The European Union’s fashion industry is facing a wave of new regulations and is preparing to raise its concerns. The next few months will be crucial as Brussels begins drafting a series of green policies.
In July, Ursula von der Leyen was re-elected as President of the EU Commission. In its second term, the EU wants to introduce a series of rules for more environmentally friendly products sold on the internal market. This also begins the phase in which industry representatives, such as the European Fashion Alliance, can make suggestions for the practical application of the rules.
“Still a lot to do”
“I count on your support to shape legislation together with businesses, consumers and the environment,” said Jessika Roswall, the new EU Commissioner for the Environment, Water and a Competitive Circular Economy, in Brussels on Wednesday.
“As the new Commissioner, I want to let you know that my door is always open,” she told almost a hundred representatives from 15 European fashion associations gathered at the European Parliament in Brussels this week. She welcomed the efforts of fashion associations to combat fashion’s negative impact on the environment through more sustainable sourcing or product design, but also highlighted the challenges.
Although the European clothing and textile sector generates an annual turnover of 170 billion euros, it also generates more than 12 million tonnes of textile waste, Roswall said in her speech. “Only 22 percent is collected separately and 8 percent is reused. These numbers show us that we still have a lot of work to do.”
Lack of awareness
The problem of increasing textile waste is just one of many that the EU wants to address with new guidelines. As part of the Green Deal, the international community aims to be climate neutral by 2050, and by 2030 CO2 emissions must be reduced by 55 percent compared to 1990.
The EU has developed a package of measures to achieve its climate goals, many of which will affect the textile sector. Among these, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Design Regulation (ESPR), which sets guidelines for more sustainable design for physical goods, has the potential to transform the core of the fashion industry: the entire value chain, such as one Garment is designed, manufactured, labeled and disposed of.
Sustainability aspects such as longevity, repairability or reusability must be taken into account in product development, as the EU website shows. Also mentioned are a higher proportion of recycled material, limiting waste generation and improving product repair.
Despite the upcoming changes, the majority of fashion companies are unaware of future changes in the law. Only 52 percent of organizations surveyed are familiar with the ESPR, according to a report presented by the European Fashion Alliance on Wednesday.
Even fewer of those surveyed, 44 percent, are familiar with the digital product passport (DPP). This digital ID card is part of the ESPR and will contain information intended to improve the transparency and sustainability of the products.
Consider
The Ecodesign Regulations (ESPR) came into force on July 18, but specific rules for products from different sectors, such as fashion, have yet to be drawn up by the EU. However, some proposals are already causing unrest among fashion companies.
Italian luxury brand Max Mara subjected a coat to a durability test according to guidelines outlined in its regulations, Constanza Maramotti, the granddaughter of the company’s founder, said at a European Fashion Alliance roundtable on Wednesday. The result was a negative surprise for them. The current technical durability criteria would only allow the company’s trademark to last for three months.
“This is exactly the opposite of what our experience is,” said Maramotti, a member of Max Mara’s sustainability committee. She added that the brand’s Max coats are often passed down through generations of women. In her view, purely technical criteria do not take into account what she described as the “emotional value” of clothing.
Complexities
A product like a bra with more than 50 components needs to balance numerous aspects if it wants to become more sustainable, said Lieve Vermeire, sustainability manager at Belgian lingerie maker Van de Velde. The company is already using more recycled materials in its bras, but this should not affect the quality or fit of the products. The number of components also corresponds to that of the suppliers, who also have to work more sustainably.
The number of components and suppliers that can be involved in a single product highlights the challenges that fashion companies continue to face. The EFA report shows that 88 percent of respondents have invested financial or human resources in sustainability-related activities, but 59 percent of respondents still lack funds or support for “ sophisticated practices ” to manage the transition to a more sustainable business model.
Respondents focused on product quality and durability (66 percent) or innovative and responsible materials (64 percent). However, the measures that require technical solutions or a better understanding of the supply chain are still limited. Less than 30 percent of activities relate to care and repair, certification, labeling or recyclability, respondents said. 79 percent say they do not use innovative solutions to ensure product traceability.
Financial burden
The European Union’s new regulations come at a time when the industry is struggling with falling consumer spending amid economic uncertainty. A large part of the fashion industry based on the division of labor consists of small and medium-sized companies, some of which do not have the financial resources and the necessary workforce to meet the new legal requirements.
“This is a huge financial burden for smaller companies. There is data fatigue, no one knows all the data we need to report,” Goulay said. “I fear that because of all the stress of the how, we will lose sight of the why.”
And how some regulations will apply to the clothing industry is not yet entirely clear.
For example, it remains to be seen how much information needs to be included in the digital product passport and whether there is sensitive data that only the supervisory authority can access, for example. The European Fashion Alliance also hopes for a holistic approach to durability that doesn’t just take technical durability into account.
homework
“This legislative period is about implementation,” said Christian Ehlert, member of the Bundestag and von der Leyen’s Christian Democratic Union party member. At Wednesday’s roundtable, Ehlert also mentioned various funding options that could help the fashion industry make the transition and asked the industry for suggestions. “What we lack is a concrete catalog of suggestions that we can implement into the logic of our world.”
“The ESPR instruments must now be brought to life, taking into account the specific features of fashion. We have been given homework for the next three to four months, because by the end of 2025 the EU wants to define which programs, if any, can support the implementation of the ESPR,” said Scott Lipinski, Chairman of the EFA and Managing Director of the Fashion Council Germany, in an interview.
The European Fashion Alliance plans to present an action paper tailored to the fashion industry in the first quarter, he added. To achieve this, a common denominator must be found between the European fashion associations, because moving from abstract guidelines to concrete guidelines could lead to more discussions.
“This will be a big challenge in the next few months,” Lipinski said. “But if we look back at the discussions so far, we have always found solutions.”
FashionUnited was invited to the Fashion Policy Round Table by the European Fashion Alliance.