YORK – The ninth edition of the Textile Standards & Legislation guidebook has now been published by MCL News & Media – the publisher of Ecotextile News.

Readers can now download an abbreviated, sample version of the 128-page guidebook HERE, which gives top-level snapshots of the most important voluntary and obligatory environmental standards, tools, and other labels in our industry – all in one place. 

In total, the guidebook covers 65 environmental and social standards – along with 33 pages of new and proposed regulations in Europe and the USA that will likely have significant impacts on textile sourcing if they make it on to the statute book – as some already have.

The idea behind this printed guidebook when it was first released in 2009 was to provide readers with an easy reference guide to the new and seemingly ever-growing number of environmental labels. It's even more relevant this year as the updated and revised booklet at 128 pages is nearly 25% larger than our 2023 edition.

The guidebook snapshots found in the following pages are also updated in more depth and in real time on our website at www.textilestandards.com as standards and regulatory passages change over time.

The website also links online readers to key supporting documentation for each standard – you can find web links at the bottom of each page in this booklet. You can subscribe to the website HERE for not much at all.

This time, we also include some new standards and provide less coverage for ones that have become less relevant to our industry or have been superseded over time – but are still available to view on the Textile Standards website. These include additions such as the ‘Sustainable Regenerated Cellulosics’ standard from Control Union which found backing from C&A in anticipation of the development of more ‘Next Gen’ man-made cellulosics such as lyocell and viscose and tools that look at biodiversity, regen agriculture, recycled content etc.  

But it’s the addition of over 30 different pieces of new and proposed legislation that makes this booklet so remarkable. It was thanks to a massive effort from the MCL News editorial team who spent 100s of hours combing through legal documents to then edit, condense, and then write up the key points in such an easy-to-read digest.

Thanks also go to our valued long-time partners on this project: Messe Frankfurt, the European Outdoor Group and Cascale, along with other supporters of this Guide, without who’s support this unique reference tool would not exist!

Take a look at the preview here for more details on the guidebook, some of the snapshots and some of its supporters.