Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

environment.ec.europa.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–470 of 894 posts

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#461

Post by suggala »

motbus3 wrote: post #204

I'm reading the comments and I get confused. I kinda think this is a good idea and it is not like the government is purely making it a 3rd party problem only. This might make production more complicated for a while, but nowadays it is much easier to predict demand and produce quicker in smaller batches. In the 90s you might need change a whole factory setting for every single piece of fabric but nowadays it is that m…

This is a big blow to High-end Luxury Branded Companies, Many of these companies willfully destroy unsold inventory to not devalue their Brand. Manufacturing costs are just 1/20th of the marketed price.

Most probably, the returned items just sit in the warehouse of the companies than selling to ordinary customers. Golden times for warehouse companies.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#462

Post by Zigurd »

xp84 wrote: post #125
lores wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This kind of reply is so cliché it's tiresome. "Someone makes small step to avoid waste and environmental damage" -> "if it's not perfect it's no good at all, let the free market sort it out at t=infinity". Guess what, the free market doesn't give a shit as long as the executives make their millions.

Where even are all the people wandering around naked for lack of clothes? There's so much donated clothing already out there. And the homeless here mainly 'need clothes' because they have no way to wash their clothes. It'd be less wasteful to get them access to laundry facilities. And the developing world always gets the "PATRIOTS - Super Bowl LX Champions" gear and a ton of other cast-offs - I doubt they need more.…

If I had that kind of hustle, I'd be finding out who exports the losing teams T-shirts and reimport them. I'm sure some Pats fans would pay $50 a shirt to live in an alternative reality.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#463

Post by groundzeros2015 »

throwaw12 wrote: post #254
ericmcer wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would not be a good idea because the goal of companies are not to get you to consume only what you need, they want you to consume more. You should check out "Ascension" (it is on Paramount unfortunately). It gives a pretty close up look at China and factory culture and how their entire country is mobilized to push maximum consumption. The corporation's don't view Americans high per-capita consumption as a problem…

> It would not be a good idea because the goal of companies are not to get you to consume only what you need, they want you to consume more. It's good exactly because of this. Every company is pushing us to consume more, and Wall Street is at the top of this, growth at all costs (including human lives, mental health, just anything) Only way to save Earth is to stop the Wall Street greed machine. We should be making s…

> Only way to save Earth is to stop the Wall Street greed machine.

Wall Street here is a boogie man.

Using resources to make life better is actually good. And we keep getting better at it, and doing so in more sustainable and efficient ways.

And if it’s not - you fundamentally believe technology is not beneficial. Then all of industrial society needs to be reversed.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#464

Post by Loughla »

jen20 wrote: post #460
tjwebbnorfolk wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. They will be able to sell them for pennies on the dollar so that some fraction of them can be resold for cheap in Africa or somewhere else poor. Those companies can then dispose of them however they wish. The reseller makes a small profit, and the original moanufacturer gets the PR of "clothing the poor" or whatever. And, as usual, EU regulations achieve absolutely nothing -…

Both of those situations sound like a net win.

Isn't it a thing that poor countries can't get their own textile and clothing companies going because of donations or cheap used clothes? I'm fairly certain that's a thing.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#465

Post by groundzeros2015 »

aniviacat wrote: post #203
moralestapia wrote: post #178

Great news! I live in America and I would like it to continue to be the leading economic zone. The more Europe (and others) lag behind, the better my life will be :).

As a European, it seems absurd to me one would celebrate the short term benefits of being one of the by far most destructive (per capita) countries on earth regarding global climate (challenged only by a few oil states). Is a temporary advantage worth destroying the planet forever?

I just think we have vastly different understandings about what actually helps the environment and what’s even happening to the environment.

This particular law is probably going to cause more resource waste not less. Holding inventory or distributing it costs money.

Btw have you taken up this topic with china, India, or Africa?

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#466

Post by mgilroy »

I think it's a reasonable idea. It's mostly going to affect the "luxury" brands who attempt to limit price reductions.

Perhaps it might encourage producers to do smaller runs to confirm interest before massively increasing volumes. The real issue is to get the lowest price you need to hit minimum volumes. It's cheaper currently to burn unused stock than store it for next year. This may change that model. If it doesn't work it can always be changed.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#467

Post by yodsanklai »

motbus3 wrote: post #204

I'm reading the comments and I get confused. I kinda think this is a good idea and it is not like the government is purely making it a 3rd party problem only. This might make production more complicated for a while, but nowadays it is much easier to predict demand and produce quicker in smaller batches. In the 90s you might need change a whole factory setting for every single piece of fabric but nowadays it is that m…

I'm guessing EU bashing

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#468

Post by SauntSolaire »

331c8c71 wrote: post #403
philipallstar wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just boring for consumers. Business provides value to customers. Customers dictate what gets produced. And there are customers (e.g. me) who do keep things for a longer amount of time - there's a reason why generally men's clothing makes up around 20% of the total clothing shopping floor space in any given city.

> Customers dictate what gets produced. Sure? It seems to me that the companies dictate what I consume. Many many times I wanted to buy exactly the same clothes item or shoes to replace an old one (because I know exactly how it'd fit and wear) only to discover it has been discontinued with no obvious "heir". Sometimes only 6 months later... Whats the percentage of people chasing "fashion", especially after mid 30s?

More accurate to say that it's the other customers that dictate what you consume, by out voting you with their wallet.

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#469

Post by wahnfrieden »

em-bee wrote: post #439
wahnfrieden wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Push how? Through regulation? Unclear how else you’d achieve this if it is still worse economically. Buyers don’t want to pay more either.

through demand at first. clothes designers are hopefully going to demand smaller batches to avoid getting punished for overproducing. but if that doesn't work, then yes, maybe regulation is necessary. tricky though because manufacturing is often outside of the EU. overproduction needs to be made more uneconomical than smaller batches. if that is really the issue. i really doubt that large batches of production are ac…

How much longer do you wait to see if demand solves it? It hasn't. The problem has gotten worse

Re: EU bans the destruction of unsold apparel, clothing, accessories and footwear

#470

Post by nullocator »

cyclotron3k wrote: post #398
miki123211 wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's how this law is actually going to work. Instead of destroying the unsold clothes in Europe, manufacturers are going to sell them to "resale" companies in countries with little respect for the rule of law, mostly in Africa or Asia. Those companies will then destroy those clothes, reporting them as sold to consumers. So instead of destroying those clothes in Europe, we'll just add an unnecessary shipping step to…

This is a fantasy. No one is going to pay you to take your waste away and dispose of it. You would have to pay them. So now there's a strong financial incentive to a) not over produce, b) sell the clothes - even if it means selling them for next to nothing.

China for decades paid the U.S. and Europe for their "recycling", this practice was only banned in recent years. Clothes seem more valuable than plastics waste.
Post reply on HN