ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

04 February 2021

ECOS welcomes the publication of the roadmap for an EU strategy for sustainable textiles

ECOS sent their recommendations for the upcoming EU strategy for sustainable textiles, as part of the European Commission’s call for feedback from stakeholders. The strategy aims to help the EU shift to a climate-neutral, circular economy where products are designed to be more durable, reusable, repairable, recyclable and energy-efficient.

It’s time to change how the fashion industry works, based on a buy (more and more) -use (less and less)- throw-away linear system. The EU should not miss the opportunity to take significant steps towards making textiles truly circular, making sustainable products the norm and inspiring the rest of the world. It is urgent to turn this vision into action as the ever-higher climate and environmental impacts of the textile sector continue growing.

The upcoming EU Strategy for Textiles should set an ambitious vision for an environmentally sustainable and circular EU textile sector which delivers on the EU’s zero pollution objectives and the bloc’s climate-neutrality target by 2050, while addressing the environmental and social impacts of textiles.

After having analysed the current roadmap, we call on the Commission to be even more ambitious: they should boost a shift towards circularity and discourage the EU textiles sector from maintaining their linear economy model. The upcoming EU Strategy for Textiles needs to better promote upstream solutions. Measures should follow a real circular economy hierarchy, where value retention is prioritised, and where prevention strategies to avoid material consumption in the first place are adequately valued. Crucially, the strategy should include measures to decrease the current levels of global textile production and consumption as to significantly reduce the overall environmental footprint of the sector.

Read our views on how the EU Strategy for Textiles can go even further 

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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