As the EU tightens textile regulation, Kenya and Ghana have become central reference points in Europe’s debate on second-hand clothing exports, waste classification and circular economy credibility.

Second-hand clothing is increasingly being regulated through trade and waste governance frameworks. A UNECE/ECLAC study highlights how the product-versus-waste distinction may reshape global reuse markets.

A new JRC study estimates that around 21 percent of textiles placed on the EU market go unsold, and that roughly half of those are destroyed. The ESPR introduces disclosure requirements and a ban on destroying unsold textiles and footwear.

As Basel Convention rules on used textiles come under review, the classification of garments as waste or goods is emerging as a key fault line for global reuse markets and textile trade.

A one-year extension of AGOA provides temporary relief for U.S. exports of secondhand clothing to African markets, while exposing the fragility of global trade rules underpinning textile reuse.

Germany is preparing national legislation to introduce a levy on fast fashion as an early implementation of extended producer responsibility for textiles, ahead of the EU’s harmonised framework.

The textile sector does not suffer from a lack of ambition. It faces the risk of oversimplification and 2026 will be a decisive year. As strategies translate into binding rules and intentions into obligations, the margin for error narrows. What matters now is not how forcefully problems are framed, but how carefully solutions are constructed.