The JRC’s third milestone relating to the Preparatory Study on Textiles for Product Policy Instruments was recently published. This is another important step towards defining delegated acts for fashion within the Ecodesign Regulation.

This latest document proposes technical strategies to reduce the impact of virgin materials, which currently account for over 60% of the entire life cycle of textile products.

Summary of performance and information requirements:
Durability: Extension of the product’s useful life through mandatory minimum physical resistance requirements using a score on a scale from 0 to 10, based on the cumulative assessment of various technical parameters.

Recyclability: Design aimed at eliminating recycling disruptors. Reduction of contaminants, prints, and multi-material accessories that prevent fiber recovery. The study proposes a score ranging from 0 to 10, where the final score is determined by three main components.

Recycled content: A scoring system is proposed to inform consumers about the percentage of recycled fibers in the product.

Reduced environmental impact and carbon footprint: This option aims to reward products with a reduced carbon footprint throughout the supply chain. It focuses on the efficiency of manufacturing processes and the adoption of PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) criteria to classify environmental excellence.

The document also proposes the types of products that will be subject to differentiated treatment.

At Matrec, we are following the evolution of the Regulation in order to best support companies in applying the ecodesign requirements and the provisions of the ESPR.
We will be participating in the meeting to present the report on January 14 and 15.