On average, Europeans discard 11 kg of textiles (EEA) each year, and the clothing and textile industry accounts for 8% of global GHG emissions when including garments and footwear, making it one of the most polluting sectors (ADEME).

After food, housing, and transportation, the textile sector is the 4^th largest source of environmental impacts within the EU. As such, it is a priority sector requiring the adoption of new regulations and practices by all stakeholders (public authorities, suppliers, distributors, consumers, etc.).

The textile industry has numerous environmental impacts, including eutrophication caused by pesticide use, freshwater depletion, soil and aquatic ecosystem pollution, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

More environmentally friendly practices

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Various more environmentally friendly practices can be implemented throughout the textile lifecycle, from production to distribution, including consumption and end-of-life:

The Life Cycle Assessment methodology is a valuable tool for implementing or positively influencing these practices. LCA provides a comprehensive view of the entire product life cycle, helping to identify the most impactful sources. Ecodesign also relies on LCA to compare various scenarios and propose strategic, more circular improvement pathways.

Initiatives in France

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AGEC Law

The Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy law (AGEC) was enacted on 10 February 2020, aiming to accelerate the shift in production and consumption models to reduce waste and preserve natural resources, biodiversity, and the climate. For the textile sector, this includes obligations to provide information on product traceability and a commitment to prioritising eco-design.

Climate and Resilience Law

The AGEC law was followed, on 22 August 2021, by the Climate and Resilience Law, which aims to accelerate the ecological transition of French society and economy. Article 2 of this law announced the implementation, by 2026, of environmental labelling for various consumer products and services, including textiles and food products.

Environmental Labelling:

Environmental labelling aims to inform consumers about the ecological footprint of products, helping them make more informed purchasing decisions. This labelling takes the form of a single score representing the environmental cost of a product or service and will become mandatory for all clothing products sold in France by 2025. Until then, it remains voluntary.

The French methodological framework is based on the European framework using the PEF method, with the addition of two extra components beyond LCA to address the limitations of the European approach. The environmental labelling method thus includes the 16 environmental indicators of the PEF method, enhanced with improvements in toxicity assessments through the introduction of Enriched Inventories, and two additional components: the microfibres supplement and the export outside Europe supplement.

An ADEME webinar was held on Friday, 4 March 2024, to present the latest developments regarding the methodology and database for environmental labelling of textiles. It is important to understand that the PEF LCA method will generate a PEF score, to which the impact points from the two additional components will be added. The total score will then be adjusted based on durability, which considers both the product’s physical durability and its emotional durability, the latter being more dependent on consumer behaviour than product quality. The impact score, after durability weighting, will represent the environmental cost.

The database, Base Empreinte, used to calculate this environmental cost, is supplemented through an agreement with EcoInvent. However, while EcoInvent provides access to aggregated processes, a license to their database will be required to access disaggregated processes.

The complete labelling system is expected to be presented by the ADEME at the end of April 2024.

The EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) sector for clothing, household linens, and footwear (TLC).

The creation of EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) sectors is based on the polluter-pays principle. Every manufacturer, distributor, or importer is required to finance or organise the prevention and management of their end-of-life waste. They can either establish their own waste management system internally or transfer their obligations to a designated eco-organisation within the relevant sector.

The EPR TLC sector aims to promote a circular economy throughout the lifecycle of textiles, footwear, and household linens. Established in 2008, the EPR TLC sector has a new roadmap for the next six years (2023–2028).

This sector has its own eco-organisation "Refashion". Its mission is to achieve collection and recycling targets based on a specific set of guidelines.

Initiatives in Europe

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Actions have also been undertaken within Europe, notably with the European Green Deal, launched in 2021 by the European Commission. This is an environmental roadmap comprising 13 initiatives, with the primary goal of achieving climate neutrality across the European Union by 2050. This European legislation also includes an intermediate objective of reducing GHG emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

Since then, several measures stemming from the Green Deal have been initiated:

• The Digital Product Passport, which applies to textile products;
• Launch of a circular economy action plan for textiles in collaboration with EURATEX;
• Investment in research and innovation to promote eco-design in textiles: SmartX to foster innovation in smart textiles, CircTex to develop recycling and production technologies for workwear, RegioGreenTex to enhance the circularity of innovative textiles in European regions, and more.

Moreover, a new European regulation on eco-design aims to promote circularity through product reusability and reparability. It also seeks to limit the use of chemicals that hinder material reuse and recycling, while increasing the share of recycled materials. This is a provisional agreement between the European Parliament and the Council, reached in December 2023.

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The clothing and textile industry is constantly evolving to reduce its negative environmental impacts. Traceability, eco-design, and recycling are the main national and European objectives.

The path remains long before we see a true implementation of ambitious environmental measures and a radical transformation in production and consumption patterns.

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