Our coalition has delivered a letter to the President and Members of the European Commission urging them to ensure that the PEF, or any alternative tool used to regulate ecodesign requirements and the substantiation of green claims, includes the necessary indicators to address the most critical environmental impacts of the fashion industry, and successfully deliver the EU’s circular economy strategies. The omission of indicators linked to synthetic clothing, including microplastics, plastic waste and circularity will result in clothing made from fossil materials being shown as more sustainable, misleading well-intended consumers. #MakeTheLabelCount
Key Takeaway: The omission of indicators linked to synthetic clothing, including microplastics, plastic waste and circularity will result in clothing made from fossil materials being shown as more sustainable, misleading well-intended consumers.
FYI on 26th October, there is an online conference on that subject with a focus on the food and textile sectors : https://www.organicseurope.bio/events/sustainability-labelling-how-can-metrics-foster-or-destroy-sustainability/
Lucy Todd
1y
This letter raises some really important issues - but also some really important solutions - on how to combat greenwashing in the textile industry. The fashion industry is rife with greenwashing - with around HALF of sustainability claims thought to be misleading. This is something my business, My Little Green Wardrobe, helps consumers to navigate. It would be amazing if there were a label on each garment which told you the impacts of each item of clothing at a glance. No more guesswork, no more greenwashing... Thank you for your work and your advocacy - and trying to bring lasting change and circularity to the fashion and textile industry! 👏
Shortcomings of the PEF are critical when it comes to biosourced products such as those of the food and textile sectors. More generally the PEF underestimates novel entities hazard although the precautionary principle should apply as echoed in some very recent papers https://www.cell.com/one-earth/fulltext/S2590-3322(22)00488-2 and https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04158