Fast fashion: EU laws for sustainable textile consumption
With fast fashion, the quantity of clothes produced and thrown away has boomed. Find out more about the environmental impact and what the EU is doing about it.
Textile consumption in the EU increased from 17 kg per person in 2019 to 19 kg per person on average in 2022 — enough to fill a large suitcase with new textiles. At the same time, around 12 kg of clothing per person is dumped each year in the EU.
The European Union is adopting legislation to reduce textile waste and increase the life cycle and recycling of textiles. Improving the sustainability of the fashion industry is part of the plan to achieve a circular economy by 2050.
What is fast fashion?
Fast fashion is the constant provision of new styles at very low prices.
Its rise has been crucial in the increase in garment consumption, driven partly by social media and the industry bringing fashion trends to more consumers at a faster pace than in the past. It has led to large increases in the production and disposal of textiles.
The new strategies to tackle this issue include developing new business models for clothing rental, designing products in a way that would make re-use and recycling easier (circular fashion), convincing people to buy clothes of better quality that last longer (slow fashion) and generally steering consumer behaviour towards more sustainable fashion options.
Fast fashion's impact on the environment - key statistics
Overconsumption of natural resources
It takes a lot of water to produce textile, plus land to grow cotton and other fibres. To make a single cotton t-shirt, 2,700 litres of fresh water are required according to estimates, enough to meet one person’s drinking needs for 2.5 years.
The textile sector was the third largest source of water degradation and land use in 2020, according to a report by the European Environmental Agency.
In 2022, textile consumption per person in the EU required on average:
- 323 square metres of land
- 12 cubic metres of water
- 523 kg of raw materials.
Water pollution and microplastics
Textile production is estimated to be responsible for about 20% of global clean water pollution mainly from the dyeing process.
A single laundry load of polyester clothes can discharge 700,000 microplastic fibres that can end up in the food chain.
The majority of microplastics from textiles are released during the first few washes. Fast fashion is based on mass production, low prices and high sales volumes that promote many first washes.
Washing synthetic fabrics leads to the accumulation of more than half a million tonnes of microplastics on the bottom of the oceans every year. In addition to this global problem, the water pollution generated by garment production has a devastating impact on the health of local people, animals and ecosystems where the factories are located.
Carbon emissions
Production and consumption of textiles contributes also to the climate crisis. According to a European Environment Agency report, textile purchases in the EU in 2022 generated about 355 kg of CO2 emissions per person, the equivalent of 1,800 km of travel by a standard petrol car.
Clothing waste in landfills and low recycling rates
Between 4% and 9% of all textile products put on the European market are destroyed without ever being used. Used clothes can be exported outside the EU but are mostly (87%) incinerated or landfilled.
The way people get rid of unwanted clothes has also changed, with items being thrown away rather than donated. Less than half of used garments are collected for reuse or recycling, and only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new clothes, since technologies that would enable clothes to be recycled into virgin fibres are only now starting to emerge.
Only 1%
of used clothes are recycled into new clothes
EU legislation for more sustainability in fashion
The EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles
As part of the circular economy action plan, the European Commission presented in March 2022 a new strategy to make textiles more durable, repairable, reusable and recyclable, tackle fast fashion and stimulate innovation within the sector.
Building on this European strategy, several new legislative acts have been adopted.
EU solutions to tackle textile waste
In September 2025, the European Parliament approved new rules under which EU countries should set up schemes that would make sure producers of clothing, accessories, hats, footwear, blankets, linens, curtains, and optionally mattresses, cover the costs for collecting, sorting, and recycling their products.
These extended producer responsibility schemes should also cover products sold online or by producers registered outside the EU. Micro-enterprises get an extra year to comply with the requirements.
These rules amend the existing Waste Framework Directive. Under this text, EU countries are required since January 2025 to collect textiles separately for re-use and recycling.
Eco-design regulation
In 2024, Parliament approved a new ecodesign regulation. Ecodesign is the integration of environmental considerations into product development, aiming to create goods with the lowest possible environmental impact throughout their life cycle.
The new law applies to different industries, including the fashion industry. It introduces requirements and minimum standards for durability, reparability, energy efficiency as well as recycling of products.
Ban on destroying unsold clothing
The new ecodesign regulation also obliges large companies to report the number of unsold items discarded per year and the reasons why that was necessary. As from 2026, the destruction of unsold clothes, shoes and accessories will be banned in the EU.
Ban on greenwashing
Greenwashing is the marketing practice of giving a false impression of the environmental impact or benefits of a product. In 2024, MEPs adopted a law forbidding generic environmental claims on products without proof.
The EU Ecolabel, an ecological certification
The EU Ecolabel is a certification that producers can apply to their products if they meet strict ecological criteria. This gives more visibility to products that include fewer harmful substances and cause less water and air pollution.
