The textile industry is responsible for approximately 10% of global carbon emissions, 20% of industrial water pollution, and vast quantities of microplastic pollution. The EU Strategy for Sustainable and Circular Textiles, combined with the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, is set to transform how textiles are designed, produced, used, and recycled.
Key requirements include: Digital Product Passports (tracking environmental footprint from fibre to finished garment), mandatory recycled content, restrictions on the destruction of unsold goods, and extended producer responsibility for end-of-life management.
For Indian textile exporters — India is the world’s second-largest textile exporter — these regulations create both risk and opportunity. Companies that invest in sustainable manufacturing (water treatment, renewable energy, fair labour practices) will maintain market access; those that don’t will be displaced by compliant competitors.
RSustain’s textile sector advisory covers water and waste management in textile processing, carbon footprint calculation for products, supply chain due diligence, and regulatory compliance mapping. We work with manufacturers, brands, and industry associations to build practical sustainability programmes.
The fast fashion model — cheap production, rapid turnover, and externalised environmental costs — is facing its reckoning. Companies that transition to sustainable practices will survive; those that cling to the old model will find their markets shrinking.