Will the European Union really celebrate fast fashion?
The European Union has found an agreement on how to reduce the environmental impact caused by the overproduction of clothing. But the end of fast fashion still seems very far away. Facts, numbers and comments
“In fashion it is the Pulcinella secret,” says Vogue Business . “Unsold inventory ends up in the incinerator; excess bags are cut so as not to be resold; perfectly usable products are sent to landfill to avoid discounts and flash sales,” we read.
Not to mention the fast fashion of Shein , H&M, Zara and co. That is why the European Union has decided to establish new rules for the destruction of unsold textile and footwear products.
THAT SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS BECOME THE NORM
The Council and the European Parliament have reached a provisional agreement on the proposal for a regulation establishing a framework for setting ecodesign requirements for sustainable products.
The aim is for sustainable products to become the new norm in the EU, making them more durable, more efficient in using energy and resources, easier to repair and recycle, with fewer substances of concern and more recycled content.
WHICH PRODUCTS ARE INVOLVED
The new regulation will replace the current 2009 directive and will broaden the scope of the current legislation, which has so far been limited to energy-related products. Among the new features, the ban on the destruction of unsold textile and footwear products.
Priority, states the European Commission, will be given “to high impact products, including textiles (in particular clothing and footwear), furniture (including mattresses), iron and steel, aluminium, tyres, paints, lubricants and chemicals, as well as energy-related products, ICT products and other electronic products”.
However, a list of products identified on the basis of an in-depth analysis and criteria linked in particular to the EU's climate, environment and energy efficiency objectives will be regularly updated.
WHAT THE PROPOSAL INVOLVES
The proposal requires companies to declare each year how many unsold consumer products they discard and why. “This – states the EU Commission – should strongly discourage companies from undertaking this practice”.
A digital product passport will then be introduced to provide more information on the sustainability characteristics of products to consumers, but also to customs and market surveillance authorities.
IS THE BAN ON DESTRUCTION ALL FUCK?
Regarding unsold textiles and footwear, the proposal introduces a direct ban on destruction, which will come into force two years after the entry into force of the regulation, but with some exceptions and will be among the slowest to be effectively implemented.
In fact, small and micro businesses (those with fewer than 50 employees) will be exempt, while medium-sized businesses (those with a maximum of 250 employees) will have a six-year exemption. As Vogue Business notes , “It is not yet clear whether the ban applies to companies based in the EU or those operating there, nor how this ban may impact non-European regions.”
WHAT THE PROPOSAL DOESN'T SAY
While on the one hand groups such as the European Fashion Alliance (EFA), which lobbies the EU on behalf of the fashion industry, are concerned about the knock-on effects on the reputation of brands, on the other hand the proposal seems to focus entirely on discourage companies from overproducing but in practice it does not say what happens to these unsold goods if they are not destroyed.
“Will they be shipped worldwide? Will they be reused as deadstock or shredded and recycled? Will the outlets have plenty of stock to sell?” asks Eco-Age sustainability consultant Philippa Grogan.
Another of the still open questions concerns the application of the rules since, as Vogue Business points out, “brands have repeatedly used the lack of transparency of the supply chain in fashion as an excuse for incorrect behavior”.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
Today unsold clothes have two options: to be destroyed or to be sent to the secondary market (stockists or manufacturing company).
According to Brussels estimates reported by Eunews , “the average European throws away 11 kg of fabrics every year, globally a truck load of fabrics is landfilled or incinerated every single second”. Textiles are in fact “the fourth main sector responsible for the impact on the environment and climate change (after food, homes and mobility)”.
Furthermore, the path of destruction is often chosen to prevent excess production from influencing the selling price of goods downwards. An example of this is the British brand Burberry which, as La Svolta recalls, in 2018 revealed that it had burned unsold goods worth 28.6 million pounds.
Finally, again according to the European data reported in the article, "of the over 6 million tons of textile waste that we produce only a quarter is recycled", while "the rest ends up in less wealthy countries and, even in that case it is unable to find an owner, is burned or accumulates in natural areas, such as the Atacama desert in Chile."
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/lunione-europea-fara-davvero-la-festa-al-fast-fashion/ on Sun, 10 Dec 2023 19:38:00 +0000.