(Image courtesy of Texintel)

As the consumer becomes increasingly aware of the true impact of the textile industry, green-washing, green-wishing, and any terminology in between no longer washes.

In a competitive commercial world, the consumer demands transparency and clarity throughout the textile value chain. Therefore, retailers and the manufacturing community alike must now meet these requirements if they are to retain their market share.

Sustainability is big business. As a small sector (currently) of the wider fashion industry, the global ethical fashion market reached a value of nearly US$6.34 billion in 2020, and is expected to grow to US$15.58 billion by 2030 at a CAGR of 9.0% (Research & Markets).

With an accelerating pattern of growth, the industry must quickly reevaluate the fashion supply chain. Ethically conscious consumers evaluate their purchase decisions around the sustainability and traceability of the manufactured product. To evaluate the integrity of these products, the consumer must rely on the quality of the certification provided to reinforce their choice. Gone are the days when buzz words like “eco-friendly,” “organic,” and “sustainable” will suffice.

The consumer of 2023 knows what they want; and they demand hard, reliable, and verifiable evidence of composition and process in much the same way that they look for reliable washing instructions on the sewn-in label on the product.

In a veritable jungle of textile certification, many enterprises compete to gain the trust and confidence of the consumer.

The industry is awash with certifications such as OEKO-Tex and the Global Organic Textile Standard, Higg Index, etc., plus organizations such as Bluesign and ZDHC, as well as the many testing houses such as Testex, Hohenstein, and Bureau Veritas. And while these are understood by the manufacturing community, the consumer needs a much simpler and more reliable method of environmental validation.

Until recently, there was little in the way of an all-encompassing, unbiased textile regulatory framework across Europe, one which could be reliably used by the consumer as a benchmark to assess the claims of any textile manufacturer.

As the environmental agenda develops, two new proposals for textile regulation stand out and provide a possible route forward for the industry to adopt and a roadmap to sustainable textile production.

The EU Digital Product Passport

In October 2022, the European Union’s 2020 Circular Economy Action plan set the goal to consider the entire life cycle of products, from production to end-of-life disposal, covering all the processes relating to materials sourcing, production, and supply chain.

As part of the proposal for an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the Digital Product Passport (DPP) was introduced which will enhance the traceability of products and allow consumers and manufacturers to access all the information concerning a specific product and its provenance. 

The DPP was defined by the European Commission as a “product-specific dataset,” which would structure the disclosure requirements of products. “It can provide information on the origin, composition, repair, and disassembly options of a product as well as how the various components can be recycled.

“All this information brings a new level of transparency that not only improves communication among all stakeholders in the value chain (e.g. producers and recyclers), but also boosts consumer consciousness and empowers better decision-making. This important disclosure mechanism would enable upscaling of circular economy strategies and inform consumers and stakeholders of the sustainability characteristics of a product.”

The EU Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a mandatory electronic record to be fully required by 2030, designed under the EU Green Deal legislation, specifically the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles and Ecodesign, a part of the European Commission’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation.

The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles has set out an ambition for all textile products available on the EU market to be long-life and recyclable by 2030.

The introduction of the DPP would help to address this goal and tackle the pressing challenges in the textile industry, such as: vital information about what our clothes contain, who made them, and where they are coming from.

Reborn—China Fiber Zero Carbon Action, April 2023

China has been quick to follow the EU’s lead and introduce greater digital traceability to its textile supply chain because the introduction of the DPP means that the EU intends to soon require importers to have transparent access to product traceability information.

China’s response has been to launch its own green certification scheme called Reborn, a process that should, among other things, set a local standard for recycled fibers. “This project is in line with Beijing’s stated desire to develop a local collection and recycling network for end-of-life textile products,” said Duan Xiaoping, vice president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council.

However, although no concrete timetable for the deployment of the platform has yet been communicated, the stakes are high for China, which has a textile export trade worth over US$70 billion. And with the EU’s trade alone worth over US$40 billion, and with Europe wanting to regulate the environmental claims and labelling of imported products, the Chinese authorities are moving ahead with speed.

In summary, on opposite sides of the world, governments are waking up to the challenges of controlling the textile industry, and of providing a transparent and effective regulatory system. So far, the pace is slow, but the direction of travel is apparent “to achieve safe and sustainable textile production coupled with extensive consumer information.”

The race is on, but the clock is ticking—and with 2030 only seven years away, can all of this really be achieved? We remain eternally optimistic but the jury is out…to be continued.

www.texintel.com

Editor’s note: If only the United States would get on board, we could see a much-needed global response to sustainability issues in textiles and apparel!