Sustainable fashion refers to clothing produced with consideration for the human and environmental impacts of production, aiming to support a more ethical supply chain. This concept also includes secondhand items, which help extend the life of garments and raise funds for causes that promote sustainability.

Today, consumers are more conscious about their clothing purchases. Shoppers tend to be choosier, prioritizing quality over quantity. Additionally, a significant percentage of customers sell their clothes as secondhand items, contributing to the recycling process.

These garments are designed to be disposable, so fast fashion encourages unnecessary over-consumption. This leads to excessive waste – much of which cannot be recycled. In factories, worldwide between 25 and 40% of all fabric used is either leftover or becomes waste. Moreover, as reuse and recycling capacities in Europe are limited, a large share of discarded and donated clothing and other textile products are exported to Africa and Asia, where they often end up in landfills and informal waste streams. According to a report from the European Environment Agency, the amount of used textiles exported from the EU has tripled over the past two decades. The EU aims to stop overproduction and overconsumption of clothing. New measures will also discourage the destruction of unsold or returned textiles and restrict the export of textile waste.