Perhaps you have been deeply concerned about the garment factory disaster in Bangladesh, which killed thousands of workers. Today, everyone (who considers themselves responsible human beings) knows that fast fashion is bad. But what actions are being taken beyond this awareness?

While you as a responsible consumer may leave behind Zara and opt for higher-quality sustainable brands, actively recycle clothes, or donate it to charities, fast fashion giants like Shein or Fashion Nova continue to send bags filled with new collections to social media influencers, targeting young women. Shockingly, one-third of these women, as reported by The Guardian, consider garments worn only once or twice to be old.

It is clear that individual choices alone are not enough in combating the disastrous consequences of fast fashion, such as air and water pollution, tons of textile waste in the landfill, and modern slavery. This is where official regulations come into play.

This month, The European Parliament has voted in support of the new strategy for sustainable and circular textiles, signaling that they will no longer leave the market to regulate itself. With the aim to put an end to fast fashion and encourage ethically responsible choices, the strategy focuses on several key regulations:

• Textile products should be both durable and easily reusable, repairable, and recyclable.
• Human rights, social standards, labor rights, environmental protection, and animal welfare should be upheld throughout the supply chain.
• Access to accurate and reliable information should be provided for consumers, enabling them to make more sustainable choices. Clear rules are being proposed to address "greenwashing," deceptive environmental claims made by producers.
• Destruction of unsold and returned textile goods should be banned. Members of the European Parliament emphasize the urgent need to launch an initiative to prevent and minimize the release of microplastics and microfibers into the environment.

People and the planet are more important than the textile industry’s profits. The disasters that have occurred in the past, like the collapse of the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, growing textile landfills in Ghana and Nepal, polluted water, and microplastics in our oceans, show what happens when we do not pursue this principle. We have waited long enough - it is time to make a change!

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_{Rapporteur Delara Burkhardt (S&D, DE)}