On July 19, 2026, the European Commission's Directorate-General for Environment confirmed that large companies across the EU are prohibited from destroying unsold clothes, clothing accessories and footwear under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781). The ban, set out in Article 25, applied from that date for large operators; medium-sized companies face the same rule from July 19, 2030. Small and micro-enterprises remain exempt.
The Commission announcement of July 17, 2026 marks one of the first concrete ESPR obligations to enter application. Apparel and footwear brands selling into the EU, including non-EU makers, must stop destruction as a default inventory exit, redirect stock into reuse channels, and keep five-year records for national inspections.
What does the Article 25 ban require from today?
Large companies must prioritise keeping unsold clothes and shoes in use: sell them (including at a discount or on alternative markets), donate them to charities or social enterprises, or prepare them for reuse through repair, refurbishment or remanufacturing. Destruction is allowed only in narrow cases and must follow the waste treatment hierarchy, with recycling preferred over disposal.
Exemptions cover products that are unsafe or damaged beyond reuse, counterfeit or IP-infringing goods, and items rejected by charities or donation schemes. Operators that rely on an exemption must keep proof (documents or test results) and publish annual reports on what they discarded. Paperwork is meant to lean on existing customs and logistics codes rather than a new parallel reporting system.
Who is in scope, and when does each cohort have to comply?
The duty hits large companies first. Medium-sized companies follow four years later. Micro and small businesses are out of scope for the destruction ban and the related disclosure burden.
| Company class | Size test (EU SME Recommendation 2003/361/EC) | Ban applies from |
|---|---|---|
| Large | Above mid-size thresholds (typically 250 employees, or EUR 50 million turnover, or EUR 43 million balance sheet) | July 19, 2026 |
| Medium-sized | 50 or more employees, or EUR 10 million turnover or balance sheet, without crossing the large thresholds | July 19, 2030 |
| Small and micro | Below the medium-sized thresholds | Exempt |
The rule is EU-wide and directly applicable. It covers large apparel and footwear actors that place products on the EU market, whether headquartered in the Union or abroad. Groups should apply the size test on consolidated figures so a small label inside a large retail group is not treated as exempt.
Why does this matter commercially right now?
Textiles are the first product group subject to the destruction ban because of the scale of unused stock. The European Environment Agency estimates that 4% to 9% of textile products put on the European market are destroyed before use, equal to between 264,000 and 594,000 tonnes per year. That loss of materials, water, energy and labour, plus the emissions from disposal, is what Article 25 is designed to stop.
For compliance and operations teams, the immediate change is operational, not conceptual. Destruction of returns and overproduction is no longer a routine cost-optimisation lever for large sellers. Reverse logistics, grading, donation partnerships and secondary-market channels must be live now, with exemption evidence and annual discard disclosure ready for national authorities that can impose fines and inspect five-year records.
Continuous, per-jurisdiction real-time monitoring surfaces this kind of application milestone the moment it publishes, so inventory and legal teams are not left reacting after the first inspection letter.
Take advantage of this real-time watch
Confirm whether your entity or group crosses the large-company threshold on a consolidated basis. Map every current destruction pathway for unsold clothes and footwear against the documented Article 25 exemptions. Stand up reuse, donation and recycling routes with audit-ready proof, and brief procurement, logistics and finance that the July 19, 2026 duty is already enforceable. Obsidian tracks these ESPR application steps as they crystallise across the EU so the next deadline does not arrive cold.
