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Due to its high resource use and significant environmental impact, the textile industry has been designated as a priority sector for the EU's transition towards sustainability in the European Green Deal. The Green Claims Directive is one of the initiatives to address this sector's unsustainable structures. Earlier this year, the European Commission published its proposal for this Directive. This proposal has been published with the aim to combat greenwashing and eradicate misleading environmental messaging within EU markets.

Reviewing the proposed EU Green Claims Directive for the Textile Industry

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) has been recognised as a vital mechanism within the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles to address waste reduction and combat environmental deterioration associated with the textile industry. By 2025, each European Member State is expected to collect textile waste. This raises the question: How could an EPR scheme for textiles be implemented most effectively to drive system change for a circular economy?

Harmonised EPR for Textiles

Last week marked the anniversary of what is widely considered the worst industrial disaster: the collapsed eight-story Rana Plaza building, killing over 1000 people and leaving thousands more injured. This disaster raised many questions, including what must be achieved to prevent history from repeating itself. Over the past ten years, we have seen the first voluntary initiatives acting on Due Diligence in the textile sector. Today, binding legislation developed across the EU and Member States has come into force. We have summed an overview of voluntary initiatives to legislative action since the Rana Plaza collapse. 

From voluntary initiatives to legislative action: a brief history of Due Diligence in the Textile and Footwear Sector

A couple of years ago, the EU made a remarkable commitment to become climate neutral by 2050 with the announcement of the European Green Deal. The Deal plays an important role in tackling global challenges, such as climate change and environmental degradation. It also sets an ambition for the EU to transition to a circular economy, where waste is eliminated, resources are circulated, and nature is regenerated. Last year the EU put forward its Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP), which lays the foundations on how to make EU circular. In this context, we take a closer look at some of the upcoming EU's policy initiatives announced as part of the CEAP which will significantly impact textiles.

What's in the Pipeline? A Closer Look into the Upcoming EU Policies Impacting Textiles

On 14th September, the Policy Hub - Circularity for Apparel and Footwear organised an online event on Tackling Misleading Claims and Empowering Consumers in the Textiles sector co-hosted with Delara Burkhardt, the Member of European Parliament. The event brought together prominent experts from the policy-making, apparel and footwear industry and the civil society to discuss on some of the remaining challenges related to consumer-facing transparency and policy solutions to address them. The recording of the event can be accessed here.

Recording of the Online Event on Tackling Misleading Claims and Empowering Consumer in the Textiles Sector

In light of the current EU and its Member States discussions on the extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemes, the Policy Hub together with the Bureau of International Recycling, Circle Economy, Euratex, EuRIC, EuroCommerce, Government of Catalonia, and the Municipality of Milan sent a letter to the European Commission asking for EU-harmonised rules for EPR. According to the signatories, the harmonisation of EPR rules is ‘’a key enabler for championing the transition to a circular and climate-neutral apparel and footwear sector in the EU’’.

Joint Letter to the European Commission on the Need for Harmonised EPR Rules

On 23rd March, the Policy Hub – Circularity for Apparel and Footwear organised the third stakeholder roundtable on extended producer responsibility(EPR). We gathered seventeen experts from recycling, reuse, manufacturing, waste management, municipalities, brands, and fiber producers to set the foundations for EPR and assess EPR as a policy instrument for textiles. The discussion focused particularly on the scope and targets of EPR. ‍

Extended Producers Responsibility: Policy Hub Assembles Stakeholders for the Third Roundtable

Marking the anniversary of the EU Green Deal, the Policy Hub - Circularity for Apparel and Footwear together with Civil Society Organisations sent a letter to the EU Commission on 11th December. The letter endorsed the Commission's ambitious direction towards sustainability and supported its efforts to develop a comprehensive EU Textile Strategy.

Joint letter to the European Commission from the Policy Hub and Civil Society Organisations

Key apparel and footwear organisations come together to present a new proposal for a Green Recovery Plan for Europe. The Policy Hub, a joint effort of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC), the Federation of the European Sporting Goods Industry (FESI) and Global Fashion Agenda (GFA), recently published a proposal that outlines seven key principles necessary for a green recovery for the entire industry. The proposal was developed in collaboration with Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Leading the way towards a green recovery for the apparel and footwear sector

The Policy Hub welcomes the publication of the Commission’s Circular Economy Action Plan to boost circularity, and especially its focus on the textiles sector. The concept of circular economy and sustainable business models is not new to the textile industry, hence our enthusiasm for this action plan which lays the first stone towards the long-awaited Textiles Strategy. Offering a clear and harmonised framework to our sector is of paramount importance. Our planet’s resources are reaching their limits; we need to move away from business as usual.

Statement on the Circular Economy Action Plan publication

The Policy Hub for Circular Economy in the Apparel, Footwear and Textile Industry supports the European Commission’s initiative to address the challenge of textile waste and welcomes the consideration of extended producer responsibility (EPR) as an option to implement the regulatory requirement to separately collect textiles by 2025. Nonetheless, it is important to ensure that EPR requirements stemming from the European Waste Framework Directive are workable for the fashion and active lifestyle industry and do not hamper innovation nor competitiveness in a global trade context. The Policy Hub seeks to open a dialogue with policymakers to jointly shape a common framework for an E...

Circular clothing requires comprehensive policy

Online Event on Transparency co-hosted by the Policy Hub and MEP Delara Burkhardt

As part of the Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission is developing two key policies on transparency: Substantiating the Green Claims Initiative and Empowering the Consumers Initiative, which will require companies to substantiate claims they make about the environmental footprint of their products/services and will help consumers to play their role in a green transition. In light of this, the Policy Hub organising a webinar co-hosted with Delara Burkhardt, a Member of European Parliament to discuss what is needed for an effective policy framework on transparency.

The Policy Hub hosted its second workshop on Extended Producer Responsibility on 2 September 2020

The Policy Hub – Circularity for Apparel and Footwear hosted its second workshop on Extended Producer Responsibility on 2 September 2020. Stakeholders from the apparel and footwear system (recyclers, suppliers, companies, fiber manufacturers etc.) discussed two specific issues identified as key during the first discussions held in January in Brussels: eco-modulation of fees and share of financial burden.

[POSTPONED] High-level event to launch the Policy Hub - Circularity for apparel and footwear

A high-level event to launch the Policy Hub - Circularity for apparel and footwear

Assembling the European Circular Fashion and Textile System around EPR

The Policy Hub – Circularity for Apparel and Footwear hosted its first workshop in Brussels on 29 January 2020.On that occasion stakeholders from the apparel and footwear system (recyclers, suppliers, companies, fiber manufacturers etc.) were gathered around one specific issue: extended producer responsibility (EPR).

01 June 2023: The textile industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world, responsible for over 10% of the global GHG emissions. In an effort to reduce the environmental impact of the textiles industry, leading brands (Adidas, Bestseller, C&A, H&M Group, Inditex and VF Corporation) have come together with the Policy Hub – Circularity for Apparel & Footwear and Eunomia Research & Consulting, to research and publish a set of principles for the most effective waste management system to tackle the pollution and enable a smooth transition to a circular economy for textiles in the EU.

Press Release: Further Considerations to Textiles EPR and Complementary Measures

30 March: The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, published today by the European Commission, lays out key principles supporting the much needed transformation of the textiles industry. The Policy Hub- Circularity for Apparel and Footwear – applauds the strategy. The apparel and footwear sector supports the main principles of the European Commission’s vision in the Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and reiterates its willingness to actively work together with the European public authorities, as these principles align with the Policy Hub’s objective to promote a circular and climate-neutral economy in the apparel, footwear, and textile industry.

A European policy framework for a climate-neutral textile industry: The Policy Hub - Circularity for Apparel and Footwear supports the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles.

Circularity has become a key concern of businesses in the apparel sector, however, companies face challenges accelerating their efforts as current policies in Europe do not provide enabling conditions.

Press Release: Launch of the Policy Hub