategy / PEF Burden

27 October 2022

3 minutes

To make the use of PEFCR proportional for every actor in the supply chain, the European Commission should consider a modular approach in which every actor can contribute with its own information instead of using calculation made by one sole actor, the EURATEX position paper remarked. Making it modular, the system would become more efficient by giving decision-makers in the supply chain the option to compare building blocks and choose the most effective option.

Brands Will Gain Most, Manufacturers to Bear Burden from EU PEF Rules; Methodology Based on 'Theoretical' Product

The proposed PEFCR (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules) for apparel and footwear will benefit brands the most, while manufacturers, particularly SMEs, will have to bear the burden. The fallacy has been pointed out in a EURATEX position paper, which also underlined that exisiting limitations can lead to misleading results.

Special Correspondent

EU Textiles Strategy / PEF Loopholes

26 October 2022

4 minutes

In a letter to the European Commission, a group of 12 organisations have called for the PEF ‘category rules’ for apparel and footwear not to be used as the standalone method behind any future textile product labelling scheme, for substantiating green claims made in marketing, or in any other EU policy measures.

Standalone PEF Will Give Limited Picture of Environmental Impact, Lead to Misleading Claims by Fashion Industry

The European Commission (EC) is set to outline the role it sees for product comparison rules based on the PEF-CR (Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules) in a legislative proposal on substantiating green claims, planned for release on 30 November. However, there are big loopholes in the process which can lead to misleading claims by the fashion industry.

Special Correspondent