A new module of the Circular Metrics Lab has come up to address significant monitoring, data and indicator gaps in the European Union. This means that the state of the European circular textile economy, as well as its drivers, pressures and responses, are still difficult to assess.
KEY MESSAGES from a brief to help fill data and knowledge gaps on the circularity of the textiles value chain to support policies targeted towards reducing the environmental and climate impacts of textiles:
- On average, textiles consumption in the EU increased from 17kg per person in 2019 to 19kg per person in 2022—enough to fill a large suitcase with new textiles.
- Environmental and climate pressures from EU textiles consumption remain high, with textiles ranking in 2022 fifth highest on average among twelve household consumption categories for raw material use, greenhouse gas emissions and water and land use.
- Digital technologies can potentially reduce the environment and climate pressures from textiles by improving efficiency. However, they also risk increasing production and consumption, for example through social media or online platforms.
To succeed with the EU’s textiles strategy, a systemic shift in the textiles system is needed, moving towards higher quality, longer use, reuse, repair and recycling. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA’s) new module of the Circularity Metrics Lab (CML) on textiles analysed 14 metrics and came up with the following findings:
- Increased circularity of textiles can reduce negative impacts on the environment, climate and human health: Enhancing circularity in the EU textile value chain by extending product lifespans through longer use, increased reuse, repair and more efficient recycling, can reduce the demand for new raw materials. It can also lower pollution.
- Increasing consumption levels have partially outweighed gains from production efficiency: Between 2010 and 2022, the textile value chain has made efficiency improvements. This has led to some decoupling between environmental pressures and production levels. Despite a 15% increase in consumption, absolute decoupling was achieved for GHG emissions (-24%) and raw material use (-22%). However, these efficiency gains have slowed down recently, stabilising the levels of GHG emissions and raw material use. For land (+3%) and water use (-1%), relative decoupling occurred. This suggests that pressures from land and water use have not significantly worsened. This is partly due to the increased use of synthetic fibres, which mainly causes other pressures such as raw material use and GHG emissions.
- Effective separate collection systems are needed to divert used and waste textiles from incineration, landfill and exports: In 2022, while the consumption of clothing, footwear and household textiles in the EU-27 increased to 19kg per person on average, textile waste levels have remained relatively stable, amounting to 16kg per person on average in the same year. It is unclear whether this was due to textile products being kept for longer or being reused or whether it was because of challenges in collecting the data.
- Data, information and knowledge gaps limit effective monitoring and analysis of the circular economy of textiles in the EU: The lack of transparent, comprehensive and reproducible data means that it is difficult to effectively monitor the evolution of key metrics. Consequently, it is challenging to draw sound conclusions and develop actionable policy options. While EU-level data on textile production and consumption volumes are relatively robust, information is scarce about use-phase aspects, the implications of fast fashion and circular business models and also waste trade patterns.
- Effects of policy implementation are to be seen in the data for metrics in the coming years: In conjunction with other EU policies, the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles (EC, 2022) outlines ambitious goals and policies to help address challenges in the textiles value chain. A shift away from fast fashion is central to the strategy. Focusing on circular design will help extend product lifetimes and create durable, high-quality textiles. Over time, these measures are expected to reduce consumption or consumption growth — particularly of clothing and footwear — by addressing consumption patterns and the circularity potential of various products.
The reports: The briefing is also supported by two technical reports from the EEA’s European Topic Centre on Circular Economy and Resource Use (ETC CE), Measuring Europe’s textiles circularity — through the lenses of the EEA Circularity Metrics Lab and Textiles and the environment — The role of digital technologies in Europe’s circular economy.
- Measuring Europe’s textiles circularity has been authored by Tom Duhoux, Anse Smeets, Lea Kress, Lars Fogh Mortensen.
- Textiles and the environment has been authored by Saskia Manshoven, Anse Smeets, Maarten Christis, Tom Duhoux, Dina Lingås, Francesca Grossi, Lars Fogh Mortensen, James Clarke.
CIRCULAR METRICS LAB: The EEA's Circular Metrics Lab uses a range of sources such as European datasets, national statistics, surveys and novel dataflows to provide insights on progress towards the development of the circular economy.
- It is intended to complement other monitoring frameworks by presenting additional evidence on circularity, including metrics focused on the implementation of circular principles and practices.
The thematic modules are groups of circularity metrics on a specific topic:
- textiles (new);
- plastics;
- waste prevention;
- product lifespans.
It complements the EUs Circular Economy Monitoring Framework (Eurostat, 2025), including for specific modules like textiles.
