I design clothes every day, but if I am being completely honest, there are still facts about this industry that completely baffle me.

Last week, I was pinning a hem for a client in my Jelgava studio. She asked me what happens to the pieces we do not sell. I told her the truth: we do not really have any. When you make clothes by hand in small batches, every single garment has to earn its fabric before the scissors even move. Unsold stock in a small studio is a personal financial event, so you design things people will actually keep.

We both smiled, but it brought up the news that has been making waves recently. From July 19, 2026, large fashion companies in the EU are legally prohibited from destroying their unsold clothing and shoes.

The numbers that forced this law are staggering. An estimated four to nine percent of unsold textiles in Europe are destroyed each year before anyone ever wore them. They were simply destroyed because disposing of excess stock was often cheaper than keeping it.

Small ateliers like mine are entirely exempt from this new rule, and the reason is worth sitting with. We were never the problem. The EU is essentially legislating the rest of the industry toward the logic of the small workshop. Produce closer to demand, design for durability, and treat clothing as a durable good instead of weekly content.

• The average garment is worn only 7 to 10 times before it is forgotten, discarded or replaced.
• Around 10% of clothing ordered online is never worn at all.
• Roughly 20,000 tonnes of textiles end up in Latvia's household waste every year, and meaningful textile recycling is still largely unavailable. Much of the collected material is instead burned for energy recovery.
• And if that discarded garment is made from synthetic fibres, it may remain in a landfill for at least 200 years.

Perhaps the most surprising part isn't that the EU had to ban the destruction of brand-new clothing.

Perhaps it's that we accepted it as normal for so long.