Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Monday, Sep 01, 2025

Not-so-fast fashion: EU reveals crackdown on disposable clothing

Not-so-fast fashion: EU reveals crackdown on disposable clothing

The new rules also seek to contain the release of microplastics and improve global labor conditions in the garment industry.
The European Union warned consumers to stop using their clothes like throwaway items and said Wednesday that it plans to counter the polluting use of mass-market fast fashion.

New rules proposed by the EU’s executive arm call for a mandatory minimum use of recycled fibres by 2030 and would ban the destruction of many unsold products. The European Commission rules also would seek to contain the release of microplastics and improve global labour conditions in the garment industry.

The rules are also intended to contain the release of microplastics and improve global labour conditions in the garment industry. “We want sustainable products to become the norm,” commission Vice President Frans Timmermans said. “The clothes we wear should last longer than three washes.”

The changes would require a massive shift in an industry that in order to keep costs and prices down, produces items with a short life span in developing nations in Asia and Latin America, often under poor working conditions.

“All textiles should be long lasting, recyclable, made of recycled fibres and free of dangerous substances. The strategy also aims to boost reuse and repair sectors and address textile waste,” Timmermans said.

Almost three-quarters of all clothing and textiles used in EU are imported. In 2019, the 27-nation bloc imported over 80 billion euros ($89.2bn) in clothes, mainly from China, Bangladesh and Turkey, according to the European Commission, and the average consumer throws away 11 kilos (more than 24 pounds) of textiles a year.

Fast fashion is most closely associated in Europe with the high street – commercial areas where clothes-hunters shop at mass-market retailers such as H&M, Primark and Zara. The EU, although targeting clothing made for that market, also wants luxury brands to set the standard for sustainable fashion in an industry where the fleeting and ephemeral are essential to turnover.

“There’s a cultural change taking place,” Timmermans said, adding that major fashion houses “are always the first to show the way forward”.

“The designers, the artists – they realise that the world has changed and that we need to revisit the way we design fashion,” he said.

Sustainability is a new frontier in the luxury industry. Upcycling and other methods to reduce the carbon footprint have been mainstays for some of the most famous brands on the runways of London and Paris, such as Stella McCartney, which belongs to the Kering group, and more recently Chloe under sustainability-conscious designer Gabriela Hearst.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Israeli Airstrike in Yemen Kills Houthi Prime Minister
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Iran Faces Escalating Water Crisis as Protests Spread
More Than Half a Million Evacuated as Typhoon Kajiki Heads for Vietnam
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
×