France’s fast fashion bill was recently passed unanimously by the lower house of parliament, a rare agreement in a parliament where the government lacks an absolute majority and often faces fierce opposition.
But this unanimous decision does not mean that all French people welcome the government’s approach.
The new rules will apply to companies that sell a minimum number of products per day – a threshold to be defined in a future decree – and the government is targeting fast fashion giants such as China-based manufacturer Shein and online platform Temu.
Ultra-fast fashion companies like Shein bring about 7,200 new products to market every day. Image: Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto/picture alliance
These companies must clearly display messages on their websites explaining the environmental impact of their products and encouraging customers to recycle them, or face fines of up to 15,000 euros ($16,160).
The new eco-points system will reward fashion companies, with poor performers facing an initial 5-euro tax and then having to pay up to 10 euros (about $11) per item by 2030.
The government has announced that it will ban fast fashion companies from advertising their products from 2025. Violation of the law will be punishable by fines of up to 100,000 euros.
The bill still needs to be approved by the French Senate and could come into force in the coming months.
“We won the cultural battle.”
But for fashion designer Julia Faure, president of En Mode Climat, a group of around 600 companies that produce fashion sustainably, the bill is already “great news”.
“We have won the cultural battle. Fast fashion is an environmental, social and cultural disaster that, like a giant juggernaut, is sweeping away everything but luxury goods on the market,” she told DW.
Faure believes the government is sending the right signal when locally produced fashion products made from cotton receive high eco-scores, while products manufactured further away and made from synthetic fibres receive low scores.
“But we need to remain vigilant and ensure that the bar for defining a fast fashion company is not set too high,” she added.
But Philippe Moati, a professor of economics at the University of Paris Cité and founder of Paris-based market research firm ObSoCo, doesn’t think the bar should be set too low to exclude French brands.
Ultra-fast fashion accounts for around 3% of the French fashion market
And Moati disagrees with the government’s approach.
“Our research shows that this bill stigmatizes the less educated and less economically advantaged customers of these brands. It’s important that they can buy fashion so they feel part of society,” he told DW.
The economist estimates that so-called “ultra-fast fashion” accounts for around 3% of the French fashion market, but there are no exact figures.
Brands like Zara and H&M introduced fast fashion in the 1990s by releasing new collections every week instead of twice a year. Image: Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto/picture alliance
Moati said the fast fashion business should be more tightly regulated, using existing tools.
“The government should implement French laws such as a two-year guarantee on fashion items, a ban on selling below cost and the obligation to calculate discounts using realistic reference prices,” he said.
“Furthermore, import duties should be imposed on all textile imports, not just those priced above 150 euros, as is the case now,” he argued, adding that ultra-fast fashion also has the advantage of producing very small quantities of goods and therefore having very little unsold.
Shein, Temu, Zara and H&M either did not respond or declined to respond to DW’s requests for interviews.
France could take the lead
Gilda Minviel, director of the economic observatory at the Institut Français de la Mode, a fashion school in Paris, believes only time will tell if the government’s approach is the right one.
“This is uncharted territory. We need to test what works and what doesn’t,” he told DW. “In any case, it’s important to remind consumers of the devastating impact fast fashion has on the environment.”
For him, the unanimous vote in parliament shows that French politicians understand the urgency of action.
“This bill is a response to the serious crisis facing the ready-to-wear industry. [designer clothes sold ready-to-wear — Editor’s note] “The situation is only getting worse from 2022 onwards, with many brands filing for bankruptcy,” he said.
“France, the home of fashion, can now take the lead. The fashion market is a European market, so these rules should be extended to the whole of Europe,” he said.
Ghana has become a dumping ground for fast fashion
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There were dissenting voices in the National Assembly, such as Antoine Vermorel-Marquez, a member of the conservative party Le République and a member of the Loire department in central France.
“Fashion companies in my home county employed around 10,000 people in the 1980s, but that number has fallen to 2,000 since production was outsourced to Asia,” he told DW.
“Only recently have they started to rehire workers, as there is a growing trend to buy locally produced goods. Fast fashion is now creating new cost pressures and action needs to be taken,” he said.
However, the politician does not welcome all the provisions of the draft bill.
“Advertising bans would hinder the market rather than regulate it. We should focus on an eco-points system that would allow negative externalities to be taken into account – that is, companies would pay for the negative environmental and social impacts of their products,” he said.
Climate targets ‘need more action’
But Pierre Condamine, spokesman for Stop Fast Fashion, an organisation which includes several NGOs fighting for environmental protection, believes the new rules do not go far enough.
“The threshold for defining fast fashion should be written directly into the bill and should be low enough to include French companies like sports goods retailer Decathlon,” he told DW. “Companies would also have to pay a minimum tax if they get a negative environmental score, which is not included in the plan for now.”
Recycled denim designs make their way into fast fashion
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He added that fast fashion companies should also be obliged to disclose their sales in France.
“That’s the only way we can really understand the problem we face and work towards implementing the Paris climate agreement,” he said, urging French people to “not buy more than 50 new fashion items a year, and not buy 50 as they are doing now.”
Editor: Rob Mudge
