A glossary of terms

Circular fashion is a model that aims to keep clothing and materials in use for as long as possible, through design choices that allow garments to be repaired, reused, recycled, or composted at the end of their life.

Most clothing today follows a linear path: produced, worn briefly, discarded. Circular fashion is the attempt to close that loop, through repairable construction, take-back schemes, recycled or biodegradable materials, and rental or resale models. It is a system-level idea, not just a label, and the brands doing it well usually treat the full life cycle of a garment as part of the design brief rather than an afterthought.

See alsoRecycled wool, Deadstock and Responsible sourcing.

Cost per wear is the price of a garment divided by the number of times you actually wear it, a way to judge value over the life of a piece rather than at the till.

A 40€ top worn five times costs 8€ each wear. A 150€ coat worn 300 times costs 0,50€. Seen this way, a well-made piece you keep for years is often cheaper than a run of cheap ones you replace, and looking after what you own is what pushes the number down. It is the argument behind buying fewer, better things and wearing them longer.

See alsoSlow fashion and Circular fashion.

Deadstock is unsold or unused fabric that would otherwise have been discarded or stored indefinitely, repurposed by a brand to make new products.

The fashion industry produces enormous amounts of surplus fabric, and a small number of brands have built their work around using it. The benefit is that no new fabric is produced, which means lower environmental cost. The trade-off is unpredictable supply: a deadstock fabric runs out and cannot be re-ordered. Some deadstock claims are genuine. Others are a marketing label for fabric that was always going to be sold. Look for brands that name the source of the deadstock and explain why it exists.

See alsoCircular fashion, Responsible sourcing and Greenwashing.

“Designed in” records where a product was designed and developed. “Made in” records where it was manufactured.

What counts here is whether a brand is based in Europe and produces in Europe. Both have to be true before a brand is listed on European Craftsmanship.

See alsoMade in Europe, Supply chain transparency and How I work.

The ESPR, short for Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, is the EU law under which products sold in Europe will get binding design requirements, with durability first on its list.

The framework has been in force since July 2024, and clothing is in the first wave of products it will cover. The specific rules for textiles are expected from 2027 and would apply about eighteen months after that, likely as minimum durability tests per garment category plus a Digital Product Passport carrying product information. Until those rules are adopted, the honest reading is that they are coming, not that they protect you today. You will meet the acronym in almost every article about where clothing regulation is heading.

See alsoUltra-fast fashion and Traceability.

Fast fashion is a model of clothing production built around producing trend-driven garments quickly, cheaply, and in high volumes.

The fast fashion model relies on short production cycles, low-cost overseas manufacturing, synthetic materials, and aggressive markdowns to keep volume moving. The cost shows up elsewhere: in poor working conditions across the supply chain, in environmental damage from synthetic fibres and chemical processing, and in mountains of textile waste.

See alsoSlow fashion, Greenwashing and Responsible sourcing.

A flat-felled seam is a strong, self-enclosed seam where the raw edges are folded inside and held down by two parallel rows of stitching, so nothing frays.

You find it on well-made jeans, shirts and workwear, where seams take real strain. Because the edges are enclosed and the load is spread across two lines of stitching, it outlasts a single overlocked edge on hard-wearing woven cloth. A French seam does a similar job on finer, lightweight fabrics. On stretchy knits an overlocked seam is the better choice instead, because it moves with the fabric.

See alsoFusible interfacing.

Interfacing is a hidden layer that gives structure to collars, cuffs and waistbands. Fusible interfacing is bonded to the fabric with a heat-activated glue, while sewn-in interfacing is stitched in instead.

The glue is why a too-hot wash or an aggressive tumble can loosen fusible interfacing, leaving a collar or waistband that bubbles and will not press flat again. It is worth knowing so you treat structured pieces gently. Better tailoring often uses a sewn-in canvas, which has no glue line to fail.

See alsoFlat-felled seam.

GOTS stands for Global Organic Textile Standard, an independent certification that covers the full processing chain of organic textiles, from raw material harvest to the finished product.

When you see GOTS on a label, the textile contains at least 70% certified organic fibres and has met environmental and social criteria at every stage of production, including the dyeing and finishing. It is one of the few certifications that audits the whole chain rather than just the raw material, which is why it is more reliable than “organic” used on its own.

See alsoOrganic cotton, OEKO-TEX Standard 100 and Supply chain transparency.

Greenwashing is the practice of marketing a product or brand as more sustainable than it actually is.

Vague claims like “eco-friendly”, “natural”, or “conscious” are common warning signs, especially when a brand will not back them up with specific information. The opposite of greenwashing is what European Craftsmanship looks for: brands that name their factories, name their suppliers, publish certifications, and tell you what they cannot yet trace. If a brand is vague when you ask, the marketing is doing more work than the supply chain.

See alsoSupply chain transparency, Responsible sourcing and How I work.

A living wage is a wage high enough to cover the basic cost of living for a worker and their family in a specific location, including food, housing, healthcare, and a small amount of savings.

A living wage is different from a minimum wage. The minimum wage is a legal floor and is often well below what is actually needed to live. A living wage is calculated against real cost-of-living data and is meant to support a decent standard of living. European countries have varying minimum wage levels and varying gaps between minimum and living wages. Brands that publicly commit to a living wage across their supply chain are doing something most brands still do not.

See alsoResponsible sourcing, Supply chain transparency and How I work.

LWG is an international certification that audits leather tanneries for environmental performance, water use, energy use, and chemical management.

Tanning is one of the most chemically intensive parts of leather production, and the LWG certification is the closest the industry has to a serious standard. A Gold-, Silver-, or Bronze-rated LWG tannery has been audited against detailed environmental criteria, including how it treats waste water and tracks the origin of its hides. When a brand names an LWG-certified tannery on its product page, it is telling you something specific about where the leather comes from and how it was made.

See alsoVegetable tanning, Traceability and Supply chain transparency.

Made in Europe describes a product whose final assembly, the stage the industry calls Tier 1, takes place in a European country.

Every product has a supply chain made up of three tiers. Tier 1 is the final assembly: where fabric is cut and sewn, a shoe is lasted and stitched, a bag is constructed. Tier 2 covers the suppliers behind that factory: the mills that weave the cloth, the companies that produce thread, dyes, or zippers. Tier 3 goes further back: the farms where the cotton is grown, the tanneries that process the leather, the producers of the raw materials. On European Craftsmanship, “Made in Europe” refers to Tier 1. This is the requirement every brand has to meet. If a brand is transparent about where its materials come from and those materials are sourced in Europe, the brand also carries the European sourcing label. If a brand goes one step further and shows where the raw materials were grown or produced in Europe, it carries the 100% Europe label. The full breakdown is on each brand profile.

See alsoTier 1 production, Tier 2 production, Tier 3 production and How I work.

Made-to-order production is a model where a garment is only produced after a customer has placed an order, rather than being produced in advance and held as stock.

The conventional model produces clothing speculatively and then marks it down or destroys it if it does not sell. Made-to-order eliminates that waste by only producing what has already been bought. The trade-offs for the customer are longer wait times and limited returns. For the brand, it means lower cash flow risk and far less unsold stock. Several European brands work this way, often combining it with sized-to-fit or customised production.

See alsoSlow fashion, Circular fashion and Deadstock.

Microfibres are tiny fragments of fibre, often less than a millimetre long, that shed from textiles during wear and washing. When they come from synthetics such as polyester, they are a form of microplastic.

Every wash releases them, and synthetic loads shed the most. They pass through waste water into rivers and the sea. You cannot stop it entirely, but washing full loads, cooler and less often, and skipping the tumble dryer all cut how much a garment sheds. It is one more reason to favour natural fibres and to buy less.

See alsoCircular fashion and Slow fashion.

Mulesing-free wool is wool that comes from sheep that have not undergone mulesing, a painful procedure where strips of skin are cut from a lamb’s hindquarters to prevent flystrike.

Mulesing is most commonly practised on Merino sheep in Australia, where flystrike is a real welfare risk, but the procedure itself is widely considered cruel and is banned in many European countries. Wool labelled mulesing-free comes from farms that prevent flystrike through other means, such as breeding flystrike-resistant sheep or careful flock management. A brand that names mulesing-free wool on its product page is telling you something specific about animal welfare in its supply chain.

See alsoResponsible sourcing, Traceability and Recycled wool.

OEKO-TEX Standard 100 is an independent certification that tests textiles for harmful substances at every stage of production, from yarn to finished product.

When a fabric carries the OEKO-TEX Standard 100 label, it has been tested for over 350 substances known to be harmful to human health, including pesticides, heavy metals, and chemical residues from dyeing or finishing. It is one of the most widely recognised certifications in textiles, and it covers the safety of the material rather than its environmental footprint. A brand using OEKO-TEX-certified fabric is making a meaningful claim about what is and is not in the cloth.

See alsoGOTS certification, Organic cotton and Supply chain transparency.

Organic cotton is cotton grown without synthetic pesticides, herbicides, fertilisers, or genetically modified seeds, in soil managed for long-term fertility.

Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically intensive crops in the world, accounting for a small percentage of global farmland but a much larger share of pesticide use. Organic cotton avoids those chemicals, but the term itself is loosely used. The most reliable signal is GOTS certification, which audits the full processing chain. Organic cotton without independent certification is a softer claim than organic cotton with one.

See alsoGOTS certification, Responsible sourcing and Greenwashing.

Peace silk, also known as Ahimsa silk, is silk produced by allowing the silk moth to complete its life cycle and emerge from the cocoon naturally, rather than killing the moth inside.

Conventional silk production involves boiling or steaming the cocoons with the silk moth still inside, which is what allows the long, unbroken silk thread to be reeled off in one piece. Peace silk lets the moth emerge first, which means the cocoon is broken and the silk has to be spun like a shorter fibre. The resulting fabric has a slightly different texture and is more expensive. Peace silk is rare, and most brands using it will name the source.

See alsoMulesing-free wool, Responsible sourcing and Traceability.

Pilling is the small balls of tangled fibre that form on a fabric’s surface wherever it rubs: against itself, a bag strap, or other garments in the wash.

Friction makes short or loose fibres migrate to the surface, where they tangle into pills that stay anchored by a few attached fibres. That anchoring is why the right removal is a fabric shaver or comb, which cuts the pills off cleanly, and never pulling, which drags fresh fibres out of the cloth and thins the knit. Pilling matters beyond looks: it is one of the properties laboratories grade when they test how durable a garment is, and a pilled surface is a common reason a T-shirt or jumper is given up on long before any seam fails. Washing knits inside out in a mesh bag cuts the friction that causes it.

See alsoMicrofibre and Flat-felled seam.

Recycled wool is wool reclaimed from existing textiles, either from post-consumer garments or from offcuts and waste from wool production.

Producing virgin wool requires land, water, and animal welfare considerations. Recycled wool sidesteps those impacts by giving existing fibre a second life, and the technique has a long history in places like Prato in Italy, where reclaimed wool has been spun into new fabric for over a century. The trade-off is fibre length and quality: recycled wool is often blended with virgin fibre to produce a yarn that holds up. A brand using recycled wool should be able to tell you where the reclaimed fibre comes from.

See alsoMulesing-free wool, Responsible sourcing and Circular fashion.

Responsible sourcing is the practice of selecting raw materials, components, and suppliers based on environmental, social, and ethical criteria, not just price and availability.

Responsible sourcing is a broad term that can mean anything from “we picked an organic fabric” to “we audit every supplier in our chain against social and environmental standards”. The strength of a responsible sourcing claim depends on what is actually being verified, by whom, and how often. The most credible claims are backed by independent certifications, named suppliers, or published audits. Vague claims with no backing are the easiest place for greenwashing to live.

See alsoSupply chain transparency, Traceability and Greenwashing.

Slow fashion is an approach to clothing production and consumption that prioritises quality, longevity, and ethical production over speed and volume.

Slow fashion brands typically produce smaller collections, work with named factories, use better materials, and design garments meant to last for years rather than seasons. The trade-off is price: slow fashion costs more upfront because it is built differently. The argument is that fewer, better-made pieces cost less per wear than a wardrobe of disposable ones. European Craftsmanship features brands that fit the slow fashion model, though the term itself has been used loosely enough to lose meaning.

See alsoFast fashion, Made-to-order / On-demand production and Responsible sourcing.

Supply chain transparency is the practice of openly disclosing where, how, and by whom a product is made at every stage of production.

A transparent brand will name its factories, name its material suppliers, and tell you what it cannot yet trace. A vague brand will use language like “ethically made” or “responsibly sourced” without saying where, how, or by whom. Transparency is the central axis of every brand review on European Craftsmanship. If a brand cannot or will not share basic supply chain information, it is not listed.

See alsoTraceability, Greenwashing and How I work.

Tier 1 production refers to the final assembly stage of a product, where raw materials are turned into a finished item.

Tier 1 is the stage where fabric is cut and sewn, a shoe is lasted and stitched, or a bag is constructed. It is where most of the labour cost sits and where European labour protections, wages, and working conditions apply. When a brand on European Craftsmanship is described as “Made in Europe”, it is the Tier 1 stage that is happening on European soil. The other tiers may or may not.

See alsoMade in Europe, Tier 2 production and Tier 3 production.

Tier 2 production refers to the suppliers behind the Tier 1 factory: the mills, weavers, dyers, and component makers who produce the materials a brand uses.

Tier 2 is where fabric is woven and dyed, leather is finished, zippers and threads are made. A brand can manufacture in Europe at Tier 1 while sourcing its Tier 2 materials from outside Europe, and still be honest about it. The brand profiles on European Craftsmanship record what each brand has shared about its Tier 2 sources where possible. Brands that source Tier 2 within Europe carry the European sourcing label.

See alsoTier 1 production, Tier 3 production and Supply chain transparency.

Tier 3 production refers to the raw material producers at the deepest level of the supply chain: the farms, ranches, and natural resource producers where fibres, hides, and other inputs originate.

Tier 3 is the cotton field, the sheep farm, the cattle ranch behind the leather. It is the hardest part of the supply chain to trace and the part most brands stay quiet about. Brands that disclose Tier 3 sourcing within Europe carry the 100% Europe label on their profile. The label is rare, and the brands that earn it have done uncommon transparency work.

See alsoTier 1 production, Tier 2 production and Traceability.

Traceability is the ability to follow a product back through the supply chain to identify where every stage and material came from.

A fully traceable product is one where you can follow it from the finished item back to the factory, back to the mill that wove the fabric, back to the farm that grew the fibre. Most products are partially traceable at best. The brands that do this work well usually publish supplier lists, name their tanneries or mills, or show certifications that audit the chain. Traceability is what makes a sustainability or production claim verifiable rather than rhetorical.

See alsoSupply chain transparency, Tier 3 production and Responsible sourcing.

Ultra fast fashion is a model of clothing production built around producing thousands of new garments per week at extremely low prices, sold directly to consumers through high-volume online platforms.

Ultra fast fashion produces at a scale and speed the conventional fast fashion industry cannot match: thousands of new styles uploaded every day, garments priced at a few euros each, and a supply chain built on opaque sourcing, minimal worker protections, and aggressive use of synthetic materials. The environmental and human cost is significant, and the volume of clothing produced under this model has reshaped what consumers expect to pay for a garment.

See alsoFast fashion, Slow fashion and Greenwashing.

Vegan leather is any leather alternative made without animal products, ranging from plastic-based synthetics to plant-based materials like cork, mushroom mycelium, or apple peel.

“Vegan leather” covers a wide range of materials with very different environmental profiles. PU (polyurethane) is the most common and is essentially plastic. Newer plant-based alternatives like Piñatex, Mylo, and apple leather are more interesting environmentally but are still relatively rare. From the label “vegan leather” alone you cannot tell whether the material is plastic or plant-based, which is why specific material names matter more than the umbrella term.

See alsoVegetable tanning, Greenwashing and Responsible sourcing.

Vegetable tanning is a method of turning hides into leather using natural plant-based tannins, typically from oak, chestnut, or mimosa bark.

Most leather in the world is chrome-tanned, which is faster and cheaper but uses heavy metals and produces toxic by-products if not carefully managed. Vegetable tanning takes weeks instead of hours, uses no chrome, and produces a leather that develops a distinctive patina over time. It is more expensive, but it is also closer to how leather has been made for most of human history. Italy, Spain, and Portugal are home to most of Europe’s remaining vegetable tanneries.

See alsoLWG (Leather Working Group), Responsible sourcing and How I work.

Vertical integration is when a brand owns or directly controls multiple stages of its production, rather than outsourcing each stage to separate suppliers.

A vertically integrated brand might own its factory, its dye house, or even its raw material source. The benefit is control: tighter quality, full visibility into working conditions, and faster response to changes. The trade-off is cost, which is why most brands work with external suppliers instead. When you see a brand that designs, manufactures, and finishes everything in-house, vertical integration is usually what is making that possible.

See alsoTier 1 production, Supply chain transparency and How I work.

Viscose is a regenerated cellulose fibre: plant pulp, often wood or bamboo, chemically dissolved and spun back into a soft, silky filament. It sits between natural and synthetic, natural in origin, industrial in the making.

In the EU only the official fibre names may appear on a composition label, and “bamboo” is not one of them, so bamboo-derived fabric must be labelled viscose. The plant’s own properties do not survive the chemistry; what you are wearing is the viscose process, whichever plant fed it. Its siblings are made the same way with gentler or different chemistry: lyocell (closed-loop solvent, the process behind TENCEL), modal (a stronger modified viscose) and cupro. Viscose drapes beautifully and breathes well, but it is weaker when wet, so it wants gentle washing, and cheaper viscose can shed and crease. If a label says viscose while the marketing says bamboo, you have learned something about both the fabric and the brand.

See alsoGreenwashing and Microfibre.