Share This Article
California passed the Responsible Textile Act in 2024. Here’s how this bill will change your closet in 2026.
If your wardrobe has a life story, then think of the Responsible Textile Act as the kind of legislation that monitors its story- from farm to closet to landfill. But this act isn’t dry policy language that’s content with the status quo of a garment’s life ending in a landfill. It aims to create a circular loop where clothes are repaired, recycled, and made into something new. It’s an invitation: to rethink the way we make, wear, and even un-wear the clothes that live in our closets.
Officially known as the Responsible Textile Recovery Act of 2024 (SB 707), this visionary law is the first of its kind in the United States. Signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, this isn’t just another recycling statute; it’s a cultural pivot away from the throw-away mentality of fast fashion and toward a future where garments are cherished, mended, remade, and loved long after their trend cycle ends.
Two years later, the Responsible Textile Act is still reshaping the fashion industry and how we see the end of life of clothing. So, what can we learn from it to reduce our own waste?
More Than Recycling, It’s Responsibility
At its heart, the Act embraces Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), a system embracing the ethos “If you make it, you help manage it, from the first stitch to the final rest.” Under the law, apparel makers, brands, and textile sellers in California are required to join or create a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) that will:
- Create statewide systems to collect old T-shirts, denim, towels, and scarves.
- Support repair and reuse programs to extend the life of garments.
- Fund recycling systems that keep fibers in circulation rather than being tossed into landfills.
- Help educate and uplift communities around sustainable wardrobe practices.
The fashion and apparel industry is responsible for a startling share of environmental strain, from carbon emissions to chemical leaching in landfills. According to some reports, California alone saw over a billion pounds of textile waste heading for landfills annually. And a vast majority of materials could be reused or recycled.
By weaving accountability into the industry’s fabric, this law encourages brands to think differently about how they design a garment. Durable materials. Repair-friendly construction. Choices that respect soil, water, and life itself. And, instead of coming home with yet another disposable purchase, consumers are also nudged to rethink how we shop; to reduce, recycle, and prevent landfill waste.
A Turning Point for Fashion (and the Planet)
This legislation has moved from aspiration to real action. On July 17, 2025, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) hosted a pivotal workshop at the California Environmental Protection Agency headquarters in Sacramento to launch the rulemaking process that will define how the law unfolds. Performance targets, collection systems, and reuse strategies were laid out, inviting stakeholder voices into a conversation that could reshape how every garment in America is managed after its first life.
Fast forward to January 2026, and CalRecycle is reviewing multiple proposals from organizations vying to become the statewide PRO, the entity responsible for building the infrastructure that keeps textiles circulating instead of piling up in landfills. Among them:
– The Circular Textile Alliance: a Sacramento-based non-profit formed to help companies safely and simply follow California’s textile recycling programs.
– Landbell USA: A company that helps brands, retailers, and producers navigate the new requirements for managing textile waste.
– Textile Renewal Alliance: An organization that helps textile producers comply with the EPR law with clarity and confidence.
The PRO will be tasked with creating accessible drop-off points throughout California, developing infrastructure to sort, repair, and recycle textile materials, and tracking progress toward ambitious performance goals. It’s a blueprint that could ripple well beyond state lines.
What This Means for You
While the Act applies first in California, its ripple effect could be transformative. It sets a precedent for how the U.S. might reimagine textile waste policy, much like Europe’s emerging extended producer responsibility directives have already begun reshaping overseas markets.
Maybe you’ve already started repairing holes in wool sweaters, collecting buttons, or learning to fix your hems. The Responsible Textile Act makes those instincts into a collective movement. It’s a legislative sigh of relief for people who want to align their values with their closets and a step towards a fashion industry whose true output isn’t billions of pounds of textile waste.
At its core, the Responsible Textile Recovery Act requires textile producers, from apparel and linens to handbags and household fabrics, to finance and manage systems for collection, reuse, repair, recycling, and consumer engagement. That means clothing companies will no longer be able to disengage once a garment leaves the store shelf; they now share responsibility for its afterlife.
Why This Matters
Textiles are among the fastest-growing waste streams in the U.S., representing not only environmental strain but also social and economic opportunity. SB 707 reframes this reality, not by placing the burden on individual consumers alone, but by redesigning the system itself.
SB 707 also reflects an emerging tension in the global textile conversation as nations and regions (like the EU) explore complementary or competing approaches. California’s choices today could influence how extended producer responsibility is understood worldwide in the years to come.
This is sustainability that doesn’t ask us as consumers to be perfect; it asks systems to evolve.
