France Adopts Landmark Law Targeting Ultra-Fast Fashion
cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10334892
France has adopted a landmark law targeting ultra-fast fashion, introducing immediate transparency rules, enhanced EPR [Extended Producer Responsibility] eco-contributions, advertising and influencer restrictions, and removal of tax incentives for unsold goods donations. The law is designed to reduce environmental impacts and promote responsible consumption.
On July 9, 2026, French Law No. 2026-602 of July 8, 2026 was officially published, making France the first country to enact legislation specifically targeting ultra-fast fashion.
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Businesses that operate high-volume, rapidly changing fashion models may face significant compliance and cost implications under the new regulatory framework.
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Key Provisions
- Mandatory Transparency Requirements (Effective immediately)
Online sellers must:
- Provide clear information on the environmental and social impacts of products, including messages encouraging responsible consumption, reuse, repair, and recycling.
- Inform consumers about the social, environmental, health, and delivery-related impacts associated with products.
- Clearly display manufacturing locations alongside the product price.
- Ensure such information is presented in the same font size, remains easily accessible, and appears on all relevant sales pages.
Advertising and Influencer Promotion Ban (Effective 1 January 2027)
- The law introduces a comprehensive ban on advertising for ultra-fast fashion products and brands.
- The prohibition also extends to influencer marketing activities, including promotions that involve: free gifts; product loans; and sponsored invitations or similar benefits.
Influencers who violate these requirements may face fines of up to €100,000.
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9 replies
Yet they dont even have a definition of what it is? Someday in the future we will define something but we will pass a law against it today? That's weird.
Removing tax breaks for unsold items makes sense though.
I have not heard the term fast fashion before, I find people weird if they try to be fashionable. Bunch of sheep those people are.
Having durable clothing makes sense though. I couldn't imagine buying polyester as a clothing item. So gross.
You may not like polyester but it's very inexpensive and can last quite a long time. It's also very wrinkle resistant and stain resistant. I have had to toss a lot of cotton shirts because they get stained and I can't get it out. Haven't had that problem with polyester.
Shits gross. Like wearing a plastic bag. Because it is a plastic bag.
I can't get on board with that.
I have heard of alternatives though like Modal fabric made of beech wood cellulose. Never tried it though.
I mean, yay? But it's still useless if I buy jeans for £80 that still rip in 6 months. Shoes for £100 that last the same as a cheap pair from Aldi. Until the quality of clothes increase, this doesn't help anyone.
Well, ultra fast fashion is ultra fast. It doesn't rely on a season to season trend cycle, but micro-trends that are constantly changing, making the stuff you just bought obsolete - you need to buy again!! /s. You can be disappointed by 6 months, but I'd wager UFF clothes are worn much less than that.
The market normalised frequent purchase of clothes for us consumers. No one treats buying clothes as seriously as buying say household electronics. No one treats repairs that seriously if replacing is so easy. So no one really ends up knowing what to look for on a garment that makes it high quality, since that's "not necessary". One podcast I'm listening to says "clothes should be expensive".
I wish there was an easy way to appraise clothes before you buy them. I wish people would care if they're getting ripped off or not. Go ahead and start a five e-mail thread from the store you're thinking about buying from. You can't know how much of a good deal a garment is by looking at it. If you take a pair of cotton trousers into your hands you can't know what's the staple length of the cotton or what's the dyeing method used. What % of price went to pay the workers a living wage? What % towards the fabric? How much % extra am I paying for better finishing?
With pants if there's elastane in the mix it makes the fabric less durable. If you get crotch blowouts look for trousers with a crotch gusset. Consider looking for brands that list the fabric weight, since the fatter the fabric the more friction it can take before it develops a hole. With shoes I don't really know what to say without going into goodyearwelted shoes that cost 2-3x that.
Some creators related to appraisal:
There is ample evidence for the devastating effects of ultra-fast fashion.
Here are just two brief summaries, but you'll easily find more:
The environmental costs of fast fashion
Toxic threads? The hidden dangers of ultra-fast fashion
France made a good first step. Let's hope that others will follow soon.
[Edit typo.]
Yup. Gone are the days when it was easy to buy your way out of fast fashion, by .. buying the better product for the higher price. These days you have to go way out of your way to find a manufacturer that produces at better quality. And then you gotta pay a lot more.
For example I buy Houdini Wadi pants that are fairly well made in Portugal. Took a lot of research and they cost around CAD $200 a pop. That's not the kind of money most can afford around here with the current cost of living. What's in the retail stores these days is piss poor quality, likely made by the same firms that make fast fashion, as you can see the familiar cost cutting tricks all over them. Even second hand is now flooded with fast fashion items and you gotta work to sift through it to find stuff that lasts. I don't think any policy that relies on individuals doing "shopping smarter" would help this trend. A useful policy must contain standards of quality (such as longevity) enforced by a public body. That'll solve the environmental problem automatically as well. But I can already imagine the industry outcry at such regulation that will cut their margins. Otherwise it's just some marginal feelgud to paper over the decline of clothing and the environment.
That's a different topic. It has nothing to do with fast fasion's impact and the environmental and social harm it entails.
It has everything to do with it. I live in a country that made greenwashing a lifestyle: Finland. Every shop around here advertises how responsible they are with their business. Meanwhile, the quality is often worse than that of brands derided as "fast fashion". Marimekko* made national headlines some time ago when they licensed a pattern to IKEA, and the IKEA product turned out to be much better quality for a fraction of the price.
It's very important to target fast and ultrafast fashion, and I'm glad France starts with influencers. The next step should be quality norms. Otherwise, you're just pricing poor people out, while consumer behaviours and environmental impact stay the same, and owners of established brands get exponentially richer.
*If you don't know Marimekko, suffice to say I saw Marimekko knockoffs in boutiques in France last week.