French Bill Seeks Penalties Of Up To €10 On Fast Fashion
The French Parliament recently approved a bill seeking penalties on fast fashion products, which seeks gradual increase in penalties of up to €10 or US $11 per unit of apparel by 2030.
The bill also calls for a ban on advertising for these products. However, the bill must also be approved by the French Senate before it becomes law.
The biggest victim if this law once passed is Chinese fast fashion brand Shein and online retailer Temu, which have disrupted fashion retail as against Zara and H&M which rely on predicting shopper preferences.
Anne-Cécile Violland, who proposed the bill pointed out that the bill targets not only fast fashion brands like Primark, Shein, and Zara, but also online platforms like such as Temu, AliExpress, Amazon, etc that sell fast fashion products.
Once this bill is passed, fast fashion brands like Primark, Shein, and Zara and their Chinese clothing supply chains will be affected.
“A series of measures taken by the French Parliament are particularly aimed at manufacturers from China,” Agence France-Presse reported
However, in a news article published by French media, Les Echo pointed out that the biggest impact of this bill will be on those from lower-income groups.
Les Echo added that this bill appears to be presented to impact companies with connections to China’s textile manufacturing supply chain.
It may be noted here that a large number European fashion brands and retailers like Zara, H&M and Decathlon’s have Chinese chain suppliers.
The lawmakers say the reason they are accelerating the introduction of restrictions on fast fashion companies is to “help offset their environmental impact.
Shein stated that it produces clothes based on existing demand, which allows its rate of unsold garments to remain consistently in the low single digits, whereas traditional players can waste up to 40 percent.
“Shein added that the impact of the bill will be to worsen the purchasing power of French consumers, at a time when they are already feeling the impact of the cost-of-living crisis,” Global Times reported
