y year in the EU, or approximately 11 kg per person, and a truckload of textiles is landfilled or incinerated every second somewhere in the world. Fast fashion has normalised  using garments for short periods of time, and throwing them away when trends change, driving an unsustainable pattern of overproduction and overconsumption.  Against this backdrop, the EC aims to create a coherent framework and vision for the transition of the textile sector to a less wasteful model. By 2030, the EC hopes that textiles sold in EU markets will be long-lasting and recyclable, free of hazardous substances and produced in a way that respects social rights and the environment.  It envisions that fast fashion will be out of fashion, and that economically profitable re-use and repair services will be widely available. And it believes that producers will take responsibility for their products along the value chain, including when they become waste.  It predicts that the circular textile ecosystem will be thriving, driven by sufficient capacities for innovative fibre-to-fibre recycling, while the incineration and landfilling of textiles will be reduced to a minimum. Stopping the destruction of textiles Amidst the raft of proposals, stopping the destruction of unsold or unreturned textiles is a top priority for the EC, and it recently proposed  a transparency obligation that will require large companies to publicly disclose the number of products they discard and destroy. It is also introducing a ban on the destruction of unsold products, including unsold or returned textiles. According to Reuters, EU governments agreed last month that the bloc should ban the destruction of unsold textiles as part of the EU’s green strategy to encourage more reuse and recycling. The ban rule could take more than six months to be implemented. What does this mean? Jocelyn Wilkinson, a partner and associate director at Boston Consulting Group in London, is an expert on climate change and sustainability in the luxury fashion space, previously was the responsibility programme director at Burberry for 13 years.  She believes there is a lot more that brands could be doing to reduce their excess stock, and therefore avoid having to destroy unsold goods. “Brands can apply a number of strategies to enable compliance with the upcoming legislation, such as strengthening their planning and allocation processes to ensure that production is accurately linked to sales,” she told Inside Retail. Investing in traceability of raw materials and finished products can help brands track and utilise raw materials and products within their supply chain and storage facilities more efficiently. Future strategies Brands will need to consider the upcoming legislation at all levels within their business and processes, according to Wilkinson.  Having design teams that consider recyclability, construction for disassembly and use of mono-materials at the product conception stage would be a good first step. “Merchandising teams could consider optimising assortments of products across different temperate zones and regions to ensure that seasonal products can achieve a very high full-price sell through,” she added. This new paradigm could also see luxury brands collaborating with recycling and waste management partners to ensure proper disposal and reuse of their unsold textiles. “Many brands already have great partners in this space who they have engaged with for many years; notwithstanding that, we anticipate collaboration in this space to rapidly increase,” she noted. Brands should also consider engaging with their existing supply chain partners on this topic, and other topics related to sustainability, she said, as a wealth of knowledge often sits with supply chain partners. The endgame Ultimately, Wilkinson believes that brands need to communicate their sustainability efforts simply and transparently, as younger consumers have high expectations when it comes to the luxury industry’s social and environmental impact.  “Brands should follow one of the golden rules for luxury […] never to disappoint the consumer as it can be incredibly challenging to win them back in this competitive market,” she stressed. There are of course bound to be challenges for brands, as they will need to tackle a myriad of new laws related to sustainability that are set to come into effect in the next two to four years. “Brands should invest in intelligent and automated data collection and management, in order to meet upcoming regulatory requirements as well as expediting their social and environmental impact reduction programmes,” Wilkinson concluded.