Fashion Industry Floods Brussels with Circular Economy Inquiries: 100+ Consultations Submitted

Fashion accelerates in the lobby. Three months after the European Commission opened the public consultation period on the forthcoming Circular Economy Act (CEA), fashion has submitted almost a hundred contributions and views on the text. In general terms, the regulation, scheduled for 2026, has received more than 950 consultations from organizations, governments, companies and individuals.

According to the information available on the European portal, different players in the fashion industry have sent their opinions and requests regarding the future law, including the Spanish circular economy commissioner, the Federation of Haute Couture and Fashion (Fhcm) and the European Confederation of Recycling Industries (Euric). Among the private companies, operators such as Decathlon, Primark or Recover have also sent their contributions.

“The CEA represents a strategic opportunity for the European Union to strengthen its resilience, competitiveness and industrial base in the treatment of textile waste, as well as in the substitution of virgin raw materials by secondary raw materials,“ explains the Textile and Fashion Observatory, which also participated in the consultation. To this end, the claims of the entity have focused on the harmonization of national legislation, elimination of bureaucratic burdens or promote the development of more mature markets.

In fashion, entities such as Policy Hub or companies such as Recover have sent their queries

The regulation does not refer exclusively to fashion, although organizations such as Euric, the Textile and Fashion Observatory or Policy Hub have highlighted the weight of the sector.“ We urge the European Commission to position textiles as a priority in the regulation”, said Policy Hub, while the Spanish entity has highlighted “the potential of the textile sector for the development of a solid European market for secondary raw materials, with a high social, environmental and economic impact”.

The CEA is scheduled for 2026, with the aim of accelerating the transition to a more circular economy based on European competitiveness, decarbonization and resilience. For its effective date, the main axes are to create a single market for recycled materials, guarantee the supply and quality of recycled materials and boost demand among businesses.

In addition, the law follows the roadmap recently set by Brussels through the Competitiveness Compass and the Clean Industrial Deal, which set targets to double the European circularity rate by 2030.