EURATEX welcomes EU’s ambition for a sustainable and competitive industry, but calls for a smart and realistic implementation.

The European Commission released its long-awaited Strategy for Sustainable Textile, with the ambition to move the sector towards the path of sustainability. EURATEX welcomes the EU ambitions to *act on sustainable textiles and investments, in order to
change how textiles are made, chosen and recovered*. Many European
companies have already chosen this path, therefore the strategy should
support them in this process, especially considering today’s energy crisis.

The strategy recognises the *strategic importance of textiles*, which are
not only used as apparel or furniture, but applied in cars, medical
equipment, agriculture, etc. It acknowledges the European Industry
pro-active initiatives to tackle microplastics, to solve challenges of
market surveillance and the skills needs. More cooperation is needed for re-use
and recycling of textiles and to set up an EU market for secondary raw
materials. On this last point, EURATEX ReHubs initiative
is developing proposals to size EPR potential,
to transform waste into value, and create a new capacity and jobs.

The proposed “transition pathways”, which will translate the strategy into
action, will be critical in this respect: how will these sustainability
targets be reached, what will the cost for SMEs be, how can companies be
supported in that green transition, what about the impact on global
competitiveness ? These are essential questions to be addressed in the
coming months.

The Textile strategy is part of much broader package, including as many as
16 new legislative actions[1] <#m_3112324519115338530__ftn1> and other
policies which will directly impact on textile value chain. In particular
the Sustainable Product Initiative Regulation released today includes
game-changing provisions on Digital Product Passport, Eco-Design, SMEs and
Green Public Procurement. The *Regulation has an overwhelming ambition*
and, to be realistic, it would require a new way of joint working between
institutions and business, and which builds on lessons learned on data flow
across value chains, interoperability, conformity assessment and effective
measures to support SMEs.

If wrongly implemented, such an unprecedented wave may cause a complete
collapse of the European textile value chain under the burden of
restrictions, requirements, costs and unlevel playing field. On the
contrary, the changes ahead can boom the entire textile ecosystem and *create
a model of successful green and digital transition in manufacturing*, which
starts in Europe and expands globally.

Already in 2019, EURATEX asked policy makers to work together and remove
barriers to circular economy, solve the market surveillance paradox in
which laws are made but not checked, and to help create scale economies to
make sustainable textiles affordable, hence the norm.

For example, there are 28 billion products circulating per year in EU,
which is an impressive task for market surveillance authorities including
customs. EURATEX has been stressing non-sufficient market surveillance
and it is
actively working on solutions for a fair and effective market surveillance
of textile products through Reach4Textiles
.
EURATEX very much welcomes that the European Commission recognizes our work
and the need for market surveillance by establishing more harmonised
efforts in the EU.

EURATEX also welcomes the establishment of the Digital Product Passport. It
has a high potential to improve every step in the textile value chain, from
design and manufacturing to recycling and purchasing. At the same time,
EURATEX calls the co-legislators to take into account the role of SME’s in
this transition and to put forward pragmatic initiatives, supporting SME’s
across the EU in a systematic approach.

Alberto Paccanelli, EURATEX President, concludes: *EURATEX calls for true
cooperation with all policy makers and other stakeholders across the value
chains to advise, pressure-test and use this opportunity for a successful
transition. Our ambition must be to reconcile sustainability, resilience
and competitiveness; we know it can be done”. *

*About EURATEX*

As the voice of the European textile and clothing industry, EURATEX works
to achieve a favourable environment within the European Union for design,
development, manufacture and marketing of textile and clothing products.

The EU textile and clothing industry, with around 154,000 companies
employing 1.47 million workers, is an essential pillar of the local economy
across many EU regions. With over €53 billion of exports, the industry is a
global player successfully commercializing high added value products on
growing markets around the world.

Working together with EU institutions and other European and international
stakeholders, EURATEX focuses on clear priorities: an ambitious industrial
policy, effective research, innovation and skills development, free and
fair trade, and sustainable supply chains.

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