On Monday, the European Commission did something that many governments talk about but rarely dare to implement: it drew a moral line through the fashion industry’s culture of excess. Under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), the European Union has banned medium and large companies from destroying unsold clothing, footwear and related accessories – a practice that for years has quietly fed landfills, belched carbon into the atmosphere and insulted common sense. From July 19, 2026, large companies in the EU will no longer be allowed to incinerate or discard unsold apparel. By 2030, medium-sized firms will follow. Companies will also be required to disclose how much unsold stock they discard, with standardised reporting beginning in 2027 for large firms. Exceptions will exist only for safety concerns or damaged products and will be subject to oversight. In other words, Europe has decided that waste disguised as business strategy is no longer acceptable.
India must pay attention – and not casually, but urgently. Because if Europe can impose sustainability discipline on its corporations, what exactly prevents India from doing the same? We are one of the world’s largest textile producers. Our cotton fields, spinning mills, dyeing units and garment factories employ millions. Our retail market is expanding at breakneck speed. Fast fashion floods our cities. Yet we have no specific national law banning the destruction of unsold clothing. We allow overproduction to masquerade as ambition and waste to masquerade as efficiency.
Let us be honest about what destruction of unsold apparel really means. Every garment represents water extracted from rivers, electricity consumed in factories, labour stitched into seams and fuel burned across supply chains. When a company burns unsold stock to “protect brand value,” it is not just destroying fabric – it is incinerating natural resources and human effort. In a country where farmers struggle with water scarcity and cities choke on pollution, how can we justify this?
Some will argue that Europe’s model is suited to its regulatory culture and may not translate easily to India. That argument collapses under scrutiny. India has historically understood sustainability far better than modern consumer culture admits. We are the civilisation that reused, repaired and repurposed long before recycling became fashionable. The Indian household tradition of turning old saris into quilts was not poverty; it was prudence. We speak proudly of environmental stewardship rooted in dharmic responsibility. Yet our contemporary retail ecosystem mirrors the worst excesses of disposable capitalism. This contradiction cannot continue.
The genius of the European approach lies not only in the ban itself but in the transparency requirement. Companies will have to disclose data on unsold stock they discard. Transparency transforms waste from a hidden operational detail into a public accountability metric. When numbers are visible, excuses evaporate. In India, while sustainability reporting is evolving, there is no mandatory disclosure regime specific to destruction of unsold apparel. Imagine the public reaction if consumers knew precisely how many tonnes of new clothing were burned each year by major brands operating in India. Market behaviour would change overnight.
Critics will predict doom: increased compliance costs, reduced competitiveness, regulatory overreach. But this fear ignores the opportunity embedded in reform. By prohibiting destruction of unsold goods, businesses are compelled to improve demand forecasting, streamline supply chains and reduce overproduction. They are incentivised to build resale platforms, strengthen donation networks and invest in textile recycling. India already possesses a vast informal economy of reuse – street markets, thrift resellers, fabric recyclers. Formalising and strengthening this ecosystem through legislation could create jobs, stimulate innovation and position India as a leader in circular fashion rather than a follower in fast fashion waste.
There is also a moral dimension that cannot be ignored. In a nation where economic disparities persist, the idea of burning new clothes to preserve artificial scarcity is ethically troubling. This is not about flooding markets with unsafe goods; Europe’s framework wisely allows exceptions for damaged or hazardous products under regulatory oversight. It is about preventing deliberate destruction of usable products for the sake of maintaining price structures. If safe, unsold apparel can be redirected through structured donation, recycling or secondary markets, then destruction becomes a choice – and a poor one.
Environmentally, the stakes are even higher. India faces intensifying heatwaves, erratic monsoons and coastal vulnerabilities. The textile industry is water-intensive and carbon-heavy. Allowing unsold inventory to be burned compounds emissions unnecessarily. If Europe has linked product durability and sustainability to market access, India must link industrial ambition to ecological responsibility. Growth that expands GDP while degrading groundwater and air quality is not development; it is deferred crisis.
The path forward is neither radical nor impractical. India can legislate a phased ban – large companies first, medium-sized firms later. It can mandate public disclosure of unsold stock destruction. It can create incentives for recycling and resale initiatives. It can integrate sustainability benchmarks into existing environmental and corporate governance frameworks. None of this undermines business; it refines it. Regulation, when intelligently designed, does not suffocate enterprise – it disciplines excess and rewards efficiency.
Europe has acted not because it is anti-business, but because it understands that unchecked waste is incompatible with long-term prosperity. India aspires to global leadership. Leadership requires courage – the courage to regulate where necessary, to demand transparency and to align economic growth with environmental limits. We cannot preach sustainability at international forums while tolerating silent incineration of resources at home.
The ban under the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation is more than a policy adjustment; it is a statement of principle: that products must be designed, produced and disposed of responsibly. India should not wait to be shamed into similar action. We should lead with conviction rooted in our own cultural ethos and environmental realities.
The choice before us is stark. We can continue to treat waste as collateral damage of growth, or we can redefine growth itself. If Europe can stitch sustainability into its legal fabric, India – with its ancient respect for nature and its modern economic ambitions – can do no less. The time has come to stop burning our future in the name of fashion and start legislating responsibility into the marketplace.
