Textile brands selling in the EU, it’s time to start thinking about ecodesign
The EU has recently passed the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, mandating that all consumer products (excluding food, plants, and pharmaceuticals) comply with stringent new ecodesign requirements. Textile products are among the first product categories to be targeted, and given the extensive mandatory changes and the short timescale for brands to adapt their business models, now is a good time to begin preparations for the 2027 implementation.
Understanding the ecodesign for sustainable products regulation
The ESPR is a component of the EU’s transformative initiative, the European Green Deal, which strives for a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. At its core, the ESPR focuses on enhancing product durability, improving resource efficiency, promoting circular economy practices, and reducing environmental footprints. This regulation will repeal and expand upon the existing Ecodesign Directive, which primarily targets energy-related products. Under the ESPR, scope will be widened to a much larger array of consumer goods and placing a stronger emphasis on sustainability.
A noteworthy innovation under the ESPR is the introduction of a Digital Product Passport (DPP). This digital tool will display the detailed eco information about a product’s composition, environmental impact, and reparability, enabling consumers to make informed purchasing decisions and facilitating better waste management and recycling practices.
Benefits to consumers and the environment
The ESPR brings significant benefits to both consumers and the environment
- Consumer empowerment: By promoting transparency and providing detailed product information on the DPP, the ESPR empowers consumers to make environmentally responsible choices. Consumers will be able to compare the eco-credentials of the products of competing brands. Additionally, the focus on durability and reparability leads to cost savings for consumers over the product’s lifetime.
- Environmental preservation: The regulation’s emphasis on reducing waste, improving energy efficiency, and promoting the use of recycled materials contributes to the conservation of natural resources and the reduction of pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Possible obligations for textile sellers
The ESPR specifies that the EU will release criteria tailored to different product groups though delegated acts, ensuring customised strategies for each sector. This targeted approach addresses the most environmentally impactful aspects of product-specific production processes. These requirements are developed in collaboration with stakeholders, including industry representatives, consumer organisations, and environmental groups.
Early EU discussions suggest that restrictions on textile sellers may be implemented gradually, with a phased approach starting from 2027. Initial requirements are likely to include a level of supply chain traceability. Through product-specific delegated acts, the EU plan to mandate maximum and minimum limit values of resources used throughout the product’s lifetime.
Maximum and minimum restrictions may include
- Environmental impact limits: Caps on specific environmental impacts, such as limit values on the amount of greenhouse gases that can be released during manufacture, or the amount of water used in the production stage.
- Circularity minimums: Textile sellers will have to include minimum quantities of recycled content in new products.
- Use-stage consumption limits: Caps on the amount of energy use during washing and during in the product’s use stage.
Additionally, non-quantitative requirements may be enforced, such as
- Supply chain traceability: Initial requirements may require visibility of the manufacture, dyeing and printing and weaving stages of the clothing supply chain and the manufacture, stitching and finishing stages of the footwear supply chain. This aligns with France’s AGEC law (learn more about this legislation). The ESPR’s delegated act for textiles may go further, however and require sellers to show the most impactful points of the supply chain.
- Prohibition of detrimental solutions: Banning technical solutions that hinder product reparability.
- Declaration of microplastics: Informing consumers if a product could release non-bio-degradable microplastics during its use phase.
How can brands prepare?
As the industry awaits the EU’s publication of the textiles delegated act, a sensible place to begin preparations is to look towards existing ecodesign legislations that are likely to have some areas of overlap with the ESPR. One such legislation is France’s AGEC law, which requires consumers to display the environmental qualities and characteristics of their products on a simplified version of a DPP (The AGEC Product Sheet Relating to Environmental Qualities and Characteristics). Although following AGEC guidance won’t guarantee compliance with the ESPR, it will help to focus your attention on the business operations that will be impacted by the ESPR.
Eurofins’ AGEC Product Sheet Readiness Assessment can guide you through understanding what is required to consider the environmental qualities of your products, and, if you are selling in France, help you to understand what is needed to comply with AGEC’s Product Sheet of Environmental Qualities and Characteristics. Contact a member of our Sustainability Services team for more information.
