New year optimism fails to significantly shift industry sentiment, as the textile & apparel industry braces for another difficult year ahead.

While appearing more optimistic, the sports & outdoorwear space is no exception to a stagnated mood: the sector’s sentiment is lingering only 3% up on the second half of 2024, at +0.70.

Sustainability demands add to market turmoil
As well as tough economic and retail conditions, sustainability requirements are increasingly encroaching on footwear and apparel manufacturers.

This is particularly true of the large and significant European market, which saw the EU’s Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) come into force in July, affecting the sale of goods in much of the region (+0.66).

Geared to support the EU’s circularity ambitions, the ESPR contains a number of measures geared to improve product durability, energy consumption and recycled content across a vast number of consumer products, including textiles & apparel.

The ESPR also endeavours to bolster reuse and repair rates, implementing supplementary measures such as Digital Product Passports (DPP). Such has seen the rise of traceability features, such as QR labelling, which enables product lifecycle and composition data vital for optimal end-of-life management to be easily and readily accessed.

Global