Matchloop

Current situation in fashion industry

The fashion industry makes far more than it sells. Between 80 and 150 billion garments are produced every year, and 8 to 60 billion of them are never sold. The range is so wide because 89% of brands don't disclose how much they produce. Apparel alone generated about 944 million tonnes of CO₂e in 2023, and emissions are rising.

In Europe, a share of that unsold stock is simply destroyed. Between 4% and 9% of all textile products on the EU market are destroyed before anyone wears them: roughly 264,000 to 594,000 tonnes a year, causing up to 5.6 million tonnes of CO₂e. Meanwhile, only about 1% of discarded textiles are recycled into new products.

Since July 2026, large EU fashion brands may not destroy unsold clothing or footwear, and recycling counts as destruction. It's allowed only in ten specific cases, backed by evidence. From 2027, brands must report publicly what they discarded and why.

The problem

At the end of every season, a stock manager decides what happens to each batch of leftover stock. Today that decision is made by habit, often "send it to the recycler," with no view of the legal risk, the environmental cost, or which partners could actually take it. The evidence the law now demands is scattered or missing.

The solution

MatchLoop analyses unsold stock and recommends the most sustainable legal route for each batch: recycling, upcycling or disposal with partners like Bettter. When destruction is lawful, it picks the legal reason and the least harmful treatment, and generates the compliance record.