Abstract
The paper examines the environmental impact of the fashion sector — in terms of emissions, resource consumption, and microplastic pollution — and analyzes the evolution of the European regulatory framework aimed at promoting the transition of the textile industry toward circular economy models. After recalling the role of the 2015 and 2020 “Circular Economy Action Plans” the paper explores the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and the main regulatory instruments connected to it. Finally, it examines the “Transition Pathway for the Textiles Ecosystem” as a tool for the industrial implementation of the transition, highlighting how sustainability in the fashion sector has become a legal parameter of compliance and competitiveness.
The environmental cost of fashion: emissions, natural Resources, and fast Fashion
The fashion industry is currently one of the sectors with the greatest environmental impact, although it is often not perceived as such.
In 2020, the consumption of textile products in the European Union generated approximately 270 kg of CO₂ per capita, for a total of 121 million tons of emissions. Even in previous years, the production of clothing intended for the European market had already revealed a particularly significant climate footprint, with the majority of emissions generated outside the Union, confirming the strong offshoring that characterizes the global value chain in the fashion industry.
From the perspective of natural resources, the textile sector is:
- third in Europe for land and drinking water consumption;
- fifth for raw material use.
Suffice it to say that producing a single cotton T-shirt requires approximately 2,700 liters of water, a volume equivalent to what a person should drink over two and a half years. Through the consumption of textile products, every European citizen therefore contributes to the significant use of land, water, and raw materials, with major consequences for the environmental impact of the textile sector.
At the same time, the spread of synthetic fibers — which now account for 62% of global production — has aggravated the problem of microplastics. In Europe, approximately 13,000 tons of textile microfibers are released into surface waters every year.
This impact is closely linked to the fast-fashion model, an expression that emerged in 1989 in the pages of The New York Times on the occasion of the opening of new boutiques on Lexington Avenue, to describe a clientele constantly seeking the latest trend and a new inclination toward “fast fashion”.
Today, this system encourages frequent consumption and rapid garment replacement, reducing the average lifespan of clothing and keeping the sector anchored to a linear production-consumption-disposal logic. Unsurprisingly, according to European estimates, only 1% of used clothing is recycled into new textile products, while most is destined for incineration or landfill.
These data demonstrate that sustainability in the fashion sector is no longer merely a reputational issue, but a structural necessity requiring regulatory interventions consistent with the principles of the circular economy.
Circular economy and the textile industry: European regulation
The transition toward a circular economy in the textile sector finds its foundation in the Circular Economy Action Plan, structured in two fundamental phases: the first plan adopted in 2015 and its subsequent relaunch in 2020 within the framework of the European Green Deal.
The 2015 Circular Economy Action Plan represented the first comprehensive intervention aimed at overcoming the linear production-consumption-disposal model, introducing measures concerning waste prevention, promotion of reuse, extended producer responsibility, and the development of the secondary raw materials market. At this stage, the textile sector was not yet subject to an autonomous sector-specific framework, but rather fell within the broader reconsideration of waste policies and the efficient use of resources.
The subsequent 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan marked a qualitative evolution: circularity was elevated to a pillar of European industrial policy and integrated into the Union’s sustainable growth strategy. In this second plan, the textile sector was expressly identified as one of the priority value chains requiring intervention, alongside plastics, electronics, and batteries.
In this context, Directive (EU) 2018/851 assumes particular importance, strengthening the regulatory instruments supporting the circular economy. The reform promotes waste management oriented toward reuse, high-quality recycling, and traceability of waste streams, expressly including textile waste among the categories of municipal waste. This inclusion is strategically significant: classifying textiles as an integral part of urban waste streams means subjecting them to collection and recovery obligations and permanently integrating them into public waste-management policies.
With the 2020 plan, the European Union no longer merely regulates waste management, but anticipates intervention at the product-design stage, laying the groundwork for mandatory durability, reparability, and recyclability requirements. A central principle thus emerges: sustainability in the fashion sector must be integrated ex ante into the product life cycle, rather than corrected ex post solely through waste management.
The Circular Economy Action Plan therefore constitutes the strategic framework from which subsequent interventions specifically dedicated to the textile sector derive, including the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles and the “Transition Pathway for the Textiles Ecosystem”.
How does the EU Strategy for Sustainable Textiles affect the fashion industry?
Implementing the 2020 Circular Economy Action Plan, the European Commission adopted in 2022 the EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, the first comprehensive document entirely dedicated to the textile sector.
This strategy outlines an integrated set of measures intended to structurally transform the European textile sector, affecting both product design and the organization of the global supply chain.
First, eco-design becomes the core of the reform. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 introduces binding requirements concerning durability, reparability, recyclability, recycled fiber content, and the reduction of substances of concern, extending the ecodesign approach beyond energy-related products. The digital product passport represents one of the most innovative tools of the framework: it becomes a solution that guarantees traceability and transparency throughout the textile supply chain, providing information on composition, environmental performance, recycled content, and end-of-life recovery possibilities.
A second aspect concerns the destruction of unsold or returned products, a practice considered incompatible with the objectives of the circular economy. Within the ESPR framework, transparency obligations for companies and the possibility of introducing specific prohibitions on the destruction of goods, including textiles, are envisaged, marking a significant step toward overcoming the logic typical of fast fashion.
The Strategy also addresses the issue of microplastic pollution through technical interventions aimed at reducing the release of microfibers during washing, improving wastewater treatment, and encouraging design solutions capable of limiting environmental dispersion.
From the perspective of environmental communication, the framework coordinates with Directive (EU) 2024/825, which amends legislation on unfair commercial practices in order to combat greenwashing. Consequently, sustainability in the fashion sector is no longer configured solely as an industrial objective, but also becomes subject to legal scrutiny from an informational and advertising standpoint.
The international dimension of the textile supply chain is addressed through instruments such as Directive (EU) 2024/1760 on corporate sustainability due diligence, which imposes on larger companies obligations to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse impacts on human rights and the environment throughout the entire value chain. The textile sector, characterized by global production chains and high exposure to social and environmental risks, represents one of the most significant fields of application of this legislation.
At the same time, the Strategy promotes the adoption of circular business models such as reuse, repair services, second-hand markets, and “product as a service” models, with the aim of decoupling economic growth in the fashion sector from waste production and excessive resource consumption.
It may therefore be argued that the Strategy marks a decisive turning point: sustainability in the fashion sector is no longer entrusted to voluntary initiatives or codes of conduct, but instead takes the form of a multilayered regulatory framework affecting product design, producer responsibility, consumer transparency, and the governance of global value chains.
What role does the Transition Pathway play in the European sustainable textile system?
While the 2022 Strategy defines the regulatory architecture of the sustainable textile sector, the “Transition Pathway for the Textiles Ecosystem” represents an essential tool for the transition in the textile sector.
The Transition Pathway forms part of the broader European industrial policy and aims to guide the textile ecosystem toward sustainable competitiveness, in which the reduction of environmental impact is integrated with productive and technological strengthening. The document identifies the sector’s main vulnerabilities — strong dependence on non-EU imports, fragmented supply chains, limited “fiber-to-fiber” recycling capacity, shortages in professional skills and innovation — and proposes a transformation pathway that, beyond technical and industrial measures, emphasizes governance and the ability to coordinate supply-chain actors, with particular attention to SMEs.
Operationally, it identifies a comprehensive strategy revolving around recurring pillars:
- modernization of production processes and reduction of energy intensity;
- development of technologies and infrastructure for collection, sorting, and closed-loop recycling;
- strengthening of circular business models (reuse, repair, “product as a service,” take-back and return systems);
- development of green and digital skills and workforce reskilling;
- strengthening market surveillance and cooperation among national authorities to ensure fair competition within the internal market;
- attention to the social dimension and sustainability throughout global value chains.
A particularly significant element, in terms of effectiveness, concerns enforcement. The Pathway highlights the need to strengthen market surveillance also through coordinated action initiatives, using internal market protection instruments, including mechanisms to combat counterfeiting and intellectual property infringements in the fashion sector. At the same time, tools such as the EU Ecolabel for textile products may contribute to the standardization of best practices.
Finally, all these European policies entail a substantial change: sustainability is no longer a voluntary choice or merely an element of communication, but rather a parameter of compliance and strategic competitiveness. The ability to anticipate regulatory developments, adapt product design, strengthen traceability, and organize end-of-life management becomes an integral part of risk management and industrial resilience within the European market.
Revisionato da: Celeste Martinez Di Leo
Data di pubblicazione: 6 Maggio 2026
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