"Fast fashion should be out of fashion" - EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles published

The EU Commission yesterday published their strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, as part of their plan to make almost all physical goods as environmentally friendly, circular and energy efficient as possible throughout their whole lifecycle. 

The strategy for textiles is to make these more durable, repairable, reusable and recyclable, with specific measures including ecodesign requirements for textiles, boosting circular business models, the introduction of Digital Product Passports and stopping the destruction of unsold and returned textiles. 

We have already seen some fashion brands offering clothing recycling schemes, like H&M, or second hand goods and product repair services, such as Vivobarefoot with their REVIVO offering, and others even offering the option of being sent a repair kit and instructions for home repairs over returning slightly damaged items of clothing, but it seems over the coming years we are going to see a lot more initiatives from the fashion industry to address concerns regarding the sustainability and circularity of the textiles that garments are composed of. 

From my perspective working in the world of IP, the new ecodesign requirements for textile products are particularly interesting and I believe we are likely to see some really exciting innovation around textiles, especially their durability and environmental performance, very soon.