Understanding the new law aimed at reducing the environmental impact of the textile industry

New law passed against fast fashion in favor of more sustainable fashion

On March 14, 2024, the French National Assembly unanimously adopted a bill to moderate the negative impacts of fast fashion. This legislative measure aims to revolutionize the fashion sector by encouraging responsible and enlightened consumption.

With this pioneering bill, France is setting itself apart in an era of growing awareness of environmental issues.

Indeed, the fashion industry, known as the world's second largest consumer of water and responsible for 10% of global CO2 emissions, is at the heart of this initiative.

What is fast fashion?

Fast fashion refers to a model in the textile industry characterized by the rapid, large-scale production of low-priced clothing. This system aims to encourage frequent consumption by constantly renewing the offer, thus encouraging consumers to buy more items more often.

Criteria that define a fast-fashion chain:

1. Rapid collection renewal: Fast fashion chains offer new collections almost every month or even every week, quickly adapting to current trends to attract consumers.
2. Low-cost mass production: garments are produced in large quantities and sold at relatively low prices, made possible by outsourcing production to countries where labor costs are lower.
3. Variable product quality: To keep prices low, the quality of materials and manufacturing can be compromised, often resulting in shorter product lifetimes.
4. Aggressive marketing strategies: fast-fashion chains make extensive use of advertising and social networks to promote their new collections and encourage fast consumption.
5. Environmental and social impact: This business model is associated with strong negative environmental impacts, such as the intensive use of resources (water, energy) and the production of textile waste. It also raises ethical concerns about working conditions in production plants.

What does this new law contain?

A bonus/malus system against fast-fashion:

The proposed bonus/malus scheme goes straight to the heart of the problem, with financial penalties aimed at companies that perpetuate the ephemeral fashion model.

This is particularly true of Chinese giant Shein, with its "7,200 new clothing models a day", a perfect example of the fast-fashion retailer model.

This system aims to make companies more responsible by factoring environmental costs into their sales prices.

Criteria assessed include the use of recycled materials, reduced water and energy consumption, and waste minimization.

Penalties could reach up to 10 euros per item by 2030, with a limit set at 50% of the selling price.

Initially, several stages are planned to reach this price, with the first at 5 euros by 2025.

Ban on fast-fashion advertising:

The proposed law also envisages a ban on advertising for fashion collections that are renewed on a very frequent basis, as is the case with ephemeral fashion.

This measure will cover advertising on traditional media as well as on social networks, including collaborations with influencers, an abusive marketing practice much used by the fashion giants.

This proposal also echoes the Climate and Resilience Act enacted in August 2021 to combat climate disruption.

Raising awareness of reuse and environmental impact :

The third pillar of this legislation is transparency and consumer awareness.

There is a strong need to raise awareness of environmental issues and the textile industry's responsibility for climate change.

The first article of this law therefore contains measures to oblige brands to clearly inform their consumers about the conditions of re-use, recycling and the environmental footprint of their products.

This will mean displaying information such as the carbon footprint or water consumption of products, highlighted on labels or via QR codes.

The law also specifies the need to include information on re-use and repair conditions on e-commerce sites.

This new bill demonstrates once again the growing need for transparency on the impact of the textile industry.

This news item complements the work carried out by ADEME and the French Ministry of Ecological Transition on the environmental display law for textile products, currently being finalized.

This work is in line with Waro's mission to increase transparency around the environmental impact of products. The Waro platform, which helps companies to measure, reduce and communicate the environmental impact of their products, is more than ever an essential player in adhering to these new regulations.

By offering a tool for monitoring environmental impact, as well as promoting transparent communication, Waro helps brands make the transition to a more sustainable fashion industry.

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