The EU Textiles Strategy, announced last week, has already set minds thinking on a feverish pitch. While the decision to crack down on the menace of fast fashion and bring widespread greenwashing tactics under the legal scanner have dominated much of the discourse, the jury is out on how the wide-ranging policy guidelines will take the shape of legally-binding instruments.
At the core of the fashion ecosystem are textiles, and the EU rightly called it a 'textiles strategy'. So, how is the European textiles industry looking at the announcement? Is it growing to spur an innovation revolution? Since the over-arching sentiment is to cut down production, how are textile manufacturers and the textile service sector going to be affected?
Elena Lai, Secretary-General of the European Textile Services Association (ETSA), says: “It’s important to understand that this Textiles Strategy is but the most recent policy advanced by the European Commission (EC) designed to improve the sustainability of the greater textiles industry. ETSA members have been ‘on the ball’ for quite some time prior to the release of this Strategy, and this ‘innovation revolution’ has been ongoing in our membership from years now.”
Lai says ETSA members have been committed to the goals of both the EU Climate Pact and the Circular Economy Action Plan. ETSA in its role as European Commission Climate Ambassador, has acted as bridge between member companies and European policymakers, communicating both the best practices of the industry, and the latest in EU legislation. “Our industry is one that is inherently circular;, repair, reuse and recycling are fundamental to the business model we are promoting. Thus, since we represent textile services, we wholeheartedly welcome, right to repair, eco-design standards and regulations which will combat excessive waste, planned obsolescence and which will minimisze virgin resource extraction. Nevertheless, when the EU releases a Strategy of this magnitude, naturally we have our analysis, our take and our areas for concerns.”
Agrees Valeria Botta, Programme Manager at the Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS). “So far, the textiles sector had largely been untouched by EU sustainability policies. Last week’s Strategy, and the crucial decision to include textiles under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, are a real milestone. We need to reduce resource use, and we need clothes designed to be used, mended and loved for a long time. Textiles should be toxic-free and produced in a fair and sustainable way. The initiatives presented last week can give the right impulse to transform the market, also beyond Europe. If the final bill shows bold ambition, Europe could truly hold the textile industry accountable for its huge environmental impacts.”
The Strategy tries to make up for lost time. As Botta points out: “The strategy, alongside the ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation) and the Green Claims initiative, is setting a vision for the future of this sector that has gone under the radar of sustainability policies for too long. We welcome the framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products. This ambitious legislative agenda could transform the way products placed on the EU market are designed, produced, reused and repaired. However, we warn that effectiveness will depend on speed and thoroughness when developing product-specific legislation.”
She elaborates: “On textiles, specifically, we urgently need to establish minimum ecodesign requirements that address durability, reusability, repairability and fiber to fiber recyclability, as well as eliminate hazardous chemicals, while tackling microplastic release and reducing the adverse impacts on climate and the environment. This is spelt out clearly in the strategy with mandatory performance requirements for the environmental sustainability of textile products foreseen by 2024. The true impact of the initiative will depend on its implementation via the product-specific delegated acts needed to translate text into action. Whether delegated acts will refer to standardisation is still to be seen. There are standards that are already available for many of those attributes, and some new ones might need to be created.”
But, the Strategy will need to remain rooted in realities as much. Contends Lai: “Fundamentally, goals, when it comes to microplastic discharge, filtering, PFAS and carbon footprints (too name a few examples), need to be realistic and provide the necessary support for the industry to make certain technological transitions. Throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the energy crisis, our industry has partially found the support from both national and EU institutions to properly address the crisis. Our members are resilient and have proven their propensity to adapt and innovate, yet policymakers must continue to find ways to help them create and to adapt and this recent package was also thoroughly discussed on 30 March by Deploy London, who launched a Sustainable Fashion Forum in Brussels, in which ETSA participated very proactively. Already several ETSA members have been undertaking thorough debates at the national level with key stakeholders in the fashion sector, such as CWS with ‘Accelerating Circularity’ project. Therefore, we can envisage a lot of more partnership working in the future also at the European level.”
Next would be to see all guidelines and objectives translated into a legal framework. Says Botta, “With those announcements last week, the European Commission is taking a leap towards a truly circular economy, finally addressing negative environmental impacts embedded in product design. The Strategy has an Annex with a clear timeline on what to expect in the coming years, same with the other initiatives: there is a lot of work ahead to make those a reality. Some initiatives will now go through the scrutiny of the EU co-legislators (European Parliament and Council of the EU).”
