Legislation update: Our key takeaways from 2024

Sustainability at the forefront of industry discussions

Sustainability was a major theme in the year’s key industry events. Two key events – the Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) summits in Copenhagen and Shanghai – highlighted the need for the fashion industry to move beyond aspirational targets by prioritising actionable, circular and sustainable practices. At the Shanghai summit, GFA also launched its GFA Monitor 2024 report, which provides a comprehensive guide for fashion brands to enhance circularity. The report outlined best practices for managing socio-environmental priorities, with a particular focus on circular production, as well as best-practice extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies to align with current regulations.

With circularity being such an important topic, many more fashion brands – both big and small – need to be able to take their first steps towards circularity. That’s why our Renewal Workshop team has developed RESCUE, which focuses on returned garments that are already damaged when they arrive back at our warehouse. We sort the returned items, identify those that can be repaired to a like-new standard and carry out a streamlined repair process, ensuring brands can profit from each renewed item.

Legislators continue to prioritise sustainability

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), introduced in 2023 in an amendment to the 2019 Waste Framework Directive, has had a significant impact on the EU regulatory landscape for fashion. The basic principle of EPR legislation is to hold manufacturers and importers responsible for the entire lifecycle of products, from production to end-of-life. This shift of the financial burden of managing the end-of-life stage of garments to manufacturers results in a clear incentive to produce more resilient products. It also encourages manufacturers to prioritise the use of materials with high recyclability, allowing them to make better use of waste streams.

The impact of the EU Green Deal on the fashion industry

EPR was far from the only piece of relevant legislation to impact the fashion industry in 2024. Indeed, several closely related pieces of EU legislation were introduced, forming the basis of a holistic sustainability framework for the industry.

Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR):

The ESPR, in force as of July 2024, establishes a framework for setting eco-design performance requirements for textile products. In practice, this means that EU member states have been introducing increased durability standards for garments – and will continue to do so in the coming years.

Digital Product Passport:

Under the ESPR, by 2030 every textile product sold in the European Union will require a Digital Product Passport (DPP) – most likely in the form of a scannable QR code. Once scanned, it will provide information on the product’s origin, material composition, supply chain, sustainability and recyclability. This will help to improve transparency for consumers and make it easier for fashion brands and textile recyclers to improve their logistical efficiency by facilitating the sorting and treatment of end-of-life items.

Action on green claims and greenwashing:

In parallel with its measures to increase scrutiny around textile waste, the EC also intends to introduce stricter regulations on misleading sustainability claims that may influence consumers to choose one brand over another (‘greenwashing’). After adopting a proposal for a directive on green claims in 2023, the EC published its final report on the matter last year, paving the way for the European Parliament to introduce practical anti-greenwashing legislation: the Green Claims Directive.