Keeping perspective

Over the past few years, few issues have received more attention in textile policy discussions than exports of used clothing. Reports, campaigns and regulatory proposals have increasingly focused on what happens to garments after they leave Europe. Questions about waste, exports and end-of-life management now dominate much of the public debate.

Yet the numbers suggest a different perspective.

According to the European Environment Agency, textile consumption in the EU generated around 159 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2022. Most of that impact comes from producing new textiles, not from reusing existing ones.

Europe also generates millions of tonnes of textile waste every year. Addressing that challenge is important. But even if every concern currently being raised about second-hand exports proved correct, the debate would still be focused on a relatively small part of the textile system.

The overwhelming environmental footprint of fashion is created long before a garment reaches a second-hand market.

It does raise a broader question: has the debate become disproportionately focused on the end of the textile value chain, while paying less attention to the production systems that create most of the industry's environmental impact in the first place?

As policymakers seek solutions, maintaining that perspective may be just as important as resolving the export debate itself.