Sustainability, chemicals, and circular fashion in textiles
What EU's textile strategy means for a trade that works with fabric every day
Introduction
Textiles are one of the industries that fill the most in the sustainability debate — and for good reason. Clothing production uses large amounts of water, chemicals, and energy and much of what we buy is only used for a short time before it ends up as waste. The EU has therefore set a common direction for the entire industry and that direction also affects the individual clothing craftsperson.
The EU's textile strategy
In March 2022, the EU Commission presented the 'EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles'. The strategy contains binding, product-specific ecodesign requirements that should increase textile durability, repairability and reuse as well as fibre-to-fibre recycling — and it proposes a ban on destroying unsold and returned clothing.
Microplastics from synthetic fibres
Every time clothing made of polyester, nylon or other synthetic fibres is washed, microscopic fibre fragments are loosened and released into wastewater. The EU's strategy therefore works with measures targeted at several points in the chain: design requirements that limit fibre release, requirements for industry to pre-wash textiles before sale, and better labelling that makes it clearer to consumers what a product is made of.
Ecodesign, durability, and repair
- 01Binding requirements for durability and lifetime extension for textile products
- 02Focus on the possibility of repair reuse and fiber-to-fiber recycling
- 03Ban on destruction of unsold and returned clothing
- 04Increased use of recycled fibres in new products
What does it mean for the clothing craftsperson?
When policy moves in the direction of longer life and more repair, the skills that have always been at the trade's core—fixing, adjusting, and repairing clothes—become more sought-after, not less. At the same time, it demands the ability to advise customers on material choice with sustainability in mind, and to know the coming ecodesign requirements as they're implemented into concrete legislation.
It is worth remembering that the strategy is continuously implemented in more concrete regulations and requirements — the pace and details that apply at a given time should always be checked with the EU or the Danish authorities, rather than relying on a snapshot such as this article.
“Sustainable clothing is often what gets repaired one time too many — not discarded one time too early.”