The results obtained in this study with a Podzolic red-yellow soil led to the conclusion that there is little potential for chemicals to mobilize via water percolating through the soil profile, resulting in contaminated groundwater. The two approaches used to study metal mobility (lixiviation in columns and adsorption isotherms) are redundant. The results show that, after stabilization, the experimental loading ratio of 33:67 textile sludge:soil (%v/v) (equivalent to 85 Mg ha−1) did not significantly increase the risk of groundwater contamination, since only small amounts of metals applied to the soil will percolate and almost all the organic compounds will be biodegraded. Nevertheless, phytotoxicity tests showed that fresh textile sludge is phytotoxic to rocket, which lead to the recommendation that textile sludge must be stabilized before soil application. Additional ecotoxicological and microbiological data should also be considered in order to better understand the implications of industrial sludge applications in soil restoration.