Am I allowed to destroy unsold stock of clothing and textiles?
Destruction of clothing will be banned soon, but not yet
Destruction of unsold clothing and textiles is currently still permitted, but the ESPR is building in a ban that will be introduced in phases. Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) provides in Articles 23 to 26 that undertakings may no longer destroy unsold consumer goods — including clothing and other textile products — in principle once this ban enters into force for the relevant product category. Until that time, there is first an obligation to provide transparency about what happens to unsold inventory: how much is thrown away, destroyed or otherwise disposed of, and for what reason. This transparency obligation is intended as a stepping stone towards the actual destruction ban and currently targets larger market participants.
Who this applies to: large businesses yes, small ones no
The rules make a clear distinction based on business size. Large undertakings are the first to fall under the obligations: they must report on the quantity of unsold products they destroy, and they will be subject to the ban as soon as it applies to clothing and textiles. Small and medium-sized undertakings are exempt from the ban, and for medium-sized undertakings there is also a transition period after the ban enters into force for a product category. A clothing brand or importer that qualifies as a small undertaking will thus in practice fall outside the core of this obligation, while a larger business will need to take it into account. The regulation also provides for possible exceptions to the ban itself, for example for products that cannot be placed on the market or reused for safety, health or hygiene reasons. The specific situations to which this applies and how it will be determined follows from the detailed implementation of Articles 23 to 26.
The entry into force date is not yet set
When the destruction ban for clothing and textiles will actually enter into force is not yet determined. The ESPR works with delegated acts in which the European Commission determines for each product category from what point the ban applies, and what exceptions are attached to it. For clothing and textiles, it has not yet been published when that delegated act will come and what entry into force date will follow from it. Until that act is adopted, destruction of unsold inventory remains permitted, with the understanding that large undertakings may already face an obligation to report on their destruction practices. As soon as the Commission publishes a delegated act for clothing and textiles, this will be updated here.
What this means in practice
For those already dealing with this question, it is practical to look at it in this order. First: which business size applies, because that determines whether the ban will apply later and whether there is already a reporting obligation in place. Next: which part of the inventory is involved, because the regulation distinguishes between actual destruction and other forms of disposal, such as donating, recycling or reselling via a secondary market — only destruction in the sense of the regulation falls under the intended ban. After that, it is useful to already keep track of what happens to unsold batches and why, even if the reporting obligation is not yet in force: that saves work once the obligation does take effect. Finally, it is worthwhile to monitor announcements by the European Commission on delegated acts for clothing and textiles, because these will show the actual entry into force date and the precise exceptions.
The basis: Articles 23 to 26
This explanation is based on Articles 23 to 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR), which together form the framework for preventing the destruction of unsold consumer goods. These articles regulate the principle of the prohibition, the scope per product group via delegated acts, the exceptions for smaller enterprises, and the reporting obligation for larger enterprises. The full text can be consulted via the official source at the bottom of this article.
Those who wish to go further with this can now check whether their own business falls under the large or small category, start keeping track of what happens to unsold stock, and follow the announcements from the European Commission on clothing and textiles to be informed in time of the actual entry into force date.
What this is based on
The regulation itself is available on EUR-Lex. We provide references for each statement; you do not need to take our word for it.
What you must do concretely
The ESPR contains rules that restrict the destruction of unsold consumer goods. For clothing and textiles, this is one of the parts of the regulation that stands separately from the digital product passport, but comes from the same law and affects the same companies. Articles 23 to 26 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 (ESPR) govern this. In short: destruction of unsold clothing is subject to rules, and for certain companies there is an obligation to publicly disclose how many unsold products are discarded and why.
What is expected of you
Disclosure of destroyed unsold products
Companies falling under the regulation have an obligation to publish information about the quantity of unsold consumer products they destroy, including the reasons for doing so. For a clothing company with ten to one hundred employees, this means that the administration surrounding returns, surpluses and written-off inventory is no longer an internal matter that only counts for accounting purposes. What is destroyed, in what quantity and why, must be demonstrable. This requires a registration system that currently does not exist in this form at many companies.
Possible prohibition on destruction for certain product groups
The regulation provides the basis for establishing a direct ban on destruction of unsold products for specific product groups. Whether and when this is concretely implemented for clothing and textiles is determined by an implementing act that is established per product group. For a company, this means that destruction of unsold clothing is not yet directly prohibited, but the legal basis already exists to regulate that per category. This is a different situation than with the product passport, where there is still waiting for a delegated act with a timeline; here it is about a structure that is already in the basic regulation and is being further developed per product group.
Exemptions and thresholds by company size
The obligations regarding disclosure do not automatically apply to every company. The regulation provides for exemptions, including those linked to company size. For a clothing company of this size, it is therefore relevant to determine whether your own business falls below the threshold set out in the regulation, or whether the reporting obligation applies. This distinction does not work automatically in practice; it requires your own assessment based on the text of the regulation.
Where things go wrong in practice
A first situation that often occurs: surpluses and returns that are disposed of via an external party, without the company itself maintaining visibility over what happens to those goods. If disposal actually amounts to destruction, the information about it disappears from the company's view, while the obligation to disclose lies with the company itself and not with the external party.
A second situation: seasonal collections that are written off and destroyed in bulk at the end of the season, without the reason being recorded for each batch. Without registration of the reason — quality issue, overproduction, return damage — the substantiation needed to report will be missing later.
A third situation: companies that assume the rules only apply in the year they are introduced, and not to inventory that was already produced or purchased earlier. What must be done with existing inventory when new rules come into effect is a question that is addressed separately on the page about what I do with clothing and textiles inventory that is already in place when the rules come into effect; destruction of old inventory does not fall outside the scope simply because that inventory already existed before the rules came into effect.
A fourth situation: confusion between the product passport and the rules on destruction, as if they were two sides of the same obligation. They come from the same regulation, but the obligations are separate from each other. A company may be subject to one obligation without the other yet applying, and vice versa.
A fifth situation: companies that think a wholesale partner or importer will keep the destruction data, while the responsibility for this lies with the party designated by the regulation, and that is not automatically the one who physically destroys the goods.
What you can record
- An overview of which inventory in a financial year has been written off and destroyed, per batch, with date and number of units.
- The reason for destruction per batch: quality issue, return damage, end of life of a collection, overproduction, or another reason.
- The disposal route: which party actually carries out the destruction, and what arrangements have been made about this.
- An assessment of the company's own size against the thresholds in the regulation, with the date on which that assessment was made — thresholds and definitions may change, so a one-time assessment is not a permanent given.
- Correspondence with suppliers and logistics partners about who keeps what data on returns and surpluses.
For companies that want to check now what can practically be done before a product-group-specific rule is final, there is an overview on the page what I can already do while the rules are not yet final. And because a supervisor during an inspection will not only ask for the product passport, but also for the substantiation of disposed inventory, it is useful to know in advance what questions may arise; these are described on the page what a supervisor asks during an inspection on clothing and textiles.
This is not legal advice. This page provides general information about the regulations that this platform covers. We are not familiar with your situation. If you are in doubt about your own case, consult a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority.
Written with AI based on the sources above, checked by a human on 2026-08-22. Is something wrong? Let us know — corrections are given priority.