The EU will get tough on textiles, apparel and footwear
The European apparel and shoe industry is experiencing major changes. These include developments in European Union Regulations for new country-by–country laws to be in effect in 2023
The EU has been a leader in international affairs for many years. sustainability Fashion and textile policy is being made more difficult. A number of pieces of legislation are currently in development, and new guidelines and rules are expected to begin rolling out this year. The bloc of nations aims for a total overhaul of the industry by 2030 under its overarching Strategy for Sustainable Textiles.
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“The textile industry, in Europe at least, is moving from a fairly unregulated or self-regulated sector to a very regulated industry. That’s really a dramatic change that our companies probably do not yet understand or appreciate — but the change is happening,” said European Apparel and Textiles Association director general Dirk Vantyghem.
Last March’s strategy addressed fast fashion, textile scrap and the destruction or unsold textiles. This strategy aims to help the industry move towards sustainable practices and greater transparency.
“The fashion industry from the EU’s point of view will be regulated from A to Z within a couple of years. It’s going from basically zero with no sustainability The legislation will cover all aspects of production, design, waste, and so forth. So it will be a whirlwind for the sector in the next two years on how to try to manage all this in an efficient way,” said Rannveig van Iterson, senior sustainability consultant at Ohana Public Affairs.
“By 2030, we will have a very, very different framework within which our companies will need to operate. And that will, of course, require a lot of changes in the way they communicate across the supply chain, the way they label their products, and more fundamentally, the way they produce things,” Vantyghem added.
The textile strategy will see a variety of interlocking legislation come into effect on different timelines. Legally binding requirements will be in place over the next two- to three years. The bloc is working on the details of specific sustainability, circularity or eco-design regulations. Major milestones can be expected in 2023.
The SubstantiatingGreen Claims initiative will soon release new guidelines that include stricter definitions for sustainability. These guidelines are due to be published early in the year. These will help clarify more than 200 EU labels and certifications, and force companies to use eco footprint methods to back their marketing.
In the second quarter, the Waste Framework Directive proposal is expected, which addresses “extended producer responsibility,” recycling and waste prevention. EPR is a system where companies pay a fee to recycle and dispose of every garment they sell. Each member state must have a separate collection system for textiles by 2025.
In the fourth quarter, a proposal to tackle microplastics is expected. A new waste shipment regulation that seeks to prevent the dumping of clothing in the global south is currently being negotiated through the parliament and member countries.
This is only a small part of the industry’s efforts to transform apparel and textiles. The Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation was launched in March 2022. It is currently undergoing legislative debates. It looks at durability, energy use, recycling, carbon and environmental footprints and a digital product passport that will deep dive into a garment’s sourcing and manufacture with strict reporting requirements.
“The ESPR is potentially the most impactful piece of legislation coming up in terms of regulatory impact on the product level because that will be setting some criteria that products simply need to meet otherwise they cannot be sold on the EU single market,” said Valerie Boiten, senior policy manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
The new EU rules will apply to any brand selling within the bloc — regardless of where it’s produced, a company still has to comply with the law if it is sold anywhere in the EU. There’s about 25 billion garments imported into the EU each year, from socks to frocks, and the hope is that by making those standards apply at a product’s origin, this will help the stricter environmental standards trickle down to manufacturers and suppliers worldwide. It is unclear how this will be enforced, especially on mail-order garments that are available via popular apps and ultra-fast-fashion websites.
“Big change is coming, which makes our companies anxious. [But] we keep on saying, if that new regulatory framework is a good one, then it may actually help our industry to be more sustainable and remain competitive,” said Vantyghem, noting that if the regulations only apply in Europe and other countries don’t follow, it could put European companies at a disadvantage. “We need to be very, very careful that it does not erase the [European] industry because the level playing field is totally gone.”
However, with the legislation in the pipeline, the EU’s desire to upend the industry is clear and a lot of brands are already making changes, Boiten said. “We don’t have to wait until 2030 to see the industry changing, companies are implementing [programs]…it’s better to be ready for it than to sit and wait.”
A new extended producer responsibility law in the Netherlands is set to go into effect July 1, for clothing and household textiles. A “polluter pays” approach, the new law makes producers and importers of products on the Dutch market responsible for the waste of the products they sell in the country through their entire life cycle, and specifically aims to make big fashion chains responsible for the costs of collecting and disposing of their garments, instead of putting the burden on cities and counties. A fee will be charged by companies per product to fund a separate collection system. Companies must also meet specific goals for garment reuse, reprocessing, and recycling. The goal is for primary raw materials to be reduced by half by 2030, and to move to a circular economy by 2050. Half of the clothing products on the market in that year must be made from recycled materials. Zero textile waste is the government’s goal. The specifics aren’t finalized, but early discussions had it set between 0.10 and 0.15 cents per garment.
While France Since 2007, the country has been implementing the concept of extended producer liability for textile products, household linens, and footwear. On Jan. 1, a new series of rules for environmental standards for clothing and footwear came into effect under the country’s Anti-Waste and Circular Economy law. Part of that is a new “digital passport,” which gives specific information for manufacturing and materials at every step of the supply chain, and the true recyclability for clothing and shoes. It will impact large brands with over 50 million euros of turnover and 25,000 products that are marketed in France in 2023. Later, it will expand to smaller businesses.
The law also clearly defines the term “recyclable,” removing any ambiguity about what can actually be done with current collecting, sorting, technology and at scale and seeks to bust the myth that what a consumer puts in a store’s bin can actually be turned into new dresses or T-shirts. The result is that the word “recyclable” will be rare as most clothing can’t be recycled under this new definition.
The law applies to all brands, regardless of their size. Gone are any claims that a product is “environmentally friendly,” “biodegradable” or any other equivalent environmental claim. All packaging must be removed from shelves, websites, and product sheets by January 1. The fines for misleading claims can go up to 80 per cent of the advertising expense, or range from 15,000 to 10 Percent of annual turnover.
“Carbon neutral,” “zero carbon” and other similar terms are also newly regulated, with fines of up to 100,000 euros.
The Supply Chain Due Diligence Act was implemented in Germany on January 1. Companies are now responsible for all aspects of their supply chain, from sourcing components to where and how the products are made. It’s a big one — the new law applies to human rights and environmental impacts, looking to target child and slave labor, as well as soil damage, water waste and pollution in manufacturing countries. Every company with more than 3000 employees is required to report. This threshold will be reached in 2024 when the number of employees will reach 1,000. The penalties here are steep for big brands — fines can be up to 2 percent of their annual revenue.