The European Union has proposed new rules in order to tighten its grip [1] on the fast fashion industry.
In March 2022, the EU revealed a new strategy and a set of rules to make sustainable textiles the norm. The proposals set out a vision to ensure that by 2030, all textile products placed on the EU market are “long-lived and recyclable” as well as safe and produced “in respect of social rights and the environment.”
The Commission elaborated in their announcement that consumers would benefit from high-quality textiles as well as reuse and repair services made widely available. “It’s time to end the model of ‘take, make, break, and throw away that is so harmful to our planet, our health, and our economy,” EU executive vice-president Frans Timmermans said in a press conference.
Specific measures of the deal include eco-design requirements for textiles, increased transparency, and a mandatory producer responsibility scheme.
The proposals come as part of a wider push by the EU to fight for a more sustainable future. Last year the bloc unveiled [2] a sweeping plan to cut its contribution to climate change by half in a decade. But the new rules proposed in March target an industry that has become known for selling mass-produced, cheap garments: fast fashion.
Fast fashion is low-cost clothing produced rapidly by copying high fashion trends. It is in fact a recent innovation, as the term was first used in the early 90s to describe Zara’s strategy to take less than 15 days from design to sales. Today, Zara, UNIQLO, and H&M are leading the market, many of which are based in the European Union.
Fast fashion might have made each piece of clothing more affordable, but its environmental impacts have come to the fore [3] in recent years. The mass production of garments takes up 10% of humanity’s carbon footprint. What’s more, consumers in 2014 bought 60% more garments than they did in 2000. Much of this goes to the dump; in the US, about 85% of used textiles are dumped in landfills or incinerators, according to the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The materials used to lower the cost are problematic as well. Many brands use synthetic [4] textiles like polyester, nylon, and acrylic. Even washing these clothes releases 500,000 tons of microfibers, or 50 billion plastic bottles, into the ocean each year. A 2017 report found that an estimated 35% of all microplastics in the ocean come from washing synthetic fibers.
But the Bloc’s plan to promote sustainable fashion hinges on [5] the compliance of overseas manufacturers. Europe is one of the world’s largest textile importers, and many of the garments consumed within its borders are sourced from Asian factories.
Many aspects of modern life are known to negatively affect the environment; such aspects include flying overseas or using plastic. Some of these activities are considered necessary. That said, fast fashion and its impact might have grown disproportionately to affect our lives and future generations. The EU has an ambition to tackle some of the harm that has been done, but only the coming years will tell whether this will remain an ambition or develop into something more.