Textile Ecosystem in Europe Overview
A responsible and circular textile ecosystem of the future is collaborative, data-driven and designed to retain the value of products and materials for as long as possible. Textile products are designed to be of high-quality, durable and recyclable and produced sustainably, included with transparent product information and provided to users via business models that prioritise circular strategies like reduced consumption and use of resources, repair, re-use, refurbishment, repurposing, and remanufacturing. Efficient collection and sorting direct discarded textiles to their highest-value use, while recycling is applied only when further product or material use is no longer feasible. Achieving this systemic transition requires operational environment that supports change within companies, consumers, technology providers, and local value-chain partners. Read more for example from tExtended D1.2.
Collecting & Sorting of Discarded Textiles
Vision
Discarded post-consumer textiles that are reusable or recyclable are separately collected, sorted and routed for reutilization in the most sustainable and economically viable way.
Role of Product Data
DPP contains end-of-life and sorting guidance and enables material tracking from collection and sorting. Tracking enables mass balance-based bookkeeping of circular flows.
Status 2026
The truly circular textile ecosystem is still in an early stage of development. In most EU countries there are established value chains for reusable textiles, but volumes are not yet significant. Infrastructure for handling recyclable items and enabling fibre-to-fibre recycling is only gradually developing.
What Needs to Happen
PROs and other stakeholders included in textile recovery are organized. Investments made to infrastructure are needed.
Textiles in Use
Vision
Consumer attitudes have shifted towards conscious consumption. There are services available for repairing, maintaining, and enabling remanufacture, reuse and related activities.
Role of Product Data
All textile products have a unique identifier, providing access to product information as well as care and repair guidance in a standardised digital format. Updates to DPP with use-phase data would provide full product history and also provide textile providers unprecedented possibilities to interact with users after sales.
Status 2026
Consumption is mainly linear. Ultra-fast fashion and short lifecycles are making the system unsustainable and wasteful.
What Needs to Happen
Changes in consumption habits and demand. Regulatory measures to support sustainable use and block unsustainable use patterns.
Read more about textile use phase and business models.
Waste Valorization & Recycling
Vision
Textile waste is processed and utilized in a safe and sustainable way to produce secondary raw materials for textile and other industries. There are sufficient capacities for waste valorization and recycling in Europe.
Role of Product Data
DPP contains recycling and dismantling instructions (also for robots). Data can be utilised in optimisation of recycling routes, for example to estimate market needs or status at recycling plants. Item-based data may be aggregated to batch data enabling traceability at item or flow mass balance level.
Status 2026
There are limited capacities for recycling, and technologies used do not fully support closed-loop recycling.
What Needs to Happen
Infrastructure for this stage should be built and activities supported.
Textile Manufacturing
Vision
Manufacturing is focused on high-quality products that will last over time and are easy to repair and maintain. Ecodesign principles are applied and secondary fibres and other sustainable raw materials are used in textile products as normal practice.
Role of Product Data
Data of raw materials and intermediate products is aggregated in every phase during manufacturing. Textile products are equipped with identifiers that enable comprehensive traceability and information access throughout their lifecycle.
Status 2026
Quantity seems more important than quality. Textile design is determined by economics — low price, large demand and sales.
What Needs to Happen
Ecodesign principles change design focus. Customer value should be seen as justification of slightly higher costs. Global standards are in use and sharing product data is based on binding legislation.