Soon, unsold clothes in Europe will no longer end up in landfills The new European Commission reform will be implemented starting July 19

The fact that seasonal sales no longer satisfy consumers as they once did has become almost a given. Both the level of attention and the volume of purchases during sale periods have dropped sharply in recent years – data from last July estimate that only 62% of Italians chose to shop during the summer discounts. The main issue, however, is that while demand has contracted, supply has remained unchanged. As a result, at the end of each season thousands (if not millions) of unsold garments, spanning fast fashion, high street, and e-commerce, are left over and automatically end up in landfills. At least until the upcoming 19 July.

The European Commission’s new directive

On 9 February, the European Commission adopted a new set of measures under the regulation Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), with the aim of banning the destruction of unsold fashion products. In practical terms, starting from July 2026, clothing, accessories, and footwear will no longer be allowed to be disposed of as waste simply because they failed to find a buyer.

Every year in Europe, it is estimated that between 4% and 9% of unsold textile products are destroyed before ever being worn. A practice that generates around 5.6 million tonnes of CO2, an emissions volume comparable to that produced by the whole of Sweden in 2021. The reform introduces two key pillars: the first is the explicit ban on destroying unsold goods in the fashion sector, while the second is an obligation of transparency – companies will be required to publicly disclose how much unsold merchandise they discard and how. These disclosure requirements will come into force in a standardised format starting from February 2027, giving companies time to reorganise processes and reporting systems.

What this really means for fashion production today

Beyond its regulatory dimension, the new directive marks a paradigm shift for the fashion industry. It is not just about “not throwing clothes away,” but about questioning the entire production model that has normalised excess. Has the time finally come to implement a model of positive degrowth? For years, the issue of massive volumes of unsold garments had a simple, linear solution, making it largely irrelevant whether consumer demand actually matched production.

Now, however, brands will be forced to confront issues that have long been deliberately ignored: how much to produce in the first place, how to plan collections, how to manage returns, and what to do with excess stock. The reform does not merely impose a ban; it actively encourages alternatives such as resale, remanufacturing, donations, and reuse, transforming what was once considered waste into a resource to be enhanced.

Takeaways

– From 19 July 2026, large fashion companies in the EU will be banned from destroying unsold clothing, accessories, and footwear - a long-standing but largely hidden industry practice.

– Without the option to discard excess stock, brands will have to rethink production volumes, timing, and planning, rather than treating overstock as an end-of-season problem.

– Mandatory disclosure turns unsold inventory into a reputational metric, encouraging resale, donations, reuse, and alternative circulation models.