From the Sector

EURATEX, the European Apparel and Textile Confederation, welcomes today’s State of the Union Address by European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and in particular her recognition of Europe’s need to rebalance unfair trade, cut red tape, and strengthen its industrial and strategic autonomy. 

EURATEX now calls on the Commission and Member States to translate these commitments into concrete action for the textile and apparel value chain.

At the same time, we regret that industrial competitiveness received comparatively limited attention in an otherwise wide-ranging address. EURATEX urges the Commission to match today’s political commitments with an equal sense of urgency on industrial competitiveness, and to place manufacturing sectors, such as textiles, more firmly at the centre of its agenda in the months ahead.

"Europe cannot build a strong defence, lead the green and digital transitions, or protect its social model on a weakening industrial base. Competitiveness is not just one chapter of the European project – it is the foundation all the others are built on; when we get that right, everything else becomes possible.”, states Dirk Vantyghem, Director General EURATEX.

On trade, EURATEX shares the President’s assessment that the EU’s growing trade deficit with China – now standing at €1 billion a day – has reached a tipping point. The textile and apparel sector has been on the front line of this “second China shock” for years, and we advocate the Commission to move swiftly from dialogue to concrete trade-defence measures, including stronger customs enforcement and imports monitoring for textile products.

EURATEX also welcomes the pledge to cut administrative burden and forge a “pact against gold-plating” with Member States. Textile companies, the vast majority SMEs, are disproportionately affected by overlapping and often diverging national implementation of EU rules, and genuine simplification would meaningfully improve their competitiveness.

Looking ahead to the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), EURATEX stresses the need of dedicated support for the textile industry, reflecting its role as a strategic manufacturing sector for Europe's green, digital, and defence transitions, and ensuring the sector is not left without targeted instruments as EU funding priorities are reshaped.

EURATEX commends the President’s announcement of a new “European Instrument for Strategic Enablers” to strengthen European defence capabilities. Technical and defence-related textiles – from protective equipment and ballistic materials to smart textiles for soldier systems – are an integral part of Europe’s defence industrial base, and we stand ready to ensure the sector is fully recognised in this effort.

On international partnerships, we note with interest the President’s proposal to deepen the EU-Canada relationship through an “Alliance for the Future”. EURATEX has recently signed Memoranda of Understanding with its Canadian counterparts, the Canadian Textiles Industry Association (CTIA) and the Canadian Apparel Federation (CAF), and is well-placed to build on this cooperation as EU-Canada industrial ties are strengthened.

Finally, EURATEX supports the announcement of a new Mediterranean Youth Skills and Jobs initiative. We are already active in this domain through our role in the Pact for Skills, and have ongoing engagement across the Mediterranean region. Therefore, we are ready to contribute with our expertise to ensure the initiative delivers meaningful opportunities for young people in the textile and apparel value chain.

bluesign has set out how its bluepass certification scheme is intended to meet the EU Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, which becomes enforceable on 27 September 2026. The rules tighten the conditions for environmental and social claims and for certification schemes behind consumer-facing sustainability labels.

According to bluesign, bluepass separates standard setting, assessment and product certification. Consumer-facing products are certified by an independent conformity-assessment body accredited to ISO/IEC 17065. The system also includes publicly available requirements, annual surveillance with product testing, equal access conditions and structured stakeholder consultation.

For existing System Partners, bluesign says current certifications remain valid. Existing bluesign PRODUCT and APPROVED labels do not need to be withdrawn immediately; the move to bluepass can take place with the next label-production cycle. The key compliance point remains that legal responsibility for a claim rests with the company placing the product on the EU market.

The European Apparel and Textile Confederation (EURATEX) is calling for an EU handling fee of around €10 on low-value e-commerce consignments entering the European market. The association argues that the fee should contribute to the costs of customs controls, market surveillance and product-safety enforcement associated with the rapidly growing volume of direct-to-consumer imports.

Low-value e-commerce imports into the European Union have increased sharply in recent years. According to the European Commission, around 5.9 billion low-value e-commerce items entered the EU in 2025, up 26% from 2024. The growth of direct shipments from non-EU online retailers and marketplaces has increased the workload for customs and market-surveillance authorities and intensified the debate about compliance with European product, safety and customs requirements.

Since 1 July 2026, the EU has applied a temporary customs duty of €3 to low-value consignments of up to €150. The measure replaced the previous customs-duty exemption for such imports and is intended as a transitional arrangement until the new EU Customs Data Hub becomes operational. It is separate from the EU-wide handling fee for small e-commerce consignments provided for under the broader reform of the EU customs framework.

Following the latest agreement on the customs reform, the handling fee is to be introduced by 1 November 2026. Its level will be determined by the European Commission before the member states begin applying it.

Against this background, EURATEX used Première Vision in Paris to argue that the handling fee should be set at a level that more closely reflects the actual enforcement costs associated with the large number of individual consignments entering the Single Market.

The association proposes a benchmark of around €10 per parcel. According to EURATEX, the amount should ultimately be based on a detailed assessment of the costs incurred by customs authorities, market-surveillance bodies and other public authorities involved in checking imported goods.

Processing large numbers of small consignments requires customs declarations to be assessed, risks to be analysed and compliance requirements to be checked. Market-surveillance authorities are also responsible for identifying unsafe or non-compliant products and enforcing EU product-safety rules.

EURATEX therefore argues that the handling fee should primarily be viewed as an enforcement instrument rather than simply as a trade or taxation measure. Revenues generated by the fee should, in the association's view, be linked to additional resources for customs controls, market surveillance, product-safety enforcement and risk-analysis systems.

The proposed €10 level is a EURATEX position and has not been adopted by the European Union. The European Commission is responsible for determining the actual amount of the forthcoming EU handling fee.

The customs reform also changes the responsibilities of companies involved in distance selling to EU consumers. Online platforms and sellers covered by the new rules are to be treated as importers for customs purposes and will therefore assume greater responsibility for customs formalities and duty payments rather than leaving these obligations with individual consumers.

EURATEX considers stronger platform responsibility an important element in addressing non-compliant imports but also points to the risk of alternative logistics structures being used to circumvent controls. More intensive checks on individual direct-to-consumer parcels should not, according to the association, result in goods simply being channelled through bulk imports, EU warehouses or fulfilment centres instead.

Effective enforcement would therefore need to cover different logistics models and provide customs and market-surveillance authorities with sufficiently detailed information on both business-to-consumer and business-to-business flows.

The European textile and clothing industry comprises nearly 200,000 companies in the EU-27 and employs around 1.2 million people. The sector generates annual turnover of approximately €166 billion. Most companies are small and medium-sized enterprises.

For EURATEX, the debate about low-value imports is consequently also a question of competitive conditions. The association is calling for companies selling products to European consumers, irrespective of their country of establishment or distribution model, to be identifiable and subject to comparable customs, product-safety and market-surveillance requirements.

DeSL has launched a Digital Product Passport solution built directly on product, material, supplier, quality and certification data managed in Product Lifecycle Management. The approach addresses a central challenge in emerging DPP requirements: companies need to combine information from multiple functions while retaining evidence of where data came from, how it was approved and whether supporting documentation remains valid.

Rather than creating a separate static passport record, DeSL generates the DPP from the current approved information held in PLM. Published information therefore remains connected to its underlying product and supplier records, version history and approvals. This can become particularly important when material composition, suppliers, certifications or quality information change during the product lifecycle.

The platform can combine product specifications, materials, supplier information, declarations, inspections and certifications. DeSL’s AI document intelligence is intended to analyse supporting documents, identify required information and expiry dates, and compare documentation with information maintained in PLM. Passports can be generated at the appropriate product level and delivered via QR codes, portals, retail systems and open APIs. Different audiences can receive different information while still drawing from the same governed product record.

For fashion and textile companies, the important shift is conceptual: DPP compliance becomes a master-data and governance challenge rather than simply a publishing task. The software announcement does not prove automatic compliance with every future regulatory requirement. It does, however, demonstrate a credible architecture in which product passports are generated from the same data used for product development, quality, supplier management and compliance.

bluesign argues that water management in textile wet processing starts with the chemicals and raw materials entering the process. Its core point is that water in dyeing and finishing is not simply a resource but a carrier for chemistry. What enters the process therefore affects water demand, wastewater load, air emissions, workplace exposure and potential residues in the finished textile.

The input-stream-management approach intervenes before wastewater treatment. By selecting appropriate chemical products and controlling the process, substances of concern should ideally be prevented from entering the system in the first place. For mills, the point is operationally important because investment in water and effluent treatment alone does not address the source of many impacts. The article provides useful context as chemical restrictions, water scarcity and supply-chain transparency requirements become more demanding.

The Better Cotton Initiative (BCI) has partnered with agricultural technology company Avalo to accelerate the breeding of more climate-resilient cotton. Avalo uses an AI-enabled platform to identify genetic traits relevant to locally adapted plants that require less water and fertiliser. According to BCI, the approach can shorten the time needed to develop new varieties, an increasingly important factor as heat, water scarcity and shifting rainfall patterns affect cotton-growing regions. Avalo has already worked with BCI to enrol a significant number of new producers for the 2026 season and has tested a digital platform for collecting and reporting programme data. The partnership therefore connects plant breeding, digital data management and the requirements of an international cotton standard.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical producer, reported significantly stronger first-half 2026 earnings, reflecting favorable market conditions together with continued progress in strengthening the Company’s operating fundamentals. 

For the first half of 2026, the Company reported revenue of THB 245.3 billion, up 4% year-on-year, and EBITDA of THB 29.7 billion, up 61%. Second-quarter EBITDA was particularly strong, with all four business segments delivering year-on-year improvement. Operating cash flow after maintenance capital expenditure increased 78% to THB 25.9 billion. Strong cash generation supported further deleveraging, with Net Debt-to-Equity improving to 1.56x, reaching the Company's Capital Markets Day target for 2026 ahead of schedule. 

Management’s continued execution of IVL 2.0 self-help actions, including Sales & Operations Execution (S&OE), inventory discipline and working capital management, also supported stronger cash conversion, with inventory turnover improving to 5.0x in the second quarter from 4.7x at the end of 2025. Operating rates were prudently managed to align production with inventory targets and protect margin quality in a period of volatile pricing. 

Looking ahead, Indorama Ventures expects some of the exceptionally strong second-quarter market tailwinds to normalize. The Company’s priorities for the remainder of 2026 are to deliver sustainable earnings under normalized spreads, convert those earnings into free cash flow, reduce absolute net debt, and improve returns on capital. 

Mr. Aloke Lohia, Group CEO of Indorama Ventures, said, “Our first-half performance reflects both supportive market conditions and the progress we are making through the self-help actions we have taken to strengthen Indorama Ventures. Markets will normalize, so the more important test is whether we can convert the advantages of the platform we have built over three decades - our scale, integration, global footprint, local-for-local operating model and customer positions, into more consistent earnings, stronger cash generation and higher returns through the cycle. 
We are beginning to see that translation in our performance. Greater discipline in how we manage our operations, inventory and working capital is improving cash generation, while our portfolio actions are strengthening the quality of the business and improving returns on capital. Together, these actions are building a more agile and financially resilient Indorama Ventures. 
We remain confident in our 2026 expectations and 2028 ambitions. Our focus is to continue executing on what we can control, strengthen our balance sheet and improve returns, while retaining the flexibility to capture growth opportunities as markets evolve.” 

The earnings improvement was led by Combined PET, supported by favorable market conditions and the benefits of Indorama Ventures’ integrated global platform and local-for-local operating model. Indovida continued its growth momentum, supported by its market-leading packaging position, customer intimacy and organic growth initiatives. Indovinya delivered strong performance across both High Value Applications and Essentials, supported by commercial excellence initiatives. Fibers improved sequentially in the second quarter supported by stable Hygiene demand and transformation efforts, despite continued weakness in Lifestyle and Mobility end markets.

In 2026, the Industry Research Group (IRG) Polymer Recycling once again brought together some of the key stakeholders in textile recycling for its annual Networking Day. This year, the event took place at EREMA’s premises in Ansfelden, Austria. It brought together key players from across the textile recycling value chain for a day of structured exchange and in-depth discussions.

The conversations covered a broad range of topics relevant to the sector, including technological developments, current market dynamics, and the evolving political and regulatory landscape. Speakers from Zschimmer & Schwarz, Volkswagen Group Innovation, STRÄHLE+HESS, and the Technical University of Leoben provided substantive input across these areas. The interesting discussions were also possible thanks to our IRG partners: Bekaert, EREMA, Barmag, Stadler Anlagenbau, Technip Energies, Fibrant, BASF and Remondis.

The IRG extends its sincere thanks to EREMA for hosting the event and providing access to their technical centre, which added a valuable practical dimension to the day's programme.

The next IRG Full-Term Meeting is scheduled for autumn 2026. The Networking Day will return in 2027.

The IRG Polymer Recycling is a continuously running cooperation project between companies interested in the research field of textile recycling and the ITA Group. The aim is to systematically address technological, economic and strategic issues regarding textile recycling and create a strong network to tackle the challenges. 

At Carrington Textiles, we are pleased to announce the publication of the third Sustainability Report from the RTS Textiles Group, showcasing another year of progress towards more responsible manufacturing across our global operations.

The report reflects continued investment in technologies and initiatives that improve environmental performance while supporting long-term business resilience. From renewable energy and water stewardship to circular economy projects and product innovation, sustainability remains embedded in how we operate across the Group.

Among this year's highlights is the completion of a new wastewater treatment plant in Pakistan, significantly strengthening water treatment capacity at CTi ahead of becoming operational later this year. The site has also expanded its circular economy initiatives through the reuse of biomass and coal ash in brick manufacturing and projects that support local biodiversity.

At MGC in Portugal, investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency has continued, with solar generation capacity increasing to 8.3 MW and further projects underway to reduce natural gas consumption and carbon emissions. At Pincroft in the UK, continued progress has been made through Combined Heat and Power (CHP), the ongoing development of its Carbon Roadmap and wider decarbonisation initiatives.

The report also highlights how the RTS Textiles Group continues to expand the use of innovative fibres and technologies that combine comfort, protection and performance with a reduced environmental impact, supporting customers in achieving their own sustainability objectives.

John Vareldzis, CEO of RTS Textiles Group, said: "Building on the foundations established in previous years, this report highlights our progress and reaffirms our commitment to responsible manufacturing, innovation and transparency across our global operations."

Textile production can be organized sustainably by utilizing short supply chains and preventing overproduction. This can already be achieved today by intelligently connecting and efficiently utilizing existing infrastructure. At the same time, production becomes circular when innovative technologies and materials are used that enable high-quality recycling. The ALADIN research project, launched in May 2026 and co-funded with five million euros under the EU Horizon Europe program, is creating the conditions for this.

Under the coordination of the German Institutes of Textile and Fiber Research Denkendorf (DITF), ten European project partners are developing and integrating platforms, technologies, and viable business models for circular textile production over four years. ALADIN stands for Advanced LocAl and Digital Innovation Network for Circular Garments and aims to establish viable business models for circular textile production.

The concept is based on four pillars:

• A digital platform for services provided by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• Regional cooperation to promote local production
• Technologies for recycling strategies
• Local and renewable raw materials

The project partners come from six different countries (Germany, Romania, Belgium, France, Czechia, Italy) and bring a wide range of expertise to the table, for example in the areas of design, embroidery, printing, digitalization, recycling, AI, and microfactory production.

This diverse range of experiences enables a high-performance digital infrastructure for B2B and B2B2C relationships. The partners will develop innovative technologies such as a Digital Product Passport module, or an AI-supported ecodesign assistant and apparel textiles including ring-spun recycled cotton yarns, while ensuring a broad transfer of project results to make a lasting impact. This will result in a network that jointly utilizes the infrastructure - from design and production to customer service and recycling.

To validate the approach, three specific use cases are being implemented: a semi-automated T-shirt, a smart parka, and a circular, versatile blazer dress. These products use sustainable materials such as bio-based fibers and recycled textiles, which are processed in a way that makes them easier to recycle at the end of their life cycle. Production takes place locally in microfactories, and the products are custom-made according to customer specifications.

In addition, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), startups and further stakeholders will be actively involved in two Open Calls. Innovations within the ecosystem are also promoted, for example in the areas of automation, production technologies, and digital services.

In the long term, the project aims to establish a Europe-wide network of microfactories, create new jobs, and significantly increase the use of sustainable materials. At the same time, the project intends to reduce waste and strengthen regional value creation.

To this end, ALADIN brings together industry, customers, policymakers, and academia - to promote sustainable, circular textile production. In this way, ALADIN will also serve as a model for similar networks, thereby multiplying the positive effects on the market and the environment.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101294463. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HADEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.