I Can No Longer Destroy Unsold Clothing: What Am I Supposed to Do With It?

Audience: CFO, fashion SME, Europe

The short answer is that the ban has indeed entered into force, on 19 July 2026, but it covers much less than many newspaper headlines suggested. On one point, however, it goes much further than most people realize: sending unsold clothing for recycling is also prohibited.

The issue the legislation aims to address is significant. According to the European Environment Agency, between 4% and 9% of textile products placed on the European market are destroyed before ever being used, equivalent to between 264,000 and 594,000 tonnes annually, based on 2020 data.

What the Unsold Goods Ban Actually Covers

The ban applies to clothing and clothing accessories, headwear, and footwear. These are the product categories listed in Annex VII of the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), using classifications derived from the customs nomenclature.

For now, the ban does not apply to handbags and leather goods, eyewear, watches, jewellery, or home textiles.

The word accessories has caused considerable confusion. In this context, it does not mean every accessory in a fashion collection. It specifically refers to clothing accessories such as gloves, belts, ties, and scarves.

The list can be expanded, but only through a future Commission act supported by an impact assessment. To date, no such proposal has been published.

Then comes the part that surprises almost everyone.

In the regulation, destruction does not simply mean landfill or incineration. The definition includes disposing of a product as waste and provides only one exception: transferring products for preparation for reuse. This includes activities such as repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, or reconditioning.

Recycling is not included in that exception.

A company that sends unsold goods for recycling believing it is acting responsibly is, in fact, violating the ban.

Nor is there an environmental exception. The ESPR originally allowed the possibility that product destruction could be permitted if it represented the option with the lowest environmental impact. However, the Commission did not convert that possibility into an operational exemption, and the review that could potentially introduce it is not scheduled for several years. 

Who Is Covered and Who Is Not

The ban applies to:

• Large enterprises from 19 July 2026
• Medium-sized enterprises from 19 July 2030

Micro-enterprises and small enterprises are exempt, and there is currently no scheduled date on which they will become subject to the prohibition.

This is where many companies make costly mistakes.

The thresholds are not defined in the ESPR itself. They come from the European definition of SMEs, which requires companies to account not only for their own employees, turnover, and balance sheet, but also those of associated and linked enterprises.

An Italian company with forty employees that belongs to a large international group may therefore qualify as a large enterprise, even if it appears small on its own. The assessment is made at group level, not solely at the level of the individual legal entity.

There is also another provision that applies to everyone, including small businesses, and has been in force since 18 July 2024. Economic operators must take measures that can reasonably be expected to prevent unsold goods from having to be destroyed. This obligation applies regardless of company size and is not limited to specific product categories.

What Can You Do with Unsold Products?

Almost everything you were already doing.

You can:

• Sell them
• Discount them
• Move them to outlet channels
• Transfer them to second-hand markets
• Donate them

None of these actions constitutes destruction, so none is affected by the ban.

When a product can no longer be sold, only one route remains available: preparation for reuse. In practice, this means having the product repaired, refurbished, reconditioned, or remanufactured by an operator capable of performing those activities. 

The Exemptions Exist, but They Must Be Documented

There are ten specific exemptions, each explicitly identified in the regulation.

Examples include:

• Hazardous products
• Products that do not comply with EU legislation
• Counterfeit products
• Damaged products that cannot be repaired efficiently
• Products offered for donation and refused

Every exemption must be supported by documentation.

Companies are required to maintain a file for each exempted case, keep it for five years, and provide it electronically to authorities within thirty days if requested.

The “refused donation” exemption is particularly strict. Before relying on it, a company must either:

• Offer the products to at least three social economy organizations within the EU; or
• Offer them publicly on its own website for at least eight weeks without any party accepting them.

The Other Obligation Companies Often Overlook

There is a second obligation that is broader than the destruction ban itself and that many companies have not yet fully considered.

Businesses that discard unsold products must publish an annual disclosure report on an easily accessible page of their website.

The report must explain:

• How many products were discarded
• Their weight
• The reasons for disposal
• Their destination
• The measures taken to prevent future disposal

Unlike the destruction ban, this reporting obligation is not limited to the product categories listed in Annex VII.

It applies to all consumer products, including handbags, eyewear, and home textiles, even though these products are currently outside the scope of the destruction prohibition.

The requirement is already applicable to large enterprises and will apply to medium-sized enterprises from 2030, following the same timing as the ban itself.

Starting 2 March 2027, a standardized reporting format will become mandatory.

That annual calculation can become a recurring administrative burden if performed manually. If product data is already structured and digitized, as it will increasingly need to be for future Digital Product Passport requirements, generating the report becomes far more straightforward.

Start with your inventory, not with the regulation. Separate products that are still sellable, donatable, or repairable from those that are not, because the prohibition primarily affects the latter category. At the same time, begin tracking unsold goods now, using data from the current financial year. When the official reporting format arrives, you will simply need to transfer information you have already collected rather than reconstruct it retroactively.