EU tapping into circular economy - Every Failed Shirt Deserves A European Consumer

From 19 July, large companies operating in the EU will no longer be allowed to destroy unsold apparel, footwear and accessories. Instead of burning or landfilling, they will be required to resell it, repair it, or find other uses for it. European shoppers are the obvious beneficiaries.

The measure, adopted under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, applies to large companies from mid-July this year. Medium-sized firms follow in 2030.

According to Commission figures, between 4 and 9 percent of textiles placed on the EU market used to meet destruction, generating millions of tonnes of unnecessary emissions.

Now that option is closed and the logic of the market will do what it always does.

Companies will continue to allocate their current collections, better fabrics and higher-spec production to markets where margins are stronger and regulatory overhead is lighter.

By removing the possibility of simple destruction, the EU has created a powerful incentive to keep moving inventory through European channels.

The European market, with its dense layer of existing rules will instead receive the remains: previous seasons, older colourways, unsellable production runs, and the general remainder of any given season.

Items that performed below expectations the first time around will be given a second, more insistent opportunity to find a buyer.

The EU becomes the perfect place to transform remainder stock into moral progress.

European shoppers should welcome the change.

Burning bad clothes is crude.

Shipping them to be burned elsewhere is hypocritical.

Keeping them in circulation inside the single market is the only approach consistent with the regulatory framework the EU has built.

YOU WILL WEAR THAT BEIGE JACKET AND BE HAPPY