Textiles and clothing play an important role in our everyday life. But the global fashion industry model is unsustainable and needs to transition towards a circular model.

Europe imports a large part of its apparel, mostly from developing countries. This analysis carried out by Ecopreneur.eu focuses on China, Bangladesh, India and Cambodia, not only because these countries are the most significant clothing exporters to the EU, but also because of their reputation for cheap labour and overall lower operating costs as well as a larger environmental footprint.

The preliminary results of the study suggest an overall positive effect of EU policies to steer the fashion industry towards a circular economy in non-EU textile producing countries. Although it seems like these countries can leapfrog a circular textile industry, the study strongly recommends more research to support Ecopreneur.eu's preliminary conclusions.