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The environmental footprint of a garment

The EU method for scoring a garment is approved and voluntary, France displays an environmental cost, and the passport is expected to carry a footprint class.

Regulation (EU) 2024/1781, Annex I; French decree and order of September 2025 on the environmental cost of textile products

PEFCR for apparel and footwear approved June 2025. French environmental cost display since October 2025, voluntary. A passport footprint class follows the delegated act, expected in 2027.

Three things share one method. The Product Environmental Footprint category rules for apparel and footwear, approved by the Commission in June 2025, say how a garment's impacts are calculated and are voluntary. France has had an official environmental cost display for clothing since October 2025, calculated with the state's Ecobalyse tool, also voluntary. The textile passport is expected to carry a footprint class once the delegated act fixes the method.

The EU method (PEFCR)

  • A life cycle assessment across sixteen impact categories, from climate change and water use to particulate matter and resource use, weighted into one score.
  • The result is expressed per use rather than per garment, so a garment worn longer scores better than an identical one worn less.
  • The category rules treat the origin of the materials in the bill of materials as data to collect from the supply chain rather than to assume; without it the calculation falls back to defaults.
  • Approved and voluntary: nothing requires a brand to publish a footprint score today, but it is the method a specific environmental claim can rest on.

The French environmental cost

  • A decree and an order of September 2025 set the method and the display, in force since October 2025. The display is regulated but voluntary for brands.
  • The method is Ecobalyse, run by the state, with a result in points per garment and per 100 grams, shown on the product page and in store.
  • Trims count: the garment mass is the total weight, and buttons, zips and elastics are entered by type and quantity. Missing data is replaced by penalising defaults.
  • The method adds a durability coefficient to the life cycle result and a component for microfibre shedding; France describes it as the forerunner of the EU score.
  • Since October 2026, under the decree as published, anyone may calculate and publish the environmental cost of a garment reference without the brand's consent; before that date a third party needed that consent, or a figure the brand had published itself. A brand that publishes its own figure sets the one others must use.

The study behind the textile act (JRC, May 2026) proposes a footprint class as a public passport field, with the absolute value and the calculation inputs restricted. Which method the act names, and from when, is for the act to decide. A brand that can already produce a score with a named method is ready for either outcome.

Where brands get caught

  • Quoting a footprint without the method behind it. Under the consumer rules a comparison needs a defined reference and a stated method.
  • Missing fibre origin. It is the biggest driver of both scores, and most suppliers do not volunteer it.
  • Leaving trims out of the weight. The French method counts them, and a weight that differs from the one declared elsewhere invites questions.

Where the record pays back

  • One record with composition, weights, origin and durability feeds the French display, a method-based claim and the passport class alike.
  • Durability improves every version of the score, so a design decision pays back three times.

One record

What the Seamdex record already carries

  • Fibre composition per layer with origin by tier, the garment weight, trims by type, material and quantity, and the care inputs the methods ask for.
  • A footprint calculated through Ecobalyse for products sold in France, stored on the product with its method and shown on the passport.
  • A public page per garment where the method and the result live, so a claim can point to it.

Built around the data set the Commission's researchers have proposed, updated as the delegated act lands. Not a compliance claim: no one can make one before the act exists.

FAQ

Questions on this rule

No. The French display is regulated but voluntary for brands. What it gives a brand that wants to make a claim is an official method to make it with, and a public figure that can be compared. Since October 2026, under the decree as published, others may publish a figure for your garments, so a brand without its own leaves that number to them.

Not today. The category rules are approved and voluntary. A footprint class is proposed for the passport; whether and how it becomes mandatory is for the delegated act, expected in 2027.

They share the life cycle core. France adds a durability coefficient and its own weighting, so the figures differ even on the same garment. Both reward the same things: durable construction, known fibre origin, lighter-impact materials.

Regulatory dates last reviewed October 2026. Future dates are expectations, not law. This guide describes the rules; it is not legal advice.

Structure the data before the rules land.

One garment record, published the same day, at one price.

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