As Europe enters 2026, the immediate pressure on textile collection has eased in many places. However, beneath this apparent stabilisation lies a deeper structural problem: without sufficiently developed sorting capacity and viable end markets, separate textile collection risks becoming a logistical success but a circular failure.

At the start of 2026, India reintroduced import duties on cotton, ending a period of duty-free access to foreign cotton. The decision is aimed at protecting domestic farmers, but it could have wider consequences for clothing production, prices, and textile waste flows far beyond India.

Following the agreement to introduce a €3 flat fee on small parcels imported into the EU, several policymakers are already questioning whether the measure will be sufficient to curb the surge of ultra-cheap goods entering the European market.

A new research report outlines how future EU labels could help consumers, authorities and markets distinguish durable products from greenwashing.

When environment ministers from around the world gathered in Nairobi in December, the seventh session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-7) concluded with decisions that could have far-reaching implications for how textiles are managed globally. The meeting resulted in a new medium-term strategy for the UN Environment Programme for 2026–2029, alongside an updated resolution on chemicals and waste. Together, they reinforce the push to accelerate the transition towards circul

The EU is preparing a historic shift by introducing mandatory producer responsibility for textiles, a reform intended to reshape how textile waste is financed and managed across Europe. The goal is clear, brands placing textiles on the European market must also pay for the cost of managing them as waste. But even before the system comes into force, a structural risk has emerged. The explosive volume of ultra-cheap garments shipped into Europe by platforms such as Shein threat

The EU has approved the reform of the Union Customs Code (UCC), introducing a more harmonised and data-driven system aimed at tightening market surveillance and improving coordination between national customs authorities.

Two closely linked EU decisions are set to reshape the competitive landscape for Europe’s textile and apparel sector. Together, they signal a more assertive approach to market supervision at a time when circularity ambitions risk being undermined by fast-growing ultra-fast-fashion platforms.

A report from IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute highlights both the promise and the fragility of today’s international textile reuse system. While the study documents a well-organised value chain linking used-clothing collections to thriving second-hand markets, it also underscores that regulatory, logistical and political pressures in Europe risk undermining one of the few proven circular models that actually works.

The European textile and apparel industry is calling on the European Commission to streamline rather than expand regulations for textiles

The collection of clothes and textiles has quickly become a logistical and economic trial for many actors in Europe. Two of the largest operators in Germany have filed for insolvency, and collection organizations in Sweden are struggling to keep operations running. "It's a system on the brink of collapse," says Cristofer Ståhlgren and Lars Råsberg from Human Bridge, Sweden's largest collector of used clothes. "Is this really what they intended?" they ask. Human Bridge has agr

When the EU decided that all member states must start collecting textiles separately by 2025, the aim was clear: to reduce one of the most environmentally harmful waste streams and create conditions for reuse and recycling. But the first attempts in several countries have backfired massively and actually worsened the problem. At the same time there is a constant push for the false narrative about textile waste from second-hand export to African countries. This obscures the vi

Sweden said Thursday that some used clothes can now be thrown away with regular trash, after an EU ban on textile disposal overwhelmed municipalities and flooded recycling centres.

Newly enforced EU laws requiring mandatory separate collection of textile waste have triggered a system‑wide breakdown across Europe, causing major disruptions to the second‑hand clothing ecosystem.