Regulation Gold Rush. What to Know - with Katarina Biloglav
Episode 4 with Katarina Biloglav from The Policy Hub in Brussels, in conversation with Angie — an inside look at EU fashion regulation from the upcycler's perspective: what matters, what's just noise, and whether it's time for upcyclers to have a seat at the policy table.
The Hard Stuff - Business Skills for Upcyclers.
The European Union is rebuilding how fashion is designed, sold, and disposed of — and for a one-person studio, keeping up with the pace of these changes can feel impossible.
In this episode of COM/VERGE, Angie sits down with Katarina Biloglav, Public Affairs Manager at The Policy Hub, to make sense of what's actually happening in Brussels, and what it means — both the opportunities and the challenges — for upcyclers.
Katarina walks us through what matters most from an independent designer's perspective, what's still being negotiated versus already decided, whether upcycling should count as art or commerce in the eyes of the law, and how enforcement actually works.
The conversation also opens a bigger question: upcyclers are still underrepresented in Brussels — but a louder, unified voice could be what turns these rules into something that works for us, not just around us.
TOPICS DISCUSSED
00:00 — Katarina's role: translating EU legislation for the fashion industry
02:26 — What The Policy Hub does, and its 700+ stakeholders
06:02 — Where upcyclers fit in Brussels advocacy — and the current gap
08:23 — The "consultants at the door" phenomenon
09:29 — The big picture: fashion's shift toward full-lifecycle regulation
11:16 — ESPR (Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation)
13:29 — The legal line between reselling, repairing, and remanufacturing
14:29 — Micro-enterprise timelines and exemptions
15:12 — Incoming green claims / greenwashing regulation
16:22 — What the Digital Product Passport actually is, and isn't yet
18:16 — The robustness score, and the "Nutri-Score for fashion" comparison
21:35 — Why comparing different materials on one scale is complicated
24:11 — How the DPP could help upcyclers working with unknown materials
26:01 — Enforcement: who checks compliance, and the risk-based approach
28:39 — Non-EU imports, market surveillance gaps, and competitiveness
30:57 — Waste systems and the market for low-quality material
31:40 — Upcycling as craft vs. commerce, and the push toward digitalization
33:01 — Why a single set of rules can't fit every business size
34:03 — Upcycling's missing voice in Brussels, and the timeline ahead
35:45 — Does more visibility mean more regulation?
38:23 — Why grassroots knowledge matters as much as policy expertise
39:18 — Closing question: what Katarina would upcycle (conference banners and lanyards from Brussels events)
Listen also on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
COM/VERGE: community and convergence — on the road to the first global fashion upcyclers summit.