The EU rules behind the textile passport, explained.
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation is expected to make a Digital Product Passport mandatory for textiles. Here is what it says, where the rules stand today, and what is still moving.
ESPR, in plain language
The Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation entered into force in July 2024. It is the legal backbone of the Digital Product Passport, but it is a framework: the textile-specific requirements are set separately, in a delegated act.
That delegated act is expected in 2027. It will fix which data fields a textile passport must carry, for which products, and from when. It applies 18 months after it enters into force, which is why compliance is realistically from 2028 to 2029.
Until the delegated act is adopted, nobody can sell you compliance. What you can do is structure the data every version of the rules will ask for: composition, weights, origin, substances and care.
What a passport is expected to containThe timeline
Where the rules stand
Every milestone below, with its status. Dates for future milestones are expectations, not law.
ESPR in forceDone
Reg. (EU) 2024/1781The EU Ecodesign Regulation entered into force, the legal basis for Digital Product Passports.
Separate textile collectionDone
Waste Framework DirectiveEU countries collect textile waste separately, the first step of the wider producer responsibility framework.
First ESPR working planDone
ESPR Working Plan 2025-2030The Commission adopted its first ESPR working plan, scheduling which product groups get passport requirements first.
Textile EPR adoptedDone
Directive (EU) 2025/1892The revised Waste Framework Directive entered into force, making producer responsibility for textiles mandatory in every EU country.
Textile labelling revisionUpcoming
Reg. (EU) 1007/2011 reviewThe Commission is revising the Textile Labelling Regulation; digital labelling is among the options. Until adopted, the physical label stays mandatory.
Textile delegated actExpected
The textile-specific passport requirements are adopted at EU level. Only then do the exact mandatory fields become law.
National textile EPR schemesUpcoming
Directive (EU) 2025/1892Every EU country must have a producer responsibility scheme running, with fees expected to depend on garment weight and recyclability.
DPP compliance expectedExpected
Passports realistically become mandatory for textiles placed on the EU market, 18 months after the delegated act enters into force.
Last reviewed September 2026. Dates are expectations, not legal advice.
Before the passport
Textile EPR arrives first
While passport compliance is realistically from 2028 to 2029, Extended Producer Responsibility is already adopted law: the revised Waste Framework Directive is in force. Every EU country must have a national textile EPR scheme running by April 2028, and separate textile collection already applies.
EPR fees are expected to be eco-modulated: what a brand pays depends on garment weight and recyclability. That is exactly the data the Seamdex calculation engine produces for every product, and the EPR export turns it into the report your scheme will ask for.
See what Seamdex calculatesThe label
Physical care labels are not going away yet
The Commission is revising the Textile Labelling Regulation, and digital labelling is among the options on the table. Until a revision is adopted, the physical label stays mandatory.
Seamdex prints the care label from the same record as the passport, so a digital option, when it comes, is a setting rather than a project.
Compliance questions
Be ready before it is required.
Start structuring your product data now. Monthly or yearly billing, by card or invoice.