EUROPEAN STRATEGY TO CORNER ULTRA-FAST FASHION

At the end of September, news of the greenwashing investigation launched by the Italian Antitrust Authority against Shein has been all round the world. The Authority has targeted certain sections of the ultra-fast fashion giant’s website containing misleading and incomplete information on the sustainability of its garments, but also its emphatic commitment to decarbonisation which was contradicted by the substantial increase in greenhouse gas emissions that emerges from the sustainability reports for 2022 and 2023.



THE IMPACTS OF A CONSTANTLY GROWING SECTOR 

For such an impactful sector whose business is based on overproduction and the destruction of unsold clothes, practices that smack of greenwashing are commonplace. Already last year, Greenpeace Germany had reported on the various marketing strategies used to claim the kind of sustainability that is often only superficial. Now the Shein case has put the spotlight back on the environmental and social impacts of ultra-fast fashion, which has long been a focus of attention in Europe. It is fair to say that the global textile industry is inextricably linked to fossil fuels, as 64% of the total fibres produced worldwide are derived directly from oil, according to the Preferred Fiber & Materials Market Report 2023. According to the Changing Markets Foundation’s 2021 Annual Report, synthetic clothing will account for around 73% of global fibre production by 2030, while polyester products could remain in landfills for more than 200 years. Furthermore, in 2020 the textile sector represented the third largest source of water degradation and land use. We can visualise this impact in relation to the clothes and shoes that a single European citizen uses in a year: in 2020, each person’s clothes and shoes consumed 9 cubic metres of water, 400 square metres of land and 391 kilograms of raw materials. This is according to the European Environmental Agency.

If we then consider that online sales of clothing increase their turnover by 10% every year, it is easy to imagine that the impacts of this market will continue to increase. 



THE FRENCH DRAFT LAW 

The ultra-fast fashion giants with their rock-bottom prices and ultra-low-cost goods that make their way round the world have therefore triggered an in-depth reflection process, particularly in countries like France, where a group of parliamentarians have drafted a bill to curb online sales of fast fashion garments and accessories. Shein is specifically cited in the introduction of the French bill: “At the forefront of this fast fashion, the Chinese ready-to-wear clothing company is pumping out more than 7,200 new clothing styles per day and making more than 470,000 different products available to consumers”, the proponents write. Their idea is to charge a higher “eco-contribution” for the management of textile waste from fast fashion garments, a surcharge of up to 10 Euros per item sold up to a limit of 50% of the sales price. The law also includes a ban on fast fashion advertising similar to the one already introduced in France for companies linked to fossil fuels.






THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY AND NEWS JUST IN 

In 2022, the European Union adopted the Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles with the aim of reducing impacts and changing the way clothes and fabrics are produced and consumed. Europe promises that “[this] means that all textile products must be durable, repairable and recyclable. Profitable re-use and repair services will be widely available, and producers will take responsibility for their products along the supply chain”.

Among the regulations that aim to achieve this objective is the so-called Ecodesign Regulation (ESPR, Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation), which after final approval is awaiting the issue of delegated acts by the European Commission. Each of these acts will establish in detail the rules and methods by which producers of goods will have to review their production process and one of the first delegated acts will concern the textile sector. In addition to durability, reparability and recyclability requirements, a minimum content of recycled material may be foreseen, with clearer and more transparent information to consumers also thanks to the digital product passport. The new regulation also introduces a direct ban on the destruction of unsold textiles and footwear, a widespread practice in the fast-fashion sector, as the low value of garments in terms of price and quality makes it uneconomic to devise forms of reuse.



EXTENDED MANUFACTURER RESPONSIBILITY AND ECOMONDO FOCUS

The European Union generates 12.6 million tonnes of textile waste every year, of which 5.2 million tonnes are clothing and footwear. For every person, 12 kg of textile waste is produced. Yet only 22% of post-consumer textile waste is collected separately for reuse or recycling, with the rest being incinerated or landfilled.

For this reason, in accordance with the Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, the European institutions have revised the Waste Framework Directive, proposing in July 2023 to make producers responsible for the entire life cycle and sustainable management of textile waste throughout the Union. The aim is to introduce mandatory and harmonised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes, also in view of the entry into force of the obligation to collect textile waste separately throughout Europe from 1 January 2025. As is already the case in other sectors such as packaging, batteries and electrical and electronic equipment, producers will finance the costs of managing textile waste by paying the eco-contribution. In Europe, some countries have already launched voluntary Extended Responsibility systems in the textile sector: France with the Refashion consortium and the Netherlands with the Stichting UPV Textiel foundation. Even in Italy, operators in the sector have prepared themselves by creating various consortia that are already established and waiting to become fully operational as soon as the European regulatory framework is finalised (we are waiting for a final stage of consultation in the so-called “trilogue” between the Commission, Parliament and Council) and the Italian rules will govern the details of the new scheme. 

The expectation is that efficient collection, sorting and management systems will be established, that the quantity of waste destined for landfill or incineration will be reduced and that the sector’s circularity rate will increase through reuse, recycling and especially through support for ecodesign. The contribution that manufacturers will pay to the EPR scheme will in fact be commensurate with the environmental performance of textile products, a principle known as “eco-modulation”, whereby polluters more pay more.

Operators in the sector are keenly awaiting the arrival of this new scheme and the implementation of the other rules concerning it. There is widespread awareness that the textile sector and fast fashion in particular are on the eve of radical changes, which are driven by the need to reduce the imbalances and environmental and social impacts generated so far. The 2024 edition of Ecomondo will be the opportunity to delve into these themes and reflect on the scope of the latest regulatory changes, through a series of meetings and panels also organised with the contribution of EconomiaCircolare.com in the Textile District, the fair exhibition area dedicated to the sector.


Written by Raffaele Lupoli, editor-in-chief of EconomiaCircolare.com