Apparel brands are accelerating product innovation and supporting initiatives to promote recycling and circularity in response to an ambitious new EU strategy.

The strategy sets out actions to ensure that textile products placed on the EU market from 2030 are durable and recyclable, free from hazardous substances, and made as much as possible from recycled fibers. Also, the strategy has a provision for addressing problems of mounting waste resulting from soaring demand for fast fashion.

It calls on apparel brands to reduce the number of collections they launch each year, and it urges the clothing industry to minimise the carbon footprint of fast fashion and its impact on the environment.In response, a number of brands are backing work on the development of new cellulosic fibers made from textile waste.

Renewcell, a textile recycling company based in Sweden, has constructed a facility for producing Circulose -- a dissolving pulp which is made from cotton-rich textile waste and can be turned into new viscose fibers and filaments.

Infinited Fiber, based in Finland, is converting a disused mill into a facility for producing Infinna -- a premium textile fiber which is made using cellulose-based raw materials.Luxury fashion house Hugo Boss has entered into a partnership agreement with the textile chemicals company HeiQ for the supply of AeoniQ -- a cellulosic filament yarn which is recyclable and made using a closed-loop process.