Consumers willing to purchase more sustainable products are often discouraged from buying them by the unreliability of claims: a recent screening of sustainability claims in the textile, garment and shoe sector suggested that 39% could be false or deceptive. People can also end up buying products that are less sustainable than they think as claims are made on certain characteristics of textile products that in reality do not provide significant environmental benefits.

The initiative on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition with which the Commission proposes to amend the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive 2011/83/EU  will result in new requirements, which are highly relevant for textile products. The new EU rules will ensure that consumers are provided with information at the point of sale about a commercial guarantee of durability as well as information relevant to repair, including a reparability score, whenever this is available. General environmental claims, such as “green”, “eco-friendly”, “good for the environment”, will be allowed only if underpinned by recognised excellence in environmental performance, notably based on the EU Ecolabel, type I ecolabels, or specific EU legislation relevant to the claim. Voluntary sustainability labels covering environmental or social aspects must rely on a third party verification or be established by public authorities. Moreover, there will be conditions for making green claims related to future environmental performance, such as “climate neutral by 2030”, and for comparing to other products.

To complement these provisions by more specific requirements, the Commission is also continuing to work on minimum criteria for all types of environmental claims in the context of the Green Claims Initiative, which is to be presented in the second half of 2022. The use of Environmental Footprint methods is considered as a way to substantiate and communicate environmental claims, demonstrating compliance with the more general rules on consumer protection. The on-going work on the environmental footprint of apparel and footwear products will be taken into account in this context.

The Commission will also review the EU Ecolabel criteria for textiles and footwear to support its uptake among producers and offer consumers an easily recognisable and reliable way to choose eco-friendly textile products. 

A specific source of growing concern is the accuracy of green claims made on using recycled plastic polymers in apparel where these polymers do not come from fibre-to-fibre recycling, but in particular from sorted PET bottles. Beyond the risk of misleading consumers, such a practice is not in line with the circular model for PET bottles, which are fit for being kept in a closed-loop recycling system for food contact materials and are subject to extended producer responsibility obligations, including fees, with a view to meeting the objectives of the EU rules on single-use plastic products and on packaging. These claims face further challenges given the role of synthetic fibres in microplastics pollution. Therefore, to ensure the accuracy of such green claims and the relevance of information provided to businesses and consumers, while further promoting the recycling of plastic polymers and their markets, the Commission will pay specific attention to this issue in the context of upcoming initiatives such as the Green Claims Initiative, the review of the EU Ecolabel criteria for textiles and footwear, and in the development of binding product-specific ecodesign requirements. The Commission also encourages businesses to prioritise their efforts on fibre-to-fibre recycling and rather make claims on achievements to address this important challenge in closing the loop for textile products.

Source: European Comission

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