ESPR Article 25: unsold goods you are no longer allowed to destroy
From 19 July 2026 large companies in the EU may no longer destroy unsold apparel and footwear, and from February 2027 what was destroyed becomes public. We buy that stock as a principal under a mutual NDA, and the purchase agreement bars us from reselling the goods in your home market: that is a clause in the contract, not a verbal courtesy. The full price is in your account before collection, and the firm offer comes within 48 hours of seeing your list.
- Mutual NDA before you name a single brand or a single volume
- The purchase agreement bars us from reselling the goods in your home market
- 100% of the price in your account before collection, firm offer within 48 hours
- Lots from 1,000 units, footwear and apparel
What changed, and the only dates we will quote you
Three dates matter and we will not add a fourth. From 19 July 2026, the destruction of unsold apparel and footwear is banned for large companies in the EU. From February 2027, public reporting of destroyed volumes begins. For medium-sized companies, the ban applies from 19 July 2030.
The regulation leaves legal routes open for goods you cannot destroy, and a documented sale to a trade buyer is the one that puts money on your side of the ledger instead of a cost. That is the whole of our contribution to the compliance conversation. There is no countdown on this page, no penalty arithmetic and no pressure to move by a date, because a stock decision taken under manufactured urgency is exactly the decision people regret.
- 19 July 2026 - destruction of unsold apparel and footwear banned for large companies
- February 2027 - public reporting of destroyed volumes begins
- 19 July 2030 - the ban extends to medium-sized companies
What the disclosure file holds after the deal
Whoever prepares your disclosure works from documents, not from intentions. Destruction leaves a single line saying the goods stopped existing. A sale to this desk leaves four dated documents, each signed by two parties, that describe what happened to the goods instead.
We want to be precise about the limit of that. We do not issue compliance certificates, destination reports, proof of non-destruction or opinions on your obligations, and we would be careful with any buyer who offers them alongside a stock purchase. What you receive are the ordinary commercial documents of a normal transaction, and you can read the wording of every one of them before you name a single brand; the draft contract with that clause comes with the offer, before anything is signed.
Whether those documents carry the weight your reporting needs is a judgement for your own compliance and legal people, not for the company buying your stock. The protection on your side is one clause and it stays one clause: the purchase agreement bars us from reselling the goods in your home market, and you read it before you sign anything.
- A signed mutual NDA, dated before any stock information changed hands
- A purchase contract that bars us from reselling the goods in your home market
- A bank payment received in full before the goods left your warehouse
- A dated handover record: what left, when, and to whom
Who the rule reaches, and why 2030 is closer than it looks
The ban applies to large companies from 19 July 2026 and to medium-sized companies from 19 July 2030. Which category a company falls into is defined in the regulation itself and answered by its own counsel. We describe the rule; we do not qualify you against it, and a buyer's landing page is the wrong place to receive a legal opinion.
For medium-sized companies there are two practical reasons to build the habit before 2030, and both are our read as a buyer rather than a legal position. First, from February 2027 the large groups you supply, own or belong to are reporting, and questions travel down a supply chain faster than deadlines arrive. Second, stock has a long tail: the pallets you are deciding about this season may still be yours in three years, and it is easier to learn how a papered exit works on a calm lot than on an urgent one.
Consultants explain the rule. We buy the goods.
There is no shortage of advisory work on this regulation, and some of it is good. It ends in a slide deck, a readiness assessment or a gated PDF. None of that moves a pallet or produces a bank transfer, and the file you hand to your auditor is still empty.
We are the other half of that sentence, in the order that matters to the person holding the problem. Safety first: a mutual NDA from your first message, a purchase agreement that bars us from reselling the goods in your home market, and no broker chain circulating your list, because we buy as principal.
Money second: the full price in your account before collection, so the transaction reads as recovery rather than as a write-off against you. Speed last, because it is the least interesting part: a reply within one business day and a firm offer within 48 hours. We are a private desk and a new one. We publish no client logos and no borrowed case studies. What we can put in front of you before you disclose anything is the paper.
What the next few days look like
First contact and mutual NDA
You write, a buyer replies within one business day, and the mutual NDA is signed before any stock information changes hands. It binds both sides and it covers your identity, your brands, your volumes and the fact that you are selling at all.
Your list, and the clause that protects your market
Brands, quantities and sizes. No prices from you and no exact SKUs at this stage. This is also the point where the protection moves into the draft purchase contract as a clause rather than an assumption: the purchase agreement bars us from reselling the goods in your home market.
A firm offer in writing
One buyer, one number for the whole lot, with the draft purchase contract attached so you can read the clause before you commit. You are free to reject it and nothing follows.
Payment, then pickup
The full purchase price reaches your account before a single box leaves your warehouse. Collection is on an agreed date and organised on our side, and the handover is recorded: what left, when, and to whom.
Read the contract before you decide anything
Under mutual NDA from the first message, with a purchase agreement that bars us from reselling the goods in your home market, the full price in your account before collection and a firm offer within 48 hours of your list. There is no obligation to accept, and if you stop, the confidentiality stays in force. If you would rather not use a form, write on WhatsApp instead; the NDA comes the same way.
Three questions and where to send the offer: the brand or category, roughly how large the lot is, and whether you want to discuss a sale. No prices and no SKUs at this stage, and the phone number is optional.
Received. Your offer is being prepared.
A buyer comes back to you within one business day, with a firm offer within 48 hours. Everything is handled under NDA.
Common questions
Does selling to you make us ESPR compliant, and is any of this legal advice?
No to both, and no buyer can honestly tell you otherwise. We are a trade buyer, not an advisor: we quote three publicly available dates and nothing beyond them, and we do not assess whether a particular company falls under the rule or what it has to report. What a deal leaves you is a signed mutual NDA, a purchase contract that bars us from reselling the goods in your home market, a bank payment received before collection and a recorded handover. Whether that carries the weight your reporting needs is a judgement for your compliance and legal people. We issue no certificates, no destination reports and no proof of anything, and a buyer who offers you that assessment as part of a stock purchase is selling two things at once, one of them badly.
Once the disclosure obligation starts, who learns about the sale?
That is what the mutual NDA is for, and it is mutual on purpose: it runs from your first message, it binds us exactly as it binds you, and you can have your own lawyer read it before anything else happens. It covers your identity, your brands, your volumes and the fact that you are selling at all, and because we buy as principal your list is not passed around a chain of brokers looking for a taker. Nothing published on this site names a seller. What it is deliberately not is a gag on your own reporting: we will never ask you to leave out of a disclosure something you are required to publish, and if your auditor needs the counterparty to a transaction named, name us.
Our reporting has to describe what happened to the goods. What will you confirm?
What the documents say, and nothing beyond it: a dated purchase contract with a named buyer, payment received in full before collection, and a signed handover recording what left and when. Those are ordinary commercial papers, signed by both sides, and they say what they say. What we will not produce is a destination report, a certificate or a statement about where a pallet ended up months later, because no honest buyer can guarantee the second life of goods in writing. The one thing your own file carries without our help is that the goods were sold rather than destroyed.
We are a medium-sized company. Is any of this relevant before 2030?
That is your call and your counsel's, not ours. What we can say as a buyer is that the groups you supply or belong to start reporting in February 2027, that questions tend to move down a supply chain earlier than deadlines do, and that the stock you are deciding about this season may still be sitting there in three years. Learning how a documented exit works on a calm lot is easier than doing it under pressure.
What if we go through all of this and then decide not to sell?
Then nothing happens. There is no obligation to accept an offer and no consequence for stopping at any point, including after you have read the draft contract. The confidentiality obligation does not expire with the conversation, and it runs in both directions: it covers the fact that you were considering a sale at all, so a discussion that leads nowhere leaves nothing behind.