European textile sector presents its roadmap for sustainable fashion

Category: SUSTAINABILITY

Country: Belgium

Region: Europe

By The Brussels Times with Belga
21st February 2025

The Circular Fashion Federation presented its first manifesto, aimed at making the European fashion sector more sustainable, at an event in Brussels on Thursday.

The five-point roadmap, designed to counter “fast fashion,” seeks to align extended product lifespan with competitiveness.

Established in France in April 2022, the federation now includes 300 members across the continent, including Vinted and Veepee. It brings together various stakeholders from the circular economy to identify needs and develop solutions.

After several exchanges with the European Commission, the manifesto outlines five key principles to enhance health, the environment, labour conditions, and performance in this highly competitive sector.

The first focus is on competitiveness, enabling European nations to compete with exporting countries by revising customs duties.

The second lever is taxation, primarily reducing VAT on more sustainable products.

The third pivot is the influence of consumers, since their choices shape the market.

Harmonious management of the fabric's end-of-life process - when it is too worn to be worn - is the fourth focus.

Lastly, supporting collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling actors and funding innovations is essential to complete the circular fashion cycle, the Federation notes.

The textile sector, one of the most polluting industries, produces over 110 million tonnes of fabric annually. Since the 1990s, low-cost, poor-quality models have replaced the traditional autumn-winter and spring-summer collections.

Circular fashion challenges “fast fashion” by promoting the production of higher-quality garments and planning their end-of-life stages.

Is the circular fashion movement destined to fail? Not necessarily. “If we succeed, in five years we will have achieved greater circularity: more reuse, repair, and recycling,” said Maxime Delavallée, President of the Circular Fashion Federation.

Courtesy: brusselstimes.com