From the Sector

EIM (Environmental Impact Measurement), the global reference platform for measuring the environmental impact of garment finishing, presents the second edition of its annual report Denim Industry Progress & Insights 2025. The study analyses over 100,000 real denim finishing processes, providing an accurate and up-to-date view of the industry’s evolution towards more sustainable models.

The textile industry, as one of the sectors with the greatest environmental impact, plays a key role in the transition towards more sustainable production models. To move forward, measuring, understanding, and acting are essential. EIM acts as a compass for the industry, enabling the objective assessment of process impacts and supporting decision-making towards more eco-efficient production.

The report confirms that the denim industry continues to make progress in reducing its environmental impact. Currently, 66% of processes are already classified as low impact, reflecting a positive trend driven by process optimization and the adoption of more efficient technologies.

In terms of resource use, significant progress has been made in optimizing water and energy, although there is still room for improvement to reach more advanced standards. Water consumption remains stable at around 30 liters per garment, indicating a plateau after years of continuous improvement. Energy shows the strongest performance, with 85% of processes classified as low impact, driven by equipment modernization and automation.

However, the report highlights that chemical impact remains the industry’s main challenge, with 27% of processes still classified as high impact. Factors such as the use of generic chemicals, lack of transparency in formulations, and the persistence of legacy practices, such as pumice stones or potassium permanganate, continue to limit progress, despite the availability of more sustainable alternatives.

At the same time, worker health impact has improved significantly, with 68% of processes classified as low impact, driven by the increasing adoption of automated technologies replacing more harmful manual techniques.

“The industry has proven that it can improve when it measures its impact, but the next step requires accelerating the adoption of technologies and leaving behind practices that are no longer sustainable,” says Begoña García, creator of EIM and co-author of the report. “Today more than ever, we need reliable data to make informed decisions and move towards a real transformation of the industry.”

This second report further establishes EIM as a global reference standard to measure and track environmental impact in denim finishing. Its annual nature allows brands and manufacturers to benchmark performance, identify improvement areas, and move forward together towards more ambitious sustainability goals.

The full report is available for download and will be updated annually, reinforcing the industry’s commitment to transparency, continuous improvement and environmental impact reduction.

EIM, a global standard to measure and compare environmental impact
EIM, Environmental Impact Measurement, is a globally recognized tool for assessing the environmental performance of garment finishing processes.

It evaluates four key categories, water consumption, energy consumption, chemical impact and worker health impact. Each process is assessed and classified into three levels, low, medium or high impact, according to standardized benchmarks.

EIM includes specific benchmarks for denim finishing, garment washing and garment dyeing, ensuring that results are accurate, comparable and relevant for each type of process.

This methodology enables brands and manufacturers to measure their processes with precision, track improvements and communicate environmental performance in a transparent and verifiable way.

Every week, textile factories close across Europe. Behind each closure: jobs lost, communities affected, strategic capabilities gone.

EURATEX has released its latest Economic Update on the performance of the European textile and apparel industry in 2025. For the third consecutive year, the sector recorded negative results across all key indicators — production, turnover and employment — confirming a continued erosion of competitiveness across Europe.

The causes are clear: structurally high energy costs, weak consumer demand, growing import pressure from Asia, unfair competition from online platforms, and an increasingly heavy regulatory burden on European producers.

The EU is preparing several policy responses — the Industrial Accelerator Act, reform of the Union Customs Code, the Energy Union. However, many companies cannot wait. Europe needs immediate action to reduce energy costs, simplify regulation, strengthen market surveillance and restore a genuine level playing field. 
Textiles is a strategic industrial ecosystem for Europe. Beyond fashion — clothing, footwear and home textiles that define European identity and craftsmanship — it supplies critical value chains: healthcare, defence, mobility, construction and agriculture, while supporting circularity through reuse and recycling. This is not a sector Europe can afford to lose. EURATEX calls on the European Commission and Member States to take concrete action before the end of 2026.

“If Europe is serious about maintaining its manufacturing base, it must act faster and more decisively. Every week, textile companies are closing. Production moves elsewhere, dependency increases, and the carbon footprint grows. That is the opposite of what Europe wants to achieve.” Mario Jorge Machado — President, EURATEX