Paris ( AFP ) – France’s parliament on Thursday backed a string of measures making low- cost fast fashion, especially from Chinese mass producers, less attractive to buyers.
Issued on: 14/03/2024 – 18:53Modified: 14/03/2024 – 18:51
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France becomes the first nation in the world to “legislating to reduce the excesses of ultra-fast fashion,” according to Christophe Bechu, minister for the natural transition.
Important measures include an economic charge imposed on low-cost items, and a ban on advertisements for the cheapest fabric.
While some domestic manufacturers have declared bankruptcy, the French clothing market has been flooded with cheap imported clothing.
However, the key arguments made by Horizons, the organization that is affiliated with President Emmanuel Macron, were those relating to environmental issues.
According to Horizons deputy Anne-Celaine Violland,” Textile is the most damaging business,” it accounts for 10 % of global greenhouse gas emissions and is a big water polluting source.
She cited the Chinese firm Shein and its “7, 200 new clothes products per day” as a prime example of intense style creation.
According to the law, France may use factors like volume of clothing produced and turnover rate of new collections to define what constitutes rapid fashion.
Specific requirements will be published in a decree once the law becomes rules and also calls for a ballot in the Senate.
Producers of fast style may be required to make consumer awareness of the effects their productivity has on the environment.
A surcharge linked to fast fashion’s ecological footprint of five euros ($ 5.45 ) per item is planned from next year, rising to 10 euros by 2030. The cost cannot, however, exceed 50 percent of an item’s value label.
Violland claimed that the proceeds from the cost would be used to support producers of responsible clothing, making it easier for them to thrive.
A measure to restrict fast fashion advertising was likewise approved, but conservative lawmaker Antoine Vermorel-Marques argued that” a restrictions on advertising for textiles, particularly style, spells the end of fashion.”
Left-wing and Green party deputies defeated a proposal to impose maximum penalties for producers who violate the new law as well as import quotas and stricter workplace standards.
High- close style is a core of the European market owing to leading international luxury manufacturers like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Dior and Cartier.
But the French lower- close style sector has lost ground to Western foes Zara, H&M and, more just, to Chinese goliaths Shein and Temu.
© 2024 AFP