Make the Label Count brings together an international coalition of organisations who want to ensure the EU’s clothing sustainability labels are credible.
COALITION MEMBERSSustainability labelling must be transparent, accurate and complete, allowing consumers to make informed choices about the clothing they buy.
Watch the recording of the Make the Label Count launch event with EU policymakers, academics and industry representatives.
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The EU is shifting to a climate-neutral and circular economy, which means products need to be more energy-efficient, durable, reusable, repairable, and recyclable. Because the fashion and textile industry has such a big environmental footprint, the European Commission is considering making sustainability labels mandatory for apparel and footwear.
The problem with the European Commission’s proposal for clothing sustainability labels is that the methodology they plan to use to measure environmental impacts of clothing - the Product Environmental Footprint (PEF) – is incomplete. It currently excludes critical environmental impacts and does not reflect the EU’s own sustainability and circularity goals.
Clothing sustainability labels can help make fashion and textiles greener. The proposed labels are likely to set a global standard and could deliver positive outcomes if the method behind it is amended. We must act now and get it right to make the label credible, ensure consumers are not misled and help the industry to make the green transition the EU wants to see.
Consumers should be able to trust a clothing sustainability label. We are asking European Commission policymakers to update the PEF methodology to make the label count for consumers. Here is where we can start:
Only products made from renewable raw materials can be truly sustainable. The inherently circular attributes of natural fibres, including renewability at start-of-life and biodegradability at the end-of-life need to be accounted for in a credible product label. Inclusion of parameters to account for biological circularity could address this limitation.
The environmental impacts of microplastic pollution should be included in any label intended to inform consumer choices. Laundering synthetic clothes accounts for about 35% of primary microplastics released into the environment.
The impact of forming natural fibres is fully accounted for in PEF but not the full impact of forming fossil fuel-based fibres (accounting starts at extraction). The same system boundary should be used for natural and fossil fuel fibres to inform consumer choices.
The use-phase has a major influence on a garment’s environmental footprint. Factors that extend the lifetime of clothing, including odour resistance, wrinkle resistance, less frequent laundering and the rate of reuse by further owners should be included in PEF methodology.
The socio-economic impact of fibre production and textile manufacturing is not considered in the PEF methodology. Credible measures of sustainability encompass planet, people and prosperity, and this should be reflected in the label.
The impacts of fibre production are assessed without considering whether sustainable agricultural management practices are used. By failing to assess and incentivise sustainable agricultural practices, an important opportunity to achieve the EU’s goal of ‘protecting and restoring natural ecosystems’ is lost.
Join us in advocating for a credible clothing sustainability label in the EU. Together we can make the label count!
