THE CIVIL SOCIETY SHADOW EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE TEXTILE, GARMENTS, LEATHER AND FOOTWEAR

Before the European Commission published the EU strategy for sustainable and circular textiles in March 2022, a group of 65 diverse civil society organisations came together to set out their vision for a fair and sustainable Textile, Garment, Leather and Footwear (TGLF) sector. They did so by releasing a non-official (or “shadow”) strategy in which they propose a set of legislative and non-legislative actions that the EU should undertake to contribute to fairer and more sustainable TGLF value chains. 

The group – a broad coalition of campaigners for fair trade, human and workers’ rights, environmental protection, and transparency – called on the European Commission, MEPs and EU governments to back this ambitious civil society strategy and kick-start a global re-design of the textile industry’s broken business model. 

The civil society vision for a comprehensive EU Textile Strategy contains recommendations to promote a TGLF industry that respects human rights, creates decent jobs and adheres to high social and environmental standards throughout its value chain. 

Relevant Documents: 

MEP support for the strategy

On 3 June 2020, a group of 53 MEPs from across the political spectrum wrote a letter to Commissioner Sinkevičius, Hogan, Reynders, and Urpilainen endorsing the Civil Society European Strategy for Sustainable Textiles. In the letter the MEPs “invite [the Commission] to follow the approach of this civil society proposal in the development of the comprehensive EU textile strategy.” Since then, more MEPs have supported the strategy.

The following MEPs have expressed their support for the strategy

Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA), Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL), Delara Burkhardt (S&D), Bernd Lange (S&D), Agnes Jongerius (S&D), Alexis Georgoulis (GUE/NGL), Alviina Alametsä (Greens/EFA), Andreas Schieder (S&D), Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA), Attila-ARA-Kovas (S&D), Aurore Lalucq (S&D), Benoît Biteau (Greens/EFA), Brando Benifei (S&D), Caroline Roose (Greens/EFA), Cesar Luena (S&D) , Ciarán Cuffe (Greens/EFA), Claude Gruffat (Greens/EFA), Damien Careme (Greens/EFA), David Cormand (Greens/EFA), Dietmar Köster (S&D), Eleonora Evi (NI), Ernest Urtasun (Greens/EFA), François Alfonsi (Greens/EFA), Gabriele Bischoff (S&D), Grace O’Sullivan (Greens/EFA), Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA), Hannah Neumann (Greens/EFA), Henrike Hahn (Greens/EFA), Inmaculada Rodriguez-Pinero (S&D), Joachim Schuster (S&D), Karima Delli (Greens/EFA) , Kateřina Konecna (GUE/NGL), Kim Van Sparrentak (Greens/EFA), Kira Peter-Hansen (Greens/EFA), Marc Angel (S&D), Marco Zullo (NI), Maria Grapini (S&D), Marie Toussaint (Greens/EFA), Martin Hojsik (RE), Michal Wiezik (EPP), Michèle Rivasi (Greens/EFA), Milan Brglez (S&D), Mounir Satouri (Greens/EFA), Niklas Nienaß (Greens/EFA), Pascal Durand (RE), Raphael Glucksmann (S&D), Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA), Salima Yenbou (Greens/EFA), Saskia Bricmont (Greens/EFA), Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP), Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA), Ville Niinistö (Greens/EFA), Yannick Jadot (Greens/EFA), Alice Kuhnke (Greens/EFA), Pär Holmgren (Greens/EFA), Jakop Dalunde (Greens/EFA).