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Dirk Vantyghem when speaking at the iTechStyle Summit on Tuesday 21 May. The Euratex CEO drew attention to the importance of the European elections: ‘80% of the legislation that affects us is decided in Brussels’. Green Deal vs Industrial Deal, Migration, Defence Strategies, and the Single Market are the main topics on the agenda.
The representative emphasised the Confederation’s demands, namely the adoption of an intelligent and realistic strategy for the textile and clothing sector, a free trade policy and a greater focus on the demand side.
‘The European elections will dictate a new framework for the next five years,’ he insisted, recalling that this is a challenging period in which companies have to manage their own waste and produce quality products.
Dirk Vantyghem pointed out the four essential conditions for the sustainability strategy in textiles to work: adopting coherent, measurable and predictable legislation; ensuring that the European Union makes this strategy global and that global standards are defined to ensure fair competition.
The EU must also stimulate consumer demand for more sustainable products and not just pressure companies, ‘we must encourage the demand side to be willing to pay the extra cost for sustainable production’, he said. Finally, support the transition of industries with, for example, more affordable energy prices.