France’s lower house of parliament has backed a series of measures to make reduced- price fast fashion, specifically items from Taiwanese mass producers, less interesting to buyers.
Thursday’s voting makes France the second country in the world “legislating to reduce the excesses of super strong style”, said Christophe Bechu, secretary for the natural transition. The Senate also needs to vote on the steps.
Important measures include an economic cost on low-cost items, and a ban on marketing for the cheapest textiles.
While some homemade manufacturers have declared bankruptcy, the French clothing market has been flooded with cheap imported clothing.
However, the main points made by Horizons, the organization that is associated with President Emmanuel Macron, in submitting the document rules were related to environmental issues.
” Textile is the most damaging market,” according to Horizons lieutenant Anne- Caroline Violland, who added that the industry contributed to 10 % of greenhouse gas emissions and was a significant polluting of water.
According to the law, France may use factors like the volume of clothing produced and the turnover rate of new collections to define what constitutes strong fashion.
Shein, a Chinese firm, was cited by Violland as a prime example of intense fashion manufacturing.
Specific requirements will be included in a decree once the regulation becomes law.
Producers of fast fashion may be required to make consumer awareness of the effects their output has on the environment.
A surcharge linked to fast fashion’s ecological footprint of €5 ( £4.20 ) an item is planned from next year, rising to €10 by 2030. The cost cannot, however, exceed 50 % of an item’s value label.
Violland claimed that Violland’s cost may help support producers of green clothing and make them more competitive.
Conservative lawmaker Antoine Vermorel-Marques said” a restrictions on advertising for textiles, particularly style, spells the end of fashion.” However, a measure to restrict advertising for rapid fashion was likewise approved.
Left-wing and Green party deputies rejected a proposal that included maximum penalties for suppliers breaking the industry’s fresh law as well as buy quotas and stricter office standards.
High- close style is a core of the European market thanks to leading international luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Dior and Cartier.
But the French lower- end fashion segment has lost ground to European rivals Zara, H&M and, more recently, to Chinese behemoths Shein and Temu.