For policymakers, the expansion of second-hand fashion raises both opportunities to accelerate sustainability goals and challenges in designing effective frameworks. Unlike brands, retailers or investors, governments operate at the system level, where their decisions can shape entire markets. One key opportunity lies in harmonising standards for textile collection, labelling and trade. At present, data on textile flows remains fragmented, with reports in recent years estimating that less than 1% of textiles globally are recycled into new fibres,77 potentially because sorting and classification systems differ across countries. Establishing common definitions for reuse and recycling, along with interoperable labelling requirements, could help create efficiency and transparency across borders.
International trade is another area of growing policy relevance. Large volumes of second-hand clothing exported from Europe end up in markets such as Cameroon, Pakistan and Türkiye,78 where importers often face surpluses of low-quality garments. The UN Environment Programme’s Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 highlights that rising levels of waste, closely linked to economic growth and especially pronounced in rapidly developing economies, are often managed through open dumping and burning, placing disproportionate environmental and financial pressures on countries with limited waste management capacity.79 Thoughtful regulation of export flows, ensuring that second-hand trade supports genuine reuse rather than dumping, will be crucial for maintaining the legitimacy of circular fashion on a global scale.
There is also space for policymakers to support innovation through targeted incentives. Tax relief for repair services, subsidies for textile recycling facilities, or public investment in digital product passport systems could reduce barriers to adoption. France’s decision to introduce a repair bonus in 2023, covering part of the cost of clothing and footwear repairs, is one example of how financial incentives can boost consumer uptake.80 Similar schemes could be replicated or scaled to stimulate demand and lower the price gap between repairing and replacing garments.
Finally, governments can play a decisive role in ensuring data transparency and accountability. By mandating disclosure of key textile metrics such as volumes of waste generated and rates of reuse or recycling, policymakers can create the evidence base needed to track progress and compare performance across brands and countries. The European Environment Agency (EEA) stresses that harmonised definitions and mandatory reporting on the management of used and waste textiles are essential to set meaningful circularity targets and monitor whether policies are working in practice. Embedding such requirements would not only give regulators the tools to oversee progress but also help stakeholders across the value chain evaluate whether the rapid growth of second-hand fashion is delivering genuine environmental gains.81
Taken together, the policy agenda is not simply about promoting resale, but about embedding it within a broader circular economy framework. By harmonising standards, addressing global equity concerns, incentivising innovation and ensuring transparency, policymakers can help transform second-hand fashion from a fast-growing market trend into a structural pillar of sustainable industry.
