EU Textile Legislation – Why it matters to the cotton community

Draft legislation is emerging within the European Union relating to sustainable textile production and labelling. Textile legislation in the EU will have a significant impact on the largest consumer market for textiles in the world. It is being closely followed in other regions; many countries are likely to follow the EU in introducing legislation intended to improve the sustainability of the textile value chain.

EU draft legislation will require a life-cycle assessment of each item, using a complex system of Product Environmental Footprint Category Rules (PEF CR). The impact of these rules will fall first on textile producers, who will be responsible for capturing the evidence against the PEFCR. As currently constructed, these rules ignore important factors, such as microplastics and plastic waste; nor do they recognise the full environmental impact of fossil-fuel fibres; nor recognise the positive impact of natural fibres, like cotton, that are renewable, recyclable, and biodegradable. If left unchanged, the outcome will be that, under the PEF framework, man-made fibres will be assessed as being more sustainable than natural ones. A short video explaining this is here. This is a pivotal moment, these rules are at an advanced stage of planning and likely to be mandated for all textile labelling in the EU within 3 years, which could mislead consumers into believing synthetic fibres are more sustainable than cotton and other natural fibres. The new ICA Podcast on this topic explains this in more detail.

Make the Label Count (MTLC) is a coalition of organisations representing natural fibres. This group is working to ensure that sustainability claims for textiles in the EU are fair and credible.

Your Board of Directors has examined the potential impact of PEF and other related draft legislation. The Board recognises that the cotton community has been fragmented in its approach to this threat to the cotton value chain. And the Board acknowledges that MTLC has effective campaigning skills, as well as support from across the community of natural fibre organisations. The Board has decided that ICA can have best effect by joining an existing, respected coalition of natural fibre organisations. Having confirmed that these actions are within the stated objectives of the ICA as defined in our articles, the Board decided to take the following steps:

• Join MTLC campaign as a coalition member. ICA has signed an MOU with MTLC and publicly support their campaign objectives.
• Pledge financial support to the MTLC campaign. ICA has agreed to pledge a contribution of £50K, becoming the first cotton organisation to do so. These funds will be allocated from ICA reserves, which will have no impact on member subscriptions or the operating budget of ICA Ltd.
• Explain these decisions to CICCA organisations and Affiliated Associations of the ICA in writing, encouraging them to consider supporting the campaign.

  The MTLC campaign progress report for July 2024 is here.

Call to Action: We would welcome your support to this campaign, if you feel that you can, by taking the following steps:

• Supporting, re-publishing and communicating the key information about EU legislation and its risk to cotton and other natural fibres through you own network.
• Encouraging your local and regional associations to consider whether you, too, can support this campaign.
• Spreading good news stories about cotton and other man-made fibres through your own personal and professional social media networks.