Three Key Perspectives
Last month’s TEXAD meetup in Prato provided valuable insights into sustainable textile production, circular economy initiatives, and best industrial practices in one of Europe’s most renowned textile districts.
At the end of January 2025, the second in-person TEXAD meeting took place, hosted by the Municipality of Prato.
By now, all project partners have conducted local SWOT analyses, evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in their respective regions. Despite regional differences, three key aspects emerged as universally important.
- Citizen awareness. Crucial for reducing textile waste at the consumer level.
- Training and education. Essential across the entire supply chain, from design to sorting and upcycling.
- Legislation and subsidies. Some challenges require action at a higher political level, to support alliances and drive innovation.
The meeting also chose three Good Practices that will be integrated into the TEXAD project:
- The Prato Textile Hub – Focused on funding and infrastructure.
- GIDA Public-Private Partnership – A model for collaboration.
- Prato Circular City – Advancing circular economy principles.
Looking Ahead
So far, TEXAD has held two physical meet-ups with study visits, the first in Borås, Sweden (September 2024) and the second in Prato, Italy.
Four more meet-ups are planned during the remainder of the project.
- Mataró, Spain
- Enschede, The Netherlands
- Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
- Santo Tirso, Portugal (with support from the Podkarpackie region, Poland).
About TEXAD
TEXAD is committed to improving municipal policies for a circular textile economy. The project focuses on waste prevention, proper sorting, collection, and valorisation in line with the EU Waste Framework Directive. TEXAD is an Interreg Europe project, co-funded by the European Union.
All TEXAD partners have committed to first improving their own municipal policies on textile waste management. At the same time, the good practices identified in the project will be shared, with the hope that other European municipalities can benefit, adapting and strengthening their own policies for the future.