The ban on destroying unsold clothing
Since 19 July 2026, as reported, a large company may no longer destroy unsold apparel, accessories or footwear, and must disclose each year what it discarded and why. Medium companies follow in 2030, as reported.
As of 15 October 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice.
The first part of the ecodesign regulation to reach fashion brands concerns unsold stock, and it arrived before any passport. Since 19 July 2026, as reported, a large company may no longer destroy unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear, and has to disclose its discarded goods each year. The rule sits in ESPR, Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, and is reported as already applying.
Scope and dates
As reported, the ban has applied to large companies since 19 July 2026 and reaches medium companies from 19 July 2030; micro and small companies are exempt. The scope is unsold apparel, clothing accessories and footwear, so a shoe brand and a fashion brand are in; a furniture brand is not.
Destruction and recycling
Destruction covers more than incineration. As reported, recycling counts as destruction unless one of the derogations applies. That distinction decides the options for a pallet of last season's stock, and it is the one to check with your legal adviser against the text before you book a recycler.
The duty to disclose
As reported, a company that discards unsold products has to disclose, every year, the quantities, the weight, the reasons and their treatment: reuse, recycling or energy recovery. That turns a decision that used to be made on a warehouse floor into a figure in a yearly disclosure. The warehouse has to be able to produce that figure, which in practice means knowing, lot by lot, the units that left as unsold and their destination. The law asks for the totals, not for a record per unit.
A pallet that leaves the warehouse as "unsold, recycled" is now a line in a yearly report.
Warehouse records
Whatever system you run, the stock records have to show which units were never sold, as opposed to sold and returned, and the outcome of each lot: donated, sold on at a discount, sent to reuse, recycled or recovered. They also need the weight, because the disclosure asks for it, so the master data has to carry a weight per unit or the lot has to be weighed on the way out. A stock system that only knows "written off" cannot produce this; it has to separate unsellable returns from unsold stock.
On Next Horizon each unit carries a custody state through its life, and the states that matter here are the ones after sale or at end of life: returned, recycled, disposed. A unit that goes to a recycler is marked as such on its record, with the date, so the annual figure can be read off the records rather than reconstructed from invoices. Recording per unit is our method; the law asks only for the annual figure.
The economics of unsold stock
The figure has to be disclosed, and a brand that can show reuse rather than recycling has a better answer in it. It also changes the economics of unsold stock. An unsold unit that used to be a disposal cost is now a disclosed quantity, and the cheapest route may be the resale or outlet channel rather than the bin. The same thinking helps with returns, which the rule does not cover but which end up on the same shelf. Returns covers how a returned unit is re-identified, so you know your stock before you decide.
Questions we get asked.
Does recycling count as destroying?
As reported, yes, unless a derogation applies. Check the derogations against the text before booking a recycler for unsold stock.
We are a small brand. Does the ban apply to us?
As reported, micro and small companies are exempt, medium companies are reached from 19 July 2030 and large companies have been in scope since 19 July 2026.
What do we have to disclose?
As reported, each year: the quantities and the weight of unsold products discarded, the reasons, and how they were handled, whether reuse, recycling or energy recovery.
Does this apply to returns we cannot resell?
The rule is about unsold products. A return that is damaged beyond sale is a different case and the rule, as reported, does not cover it. Its handling is still recorded on the unit, and it can be counted the same way: the units, their weight and their destination.
Related pages.
See it on your own orders.
A 30-minute call on your own flows, with a clear answer at the end.