France seeks to decelerate wasteful business – DW – 04/08/2024 | EUROtoday

France’s fast-fashion invoice was not too long ago voted by unanimously within the decrease home of Parliament, making a uncommon consensus within the National Assembly, the place the federal government lacks an absolute majority and sometimes faces stiff opposition.

But that unanimity does not imply all people welcomes the federal government’s technique.

The new guidelines will have an effect on firms that roll out a sure minimal variety of merchandise per day — a threshold to be outlined afterward by decree. The authorities is concentrating on fast-fashion giants like producer Shein and on-line platform Temu, each primarily based in China.

Such firms should put up clearly seen messages on their web sites indicating their merchandise’ environmental influence and inciting prospects to recycle objects— or else face fines of as much as €15,000 ($16,160).

A brand new eco-point system will consider style firms. Those that carry out poorly should pay a levy of initially €5 after which, by 2030, as much as €10 per merchandise.

And the federal government will ban publicity for fast-fashion firms and their merchandise from 2025. Infringing that legislation will carry penalties of as much as €100,000.

The invoice nonetheless must be greenlighted by France’s Senate and will come into impact over the approaching months.

‘We have gained a cultural battle’

However, for Julia Faure, clothier and president of the group En Mode Climat which incorporates roughly 600 firms that produce style in a sustainable manner, the draft legislation is already “great news.”

“We have won a cultural battle, as fast fashion is an environmental, social and cultural disaster that wipes out everything but the luxury sector in the market, just like a huge juggernaut,” she advised DW.

Faure thinks the federal government is sending the proper sign when style fabricated from cotton and produced regionally will get a superb eco-score whereas merchandise manufactured far-off and from artificial materials are badly marked.

“And yet, we need to stay alert and make sure the threshold through which fast-fashion companies are defined is not set too high,” she added.

But Philippe Moati thinks that this threshold should not be too low, in order to ensure it would not embody French manufacturers. He’s a professor of economics at Paris Cite University and the founding father of Paris-based market analysis firm ObSoCo.

The proper technique?

And he disagrees with the federal government’s technique.

“The draft law stigmatizes these brands’ clients who, according to a study we are conducting, are the less educated and less well off. It’s important for them to be able to afford fashion to feel they are part of society,” he advised DW.

The economist estimates that what he calls “ultra-fast fashion” makes up for about 3% of France’s style market — precise figures do not exist.

Moati advocates that fast-fashion companies needs to be regulated extra strictly, however with present instruments.

“The government should implement French laws such as the two-year guarantee for fashion items, the ban on selling under-cost and the obligation to calculate discounts using realistic reference prices,” Moati famous.

“Plus, we should levy import duties on all textile imports — not just those costing at least €150 as right now,” the professional urged, including that ultra-fast style did have the upside that it produced a really small sequence of merchandise which additionally meant there have been virtually no unsold objects.

Shein, Temu, Zara and H&M both declined or didn’t reply requests for interviews with DW.

France might paved the way

Gildas Minvielle, director of the Economic Observatory at Paris-based style faculty Institut Francais de la Mode, thinks time will inform if the federal government’s method is the proper one.

“This is uncharted territory — we need to test what works and what doesn’t,” he advised DW. “In any case, though, it’s crucial to remind consumers of fast fashion’s devastating impact on the environment.”

For him, the unanimous vote in parliament reveals French politicians have understood there’s urgency for motion.

“The draft law is a reaction to the deep crisis which the pret-a-porter sector [designer clothes sold ready-to-wear] has been going through since 2022 with numerous brands filing for bankruptcy,” he mentioned.

“France, the home of fashion, could now lead the way. These rules should be widened out to the whole of Europe as the fashion market is a European one,” he mentioned.

There have been some dissenting voices within the National Assembly akin to Antoine Vermorel-Marques, a parliamentarian within the division of Loire in central France for the conservative social gathering Les Republicains.

“Fashion companies in my home county used to employ around 10,000 people in the 1980s, but that number has gone down to 2,000 after they outsourced production to Asia,” he advised DW.

“Only recently they started to re-hire workers, as there’s a trend to buy more locally produced items. Fast fashion has now created new downward pressure on costs — we need to take countermeasures,” mentioned Vermorel-Marques.

And but, the politician would not welcome all of the paragraphs of the draft invoice.

“The ban on publicity will stymie the market instead of regulating it. We should just focus on the eco-point system that’ll allow us to take into account negative externalities, i.e. have companies pay for their products’ negative environmental and social impact,” he underlined.

‘More measures wanted’ for local weather targets

But Pierre Condamine, spokesman of the group Stop Fast Fashion which incorporates a number of NGOs combating for the safety of the setting, thinks the brand new guidelines do not go far sufficient.

“The threshold defining fast fashion should be directly enshrined in the bill and be low enough to also encompass French companies such as sporting goods retailer Decathlon,” he advised DW. “Companies should also have to pay a minimum levy if they get a negative eco-score, something that’s so far not included in the plans.”

He added that fast-fashion firms ought to have the duty to publish their gross sales figures for France.

“That’s the only way we can actually understand what we are facing and try to work towards fulfilling the Paris Climate Agreement,” Condamine said, urging French residents to purchase “not more than five new fashion items per year — and not 50 like it’s currently the case.”

Edited by: Rob Mudge