The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles

What is the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles?

  • The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles aims to create a greener, more competitive and more modern sector, more resistant to global shocks.

  • It implements commitments made under the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan.

  • The Strategy proposes actions for the entire lifecycle of textiles products, while supporting the ecosystem in the green and digital transitions. 

  • It addresses the way textiles are designed and consumed, including by looking also at sustainable technological solutions and innovative business models. 

  • On the consumer side, the Strategy will encourage a shift towards quality, durability, longer use, repair and reuse.

What does it include?

  • New design requirements for textiles under the ESPR.

  • Setting mandatory minimums for the inclusion of recycled fibres in textiles - making them longer-lasting, and easier to repair and recycle.

  • The proposal would also ban the destruction of unsold products under certain conditions – including unsold or returned textiles.

  • A Digital Product Passport (DPP) based on mandatory information requirements on circularity and other key environmental aspects.

  • Tight controls on greenwashing, with stricter rules to protect consumers.

  • Action to address the unintentional release of microplastics from textiles. 

  • Harmonised EU rules on EPR (extended producer responsibility) for textiles.

  • Economic incentives to make products more sustainable (eco modulation fees) as part of the Waste Framework Directive.

  • Support to research, innovation and investments and to the development of the skills needed for the green and digital transitions.

  • The Strategy will only allow the export of textile waste to non-OECD countries under certain conditions.

  • The strategy brings together environmental and labour concerns to promote greener and fairer value chains across borders.

Why is it important for fashion?

  • European consumption of textiles has the fourth highest impact on the environment and climate change, after food, housing and mobility.

  • It is the third sector for higher use of water and land use, and fifth for the use of primary raw materials and greenhouse gas emissions.

  • Many of the pressures created by the consumption of textiles can be traced back to fast fashion – low cost, low quality apparel produced at great speed, often under poor labour conditions  outside the EU.

  • The Strategy addresses both the demand and the supply side challenges this creates.

Background and Context

  • The average European throws away 11kg of textiles every year.

  • Around the world, a truckload of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every single second.

  • Global textiles production almost double between 2000 and 2015.

  • The consumption of clothing and footwear is expected to increase by 63% by 2030.

  • The textile sectors employs over 1.5 million people in over 160,000 companies, with a turnover of €162 billion in 2019.

Timeline and Key Dates

MARCH 2022 - EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles formally adopted

2023 – 2025 - Early Implementation Work

  • Developments under Ecodesign for Sustainable Product Regulation (ESPR)

  • Development of Digital Product Passport (DPP)

  • Legislative proposals on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)

  • Amendments to waste and labelling rules

16 APRIL 2025 - The ‘2025-2030 Ecodesign Working Plan’ was adopted - which prioritised textiles and apparel as a major product group for regulatory action.

18 JULY 2025 – Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulatoin (ESPR) enteres into force

FEBRUARY 2026 – Updated rules issued on the ban of desctruction of unsold clothing and footwear.

TARGET 2030 - The overarching 2030 target of the strategy is that all textile products placed on the EU market are durable, repairable, recyclable, largely made from recycled fibres, and sustainably produced.

Current Status

  • The EU’s textile strategy is not a single law, but a policy roadmap driving a suite of new sustainability-focused regulations and rules across product design, information transparency, producer responsibility, waste handling, and recycling.

Further Reading and Official Sources