The EU ban on destroying unsold clothing and footwear: what importers and sellers need to know

A pallet of jackets in last season's colour, a batch of trainers with a stitching fault, a box of returns that nobody wants to repackage. Until recently, many companies sent this kind of stock to an incinerator. In the EU that is no longer allowed for everyone. Since 19 July 2026, large companies may not destroy unsold clothing, clothing accessories and footwear (Article 25(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, or ESPR).

Many sellers who import clothing or footwear from Asia are small companies, and for them the ban does not apply directly. That does not make it irrelevant. It changes how large retailers, brands and fulfilment warehouses deal with surplus stock, and it applies to medium-sized companies from 19 July 2030. This article explains who the ban covers, what counts as destruction, which exceptions apply, and what you can do to avoid ending up with stock you cannot get rid of.

1. Which products the ban covers
2. Who has to comply, and from when
3. What counts as destruction
4. When destruction is still allowed
5. The duty to disclose discarded products
6. What this means for smaller importers and sellers
7. Checklist

Which products the ban covers

The ban applies to the product groups listed in Annex VII of the ESPR. For now there are two:

The Commission can add more product groups through delegated acts, after an impact assessment (Article 25(3) and (4)).

"Unsold" is broad. It covers any consumer product that has not been sold, including surplus stock, excess inventory and deadstock, and also products a consumer has returned under the right of withdrawal (Article 2, point 37). A pair of shoes sent back after an online order is therefore still an unsold product. Only consumer products count: products mainly intended for consumers, not components or intermediate products (Article 2, point 36).

Who has to comply, and from when

The ban applies to economic operators: the manufacturer, the authorised representative, the importer, the distributor, the dealer and the fulfilment service provider (Article 2, point 46). Company size decides when it starts:

The size classes follow Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (Article 2 of the ESPR). A medium-sized company has fewer than 250 employees and a turnover of no more than 50 million euro or a balance sheet total of no more than 43 million euro. A small company has fewer than 50 employees and a turnover or balance sheet total of no more than 10 million euro. Linked companies count in full and partner companies in proportion, so a small trading company that belongs to a larger group may not be small for this purpose. A change of size class only takes effect after the thresholds have been crossed in two consecutive financial years.

There is one rule that applies to everyone. A company that is exempt may not destroy unsold products that were supplied to it in order to get around the ban (Article 25(2)). A large brand cannot pass its surplus to a small partner to have it destroyed there. Through a delegated act, the Commission can extend the ban or the disclosure duty to micro and small companies if there is sufficient evidence that they could be used to get around it (Article 25(5)). It has not done so yet.

What counts as destruction

Destruction means intentionally damaging a product or discarding it as waste. Discarding a product only so that it can be prepared for reuse, refurbished or remanufactured does not count (Article 2, point 34).

In practice that leaves several routes open for unsold clothing and footwear: selling it at a discount or through an outlet, selling it to a stock buyer, donating it, having it repaired or refurbished, or handing it to a company that prepares textiles for reuse. Shredding, incinerating or landfilling unsold items is what the ban stops.

When destruction is still allowed

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 sets out the exceptions. It applies from 19 July 2026. Destruction is allowed in these cases, provided the documentation is in order (Article 2 of that regulation):

• the product is dangerous within the meaning of the General Product Safety Regulation;
• the product does not comply with EU or national law for another reason, and destruction is required by law or is the appropriate and proportionate corrective action;
• the product infringes intellectual property rights, for example counterfeit goods, or a licence agreement forbids selling it after a certain date;
• protected or inappropriate labels, logos or designs cannot be removed, so the product cannot be prepared for reuse;
• the product is damaged, deteriorated or contaminated, including hygiene issues, and repair or refurbishment is not technically feasible or cost-effective;
• the product has a design or manufacturing defect that cannot technically be repaired;
• as a last resort, the product was offered for donation to at least three suitable social economy entities located in the EU, or on the company's website for at least eight weeks, and nobody accepted it;
• a social economy entity in the EU received the donation but found no recipient, or a waste treatment operator prepared it for reuse but found no recipient.

Each exception comes with proof. The company has to keep the documentation for five years and hand it to the authorities within 30 days of a request: a safety assessment or test report for a dangerous product, an inspection record or quality assessment records for damage, evidence of the donation offer, and so on (Article 3). It must also give the waste treatment operator a statement saying which exception applies (Article 4).

For defects, the bar is specific. The company has to show that repair is not technically feasible. A factory fault found in the EU is therefore expensive in two ways: the stock is hard to sell, and destroying it requires either an inspection record or evidence of a documented quality assessment procedure (Article 3, point (f)).

The duty to disclose discarded products

Separate from the ban, companies that discard unsold consumer products, directly or through someone acting on their behalf, have to disclose this every year, on an easily accessible page of their website or in their sustainability report with a link on the website (Article 24(1) of the ESPR). Donated products do not have to be included. This duty covers all unsold consumer products, not only clothing and footwear. The disclosure includes:

• the number and weight of discarded products per type or category;
• the reasons, and where relevant the exception that applied;
• how much went to reuse, recycling, other recovery or disposal;
• the measures taken and planned to prevent destruction.

The same size rules apply: large companies already, medium-sized companies from 19 July 2030, micro and small companies are exempt. Large companies have had to disclose since the first full financial year after the ESPR entered into force on 18 July 2024 (recital 8 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2). That implementing regulation sets a fixed format based on commodity codes. It applies from 2 March 2027 and covers each full financial year after that date, with publication within 12 months after the year ends (Articles 1 and 7 of that regulation).

What this means for smaller importers and sellers

If your company is small, the ban does not apply to you directly. Several things still change around you.

Your customers may be large. A department store or a large online retailer that buys from you is bound by the ban. It may ask for more attention to returns, unsold stock and defects in your contracts, for example a clause that stock is taken back or donated instead of destroyed.

Your warehouse may be large. A fulfilment service provider is itself an economic operator. A large fulfilment company is itself bound by the ban, so it will likely refuse to destroy stock you leave behind. Agree in advance what happens with unsold items and returns: return shipment, sale through an outlet, or donation.

You cannot be the end station. If a larger partner asks you to take over stock so that you can destroy it, that is exactly what Article 25(2) forbids.

Your size can change. Growth or a link with a larger group can make you a medium-sized company, and then the ban applies to you from 19 July 2030.

The most effective step costs nothing extra in paperwork: buy what you can sell, and stop defects at the factory. Clear specifications, a factory audit for a new supplier and an inspection before shipment based on the AQL tables prevent the batches that nobody wants. For clothing, correct labelling also matters: products with a wrong fibre composition on the label cannot be sold until they are relabelled. Our article on EU textile labelling explains what has to be on the label.

Checklist

• Check whether your products fall under Annex VII: clothing, clothing accessories, hats and footwear.
• Determine your company size under Recommendation 2003/361/EC, including linked and partner companies.
• Large company: stop destroying these products since 19 July 2026, document every exception, and publish your annual disclosure on discarded products.
• Medium-sized company: prepare for 19 July 2030.
• Small company: do not accept stock from others for destruction, and agree with your warehouse what happens with unsold items and returns.
• Reduce unsold stock at the source: realistic order quantities, clear specifications, inspections before shipment and correct labels.
• Plan routes for surplus stock: outlet, stock buyer, donation or reuse.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2024/1781 establishing a framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for sustainable products (ESPR), Article 2, points 34, 36, 37 and 46, Articles 24 and 25, Annex VII. EUR-Lex
• Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/296 setting out derogations from the prohibition of destruction of unsold consumer products, Articles 2, 3, 4 and 6. EUR-Lex
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2 on the details and format for the disclosure of information on discarded unsold consumer products, Articles 1 and 7, recitals 3 and 8. EUR-Lex
• Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. EUR-Lex
• Consulted October 2026.