A parent in Europe can now ask whether forever chemicals are in their drinking water. They still cannot ask the same question at the till about a school blazer, a raincoat or a pair of trainers.

That is the gap I want regulators to close.

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals used to make fabrics repel water, oil and stains. They are in raincoats, sportswear, outdoor gear, workwear and, yes, school uniforms. They do their job extremely well. They also do not break down. They build up in soil, in drinking water, in wildlife and, increasingly, in us.

The European Commission’s January 2026 report on the cost of PFAS pollution puts a number on what that means. Without action, PFAS pollution will cost Europe around €440 billion by 2050. The Commission calls this a conservative estimate, because it only covers a handful of the substances currently regulated out of the thousands in use. Cleaning up polluted water alone would cost more than €1 trillion. The people most at risk are newborns, children, communities living near contaminated sites and the workers in them.

The science is catching up to the scale. A 2022 study published in Environmental Science & Technology detected PFAS in every one of 72 stain-resistant children’s textile products tested, with school uniforms carrying significantly higher levels than several other children’s items. Two years later, researchers at the University of Birmingham confirmed for the first time that PFAS can be absorbed through human skin, and that the shorter-chain replacements the industry has switched to actually pass through more easily than the chemicals they were brought in to replace.

Read that again. The substitutes are getting in faster.

Regulators are, finally, moving. France’s national ban on PFAS in clothing textiles, cosmetics and ski waxes has been in force since 1 January 2026, with the scope widening to all textiles by 2030. Denmark’s prohibition on the import and sale of clothing, footwear and waterproofing agents containing PFAS takes effect on 1 July. Under REACH Annex XVII Entry 79, the EU restriction on PFHxA in consumer clothing applies from 10 October 2026, with consumer textiles other than clothing following on 10 October 2027. ECHA’s final consultation on the universal PFAS restriction closes on 25 May, with a Commission legislative proposal tracking towards 2027.

In the UK, the government published its first PFAS Plan in February 2026, committing to give the public “clear, accessible information” on PFAS content. On 23 April, the Environmental Audit Committee went further, recommending a phased restriction on non-essential consumer goods from 2027, standardised labelling on products still on the market, and warning that the UK risks falling behind the EU under UK REACH.

This is real progress. But a restriction that kicks in two years from now does nothing for the mother holding the blazer this afternoon. And here is the awkward part. As of today, no EU or UK rule requires a clothing label to tell anyone whether the garment contains PFAS. Existing labelling rules cover fibre composition. That is it. The European Environment Agency has warned that consumer textiles have no safety data sheet obligation, so once these chemicals are stitched into a finished product, the paper trail goes quiet. The information exists inside supply chains. It simply does not reach the person at the till.

For a circular economy, this matters twice over. PFAS contaminate textile waste streams, complicate recycling and accumulate in the soil and water that any genuine circular system depends on. The European Environment Agency identifies textiles as one of the largest sources of PFAS pollution worldwide, with releases at every stage from manufacture, through every wash, to disposal. A circular system built on contaminated inputs is not circular. It is a longer pipe for the same problem.

This is why Eco Age launched The Forever Label. We are calling for mandatory disclosure of PFAS on all clothing and textile products sold in the EU, on physical hang tags and on digital product listings, and for the UK to match that standard rather than drift into something slower and less legible.

The principle is not radical. We already do this for allergens in food. We do it for ingredients in cosmetics. We do it for risk in financial products. If a chemical is persistent enough to outlast the garment that carries it, the person buying that garment has a basic right to know.

Disclosure also does work that bans alone cannot. It moves the cost of opacity back onto the brands that benefit from it. It gives retailers a reason to interrogate their supply chains now, not in 2027. It gives parents, teachers and school procurement officers something they can act on this season, not next decade. And it pulls the conversation out of the chemistry lab and onto the shop floor, where most people meet these substances for the first time, usually without knowing it.

Eco Age took The Forever Label to the European Commission in March, during Together in Action 2026, where we secured engagement from Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra and Director-General for Climate Action Kurt Vandenberghe. Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall has described consumer-use PFAS bans as an “absolute priority”, saying consumers are concerned and rightly so. The political signal is there. The market signal is not, because the label is silent.

So back to the mother and the blazer.

She is not asking for a chemistry lesson. She is asking the same question parents have always asked. What is in this, and is it safe for my child?

She deserves an answer on the label.

If it lasts forever, label it.

Marwa Zamaray is Partner and Executive Director at Eco Age and an EU Climate Pact Ambassador.