European fashion industry cuts back its green investment by 4% since 2008

The European fashion industry shrinks green investment. Despite the increasing preocupation in the textile, footwear and leather goods industry, the investment of the sector in sustainability has shrunk 4% between 2008 and 2016.

In the entire European Union, the sector destined in 2016 a total of 61.4 million euros in machinery to control pollution and clean technology, compared to the 64.2 million euros in 2008, according to the last available data of the statistics agency Eurostat.  

By subsectors, the textile industry is the one with the biggest investment budget for sustainability. In 2017, textile companies invested 42.2 million euros, compared to the million euros in garments manufacture and 18 million of leather and footwear.

The investment in sustainability has shrunk between 2008 and 2016 in the textile industry, 15.7% and in footwear and leather goods, 44.2%. Manufacturing, on the other hand, stayed stable in its investment.

By investment types, the equipment for pollution control represent 62% of the total. The budget of clean technology represented the rest, 38%.

By countries, Italian fashion was the one with the biggest investment, a total of 19.2 million euros in 2016,followed by France, with twelve million euros, and Germany with 8.8 million euros. United Kingdom invested 3.8 million euros, Spain 2.3 million euros and Portugal, 2.6 million euros.