European Green Deal. What is it and how is the fashion industry being affected?

Ecodesign Criteria for Sustainable Fashion

Understanding ecodesign for fashion

Ecodesign is a new design approach that translates the circular economy principles in the design and development of products to reduce adverse environmental impacts throughout the products’ lifecycle. In particular, ecodesign for fashion involves creating clothing and textiles that are sustainable, durable, and recyclable, enhancing the longevity and quality of fashion garments

Incorporating ecodesign principles means that fashion brands can reduce their environmental footprint, promote circularity, and meet the growing consumer demand for sustainable fashion. This new circular fashion design approach considers the entire lifecycle of a garment, from the sourcing of raw materials to end-of-life management, aiming to minimize negative impacts at every stage.

The importance of ecodesign for textiles

The production of textiles involves the use of vast amounts of material consumption such as water, energy, and chemicals, leading to pollution and resource depletion. Moreover, the fast fashion model results in a high turnover of garments, leading to increased textile waste.

Ecodesign for textiles appeared as a solution to fight against these environmentally damaging practices, promoting a circular economy and sustainability throughout the lifecycle of textile products. This includes the use of environmentally friendly materials, efficient production processes, and the design of durable, repairable, and recyclable products breaking up with traditional one-season fashion trends.

In addition, ecodesign for textiles also considers social aspects of textile production, such as fair labour conditions and the well-being of workers.

Key ecodesign criteria for consumer textiles

The European Commission has adopted the ecodesign criteria to develop its Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, a policy whose objective is to promote the circular economy and other sustainable thorough designs.

The EU’s ESPR and the other ecodesign policies are based on the following criteria:

  1. Life Prolongation: Extending the lifespan of textile products through high-quality materials, repairability, and proper maintenance.
  2. Closing the Loop: Incorporating recycled content, ensuring dismantlability, and enhancing recyclability.
  3. Responsible Production: Using environmentally friendly textiles, ensuring fair labour conditions, and reducing chemical use and content.

These criteria are designed to give consumer textiles a longer lifespan with optimal reuse potential, facilitate disassembly and recovery, and focus on upcycling and high-quality recycling. 

Extending the lifespan of textile products

Extending the lifespan of textile products is one of the main objectives of ecodesign to improve sustainability and circularity. This can be achieved through different measures:

  • Quality: High-quality materials and construction are essential for creating durable textile products. Strong, long-lasting fibres, and ensuring robust constructions to garments make fashion brand’s products more qualitative, reducing the need for frequent replacements.
  • Repairability: Designing products with repairability in mind allows consumers to fix minor damages rather than discarding the entire garment. This can be facilitated by providing access to spare parts, such as buttons and zippers, and offering repair services or instructions, for example. Repairability extends the lifespan of textile products and encourages consumers to value and care for their garments, fostering a more sustainable mindset.
  • Maintenance: Proper maintenance can significantly extend the lifespan of textile products. Clear and accurate care instructions help consumers maintain their garments in good condition, preventing premature wear and damage. This includes guidelines for washing, drying, and ironing, as well as recommendations for professional cleaning when necessary. By providing comprehensive care instructions, fashion brands can empower consumers to take better care of their garments, ultimately reducing textile waste.

Disassembly and recovery techniques

Designing for disassembly and recovery is crucial for promoting circularity in the textile industry. This involves creating products that can be easily taken apart at the end of their lifecycle, allowing for the recovery and recycling of materials.

Removable components

Removable components made of garments, such as buttons, zippers, or logos can facilitate recycling. If consumers can replace their broken components, they will be able to enlarge their garments' lifecycle.

Modular design

Modular design allows for the replacement of individual components rather than discarding the entire garment. This can be particularly useful for items such as jackets and bags, where zippers, straps, and other parts can be easily replaced.

Modular designs are not only useful to increase the circularity of textile products, it also enable consumers to customize and update their garments, reducing the need for new purchases and creating new business opportunities for fashion brands.

Upcycling and high-quality recycling

Upcycling

Upcycling involves creatively reusing waste materials to create new, higher-value products. This can include repurposing old garments into new clothing items, and other textile products, such as accessories or home textiles. 

Upcycling promotes a circular economy and also allows brands to create unique hardware to increase their products’ value, creating tote bags and other highly valuable merchandise.

High-quality recycling

High-quality recycling involves technologies that transform textile waste into its constituent fibres and reprocess them into new yarns and fabrics. These technologies have been popularized during the last years, when several companies developed different fabrics created from textile waste, such as old clothing or fishing nets.

Investing in high-quality recycling is one of the most important objectives for the textile industry. If the sector increases its investment in these technologies, better and cheaper fabrics will be developed, reducing existing textile waste and reducing the industry's environmental footprint.

The impact of deadstock fabrics

Deadstock fabrics are surplus fabrics which have been not used yet. These fabrics have been abandoned in warehouses and are often incinerated, contributing to generating CO2, which increases the carbon footprint of the industry. However, deadstock fabrics are one of the most important opportunities for sustainable fashion.

Utilizing deadstock fabrics

Introducing your own or other brands' deadstock fabrics into a new fashion collection encourages fashion brands’ creativity, and innovation while promoting circularity, and creating unique products.

Recovo trusts in these misused materials, so we provide fashion brands solutions to both supply through our deadstock fabrics marketplace or optimising a brand’s stock management with our circularity software CiMS.

Benefits of deadstock fabrics

The benefits from deadstock fabrics can make a difference for fashion brands. Reducing its environmental impact is one of the most visible benefits of leftover fabrics, but it is also important to understand that deadstock fabrics are unused materials which have not been used, so they can be used to create other products, making benefit from fabrics and reducing supply costs.

Recovo offers the possibility to brands to sell their deadstock fabrics, freeing up space in their warehouses and making them earn profit from abandoned fabrics.

The Ultimate Guide for Fashion Regulation

Discover the current landscape of the European Fashion Regulation related to Circularity and Sustainability.

Future directions in EU textile policy

The European Union is taking significant steps towards promoting sustainability and circularity in the textile industry. The proposed Textile Strategy aims to create momentum for policy action at various levels, including Flemish, Federal, European, and international.

Expanding the ecodesign directive

One of the key actions is the expansion of the Ecodesign Directive to include textiles. This would involve setting minimum ecodesign criteria for textile products and promoting durability, repairability, and recyclability. The directive would also encourage the use of recycled content and environmentally friendly materials. By expanding the Ecodesign Directive to include textiles, the EU can establish a comprehensive framework for sustainable textile production and consumption.

Implementing the Digital Product Passport

The introduction of a product passport could enhance transparency and traceability in the textile supply chain. This Digital Product Passport document would provide detailed information about the materials, production processes, and environmental impact of textile products, enabling consumers to make informed choices and facilitating recycling efforts. A product passport would also help to combat greenwashing and ensure that fashion brands are held accountable for their sustainability claims.

Encouraging circular business models

The EU is also promoting circular business models, such as clothing rental, resale, and repair services. These models can extend the lifespan of textile products, reduce waste, and create new economic opportunities. By supporting these initiatives, the EU aims to foster a more sustainable and circular textile industry. Circular business models not only benefit the environment but also provide consumers with access to high-quality, sustainable fashion options at more affordable prices.

In conclusion, ecodesign criteria for sustainable fashion are essential for reducing the environmental impact of the textile industry and promoting a more circular economy. By focusing on life prolongation, closing the loop, and responsible production, fashion brands can create high-quality, durable, and recyclable products that meet the growing demand for sustainable fashion. The EU's proposed Textile Strategy and the expansion of the Ecodesign Directive to include textiles are crucial steps towards a more sustainable future for the fashion industry. By embracing ecodesign principles, utilizing deadstock fabrics, and adopting circular business models, fashion brands can contribute to a more sustainable and thriving textile industry.

About Recovo

Recovo creates circular solutions for the fashion industry. We cover various aspects of the circular economy for brands:

Based in Barcelona, we have a global mission with our websites in Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, dutch, German

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