The EU Wants Brands to Pay for Textile Waste

Rhonda Richford
·7-min read

PARIS — The European Union has moved one step closer to regulating textile waste — and making brands pay for it.

Textile producers, both based in or importing into the EU via e-commerce, would hold brands responsible for the entire life cycle of their products. That means they would be required to fund the collection, sorting and recycling of their products through extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs.

More from WWD

The legislation would see fees calculated based on the volume of quickly disposed-of clothing a brand puts into the European market. Negotiators had fast-fashion brands and ultra-fast e-commerce companies in their sights in the preliminary agreement reached Wednesday.

Ultra-fast-fashion online retailers such as Shein and Temu would be subject to the same obligations as traditional brick-and-mortar brands, but their direct shipping models could create a new layer of enforcement challenges.

The new provisions are meant to “ensure that producers contribute to the effective separate collection of textiles they produce,” said lead negotiator Anna Zalewska. The EU generates 12.6 million tons of textile waste a year and imported 4 billion e-commerce ultra-fast-fashion packages in 2024.

The agreement is expected to be fully adopted and then advanced for a final vote. Companies would have 30 months from when the directive takes effect to have their programs in place, while small businesses of under 10 employees would have an additional year.

France’s Anti-fast-fashion Bill Stalled

The EU agreement on targeting fast fashion comes as legislation targeting cheap imports stalled in France.

Widely called the “anti-fast-fashion” bill, the legislation was designed to target companies that import large volumes, such as Shein and Temu. It would have created a penalty of up to 10 euros for the most polluting disposable brands, as well as established a ban on advertising for these types of companies.

The bill had been passed by France’s lower house National Assembly in March of last year and had been expected to be taken up by the Senate on March 26, but disappeared from the calendar without explanation.

The move followed Shein recruiting former French interior minister Christophe Castaner to its social and environmental responsibility committee last December. On Wednesday, a group of politicians and industry professionals highlighted the timing, calling it a “national scandal.”

In a statement the group, including Vestiaire Collective cofounder and chief executive officer Fanny Moizant, French Federation of Women’s Ready-to-Wear president Yann Rivoallan, Union of Fashion and Clothing Industries president Pierre-François Le Louet, along with French assembly member Anne-Cécile Violland and senator Sylvie Valente Le Hir, condemned the move.

The group said that cheap imports have “come at the expense of French businesses and communities” as former high street stalwarts including Camaïeu, Kookai, Naf Naf and Pimkie have gone into administration.

“We call on decision-makers to seize this unique opportunity to write this law into history as an essential turning point towards a more responsible fashion industry,” the group continued, appealing to legislators to revive the bill.

The EU’s Need to Address Import Loophole

In Brussels Thursday, the Circular Fashion Federation held a conference to address what it sees as shortcomings in the current EU legislation, including the exemption of direct clothing imports of under 150 euros from customs charges, the model used by Shein and Temu.

The CFF called on the EU to “level the playing field” to promote circular products.

Speaking on stage, Mikael Garellic, trade affairs officer for textile, clothing, leather and footwear at the EU Directorate General for Internal Market, said that the bloc imported 83 billion euros of clothing in 2023. Eighty percent of those imports originate in three countries, dominated by China, with Bangladesh and Turkey following.

“The high level of imports and over-capacity in some of our trading partners creates pressure,” he said. Without a level playing field, or additional market incentives, companies that use circular textiles are stalled or have gone bankrupt, he said, posing a key challenge for the development of the sector.

The CFF’s manifesto called for key structural changes, including ending the 150-euro exemption for ultra-fast fashion and to change the current taxes on secondhand products to equalize prices and make them more competitive.

The policy paper also called for a clear definition of companies that are considered ultra-fast fashion based on the quantity of items they put on the market, the time to market, the frequency and intensity of promotions, and those companies that have “excessively low” prices. Workers’ rights should also be a key criteria, they added.

Recycling trade association EURIC president Mariska Boer added that consumption of textiles in Europe is expected to grow from 2.7 million tons a year in 2025 to 5.5 million tons by 2030.

The influx of cheap and poor-quality clothing is flooding the market and creates a double bind for waste management: both filling bins with textiles that are of such poor quality they cannot be reused, and also undercutting even secondhand clothing on price.

Boer said that the continued increase in textile volumes and lack of true textile-to-textile recycling are major stumbling blocks for any solution at scale.

“EPR is not a silver bullet. It is not going to make our industry circular,” she said. Even reuse of clothing is “still a linear system” resulting in eventual waste that is currently exported. The textiles that are currently recycled are generally post-industrial such as offcuts discarded in the manufacturing process, and not clothing. Boer called for commitments on using post-consumer waste in new garments.

“There needs to be a willingness on the side of the producers, maybe a little bit pushed by legislation, to really uptake and commit to using recycled textile content, because then it will also make sense to collect those discarded second, third, fourth-hand clothes,” she said. Without putting clothing waste back into the supply chain recycling will continue to lack a business model for companies to stay afloat.

Panelists called for additional funding, particularly for start-ups, and stronger enforcement of the existing rules. Fairly Made founder and co-chief executive officer Camille Le Gal said that clear labeling and transparency would help brands better track their supply chains and help educate consumers. It led to pushback from audience members who believed that would cause an undue burden for small businesses, though Le Gal held up the example of France’s labeling system as a viable model.

Fair Trade and a Sustainable Model

Chloé Ridel, member of European Parliament from France, addressed the common arguments against taxation — that it will raise prices for the average consumer and kill jobs in developing countries.

“It’s not by delegating our production of textiles to Bangladesh or China that we are going to develop those countries. We are going to enrich big businesses taking advantage of the poor workers there, but we are not going to develop those countries by letting fast-fashion industry industries bloom there,” she said. Instead the EU should fund infrastructure, health and educational programs.

Other panelists highlighted the need to promote the European textile industry, including linen and wool, to be more competitive in the global marketplace.

Saskia Bricmont, member of the European Parliament from Belgium, addressed the U.S.-led global pushback on ESG, or environmental, social and governance, that is seeing companies withdraw from their previous pledges. She emphasized the bloc should keep its environmental commitments, outlined in an overarching framework called the Green Deal.

“Along with the industry, we have to keep pushing the [European] Commission and all the political groups to act together, because there will be no economic competitiveness of the European Union without circular economy, without sustainability,” she said. “The Green Deal is the precondition of sound economy for the EU, especially now in the current geopolitical context.”

Best of WWD

Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Latest stories