In a context in which the issue of sustainability in the textile sector is taking on a particularly important role, several European countries are equipping themselves with important standards to accommodate, even anticipate, what the EU has set forth.<\/p>\n
France<\/strong>, in particular, is making a significant commitment by initiating, in line with what has been established at European level, a process of transition of the fashion industry towards a higher level of sustainability. This process, which began in 2020, has seen the implementation of various actions, among which the unanimous approval in the Senate of the\u00a0Loi Anti-Gaspillage pour une \u00c9conomie Circulaire (AGEC)<\/em><\/strong>, which aims to change the current economy based on a ‘linear’ basis (produce, consume, dispose) into a ‘circular’ economy. This standard has heralded the start of a transformation across several sectors, including textiles.<\/p>\n In fact, the\u00a0ERP regulation<\/strong>, the\u00a0labelling obligation\u00a0<\/strong>for all products belonging to an EPR chain placed on the French market, the\u00a0Triman logo<\/strong>, the\u00a0repair bonus<\/strong>\u00a0and the\u00a0digital product passport<\/strong>\u00a0(currently in the anticipation stage) have taken their structure from this legislation. In addition to these measures, there is the recent proposal by the French government to\u00a0tax low-cost fashion.<\/strong><\/p>\n The in-depth study by Andersen’s Sustainable Innovation Desk<\/a> aims to map the main actions directly implemented by the French government in the textile field, which are decreeing it as the “innovator” country in sustainable fashion. To learn more, we invite you to read the previous in-depth articles on sustainability in fashion: Sustainability in fashion: from fast fashion to sustainable fashion<\/a> and Sustainable fashion: new measures and main regulations.<\/a><\/p>\n The issue of sustainability is now a major priority at the European level. The European Union, starting with the Green Deal, has initiated a series of policies and reforms in the areas of climate, energy, transport and taxation aimed at reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.<\/p>\n France has shown itself to be very sensitive to these issues in recent years: from 2020 onwards, it has strengthened sustainability in the sector. This transition is guided by and conditional on the entry into force of the Loi Anti-Gaspillage pour une \u00c9conomie Circulaire (AGEC)<\/strong>, which aims to make the current ‘circular’ economy based on ‘linear’ bases (produce, consume, dispose).<\/p>\n Specifically, the\u00a0anti-waste law<\/strong>\u00a0has outlined a series of specific measures for the textile sector,\u00a0eliminating waste and pollution from the product design phase<\/strong>. It is aimed at everyone: companies, citizens, institutions and can be summarised in a few points:<\/p>\n Confirming this inclination are not only the actions taken so far in the textile regulatory landscape, but also the new proposal put forward by the French Government to implement a law to discourage fast fashion through a series of initiatives that are analysed in detail in the attached report.<\/p>\n One of the main problems of the fashion system is closely related to the management of unsold goods.<\/p>\n This is where the\u00a0‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR)<\/strong>\u00a0scheme comes in, which implies the implementation of a series of measures aimed at ensuring that producers of goods bear direct financial responsibility or financial and organisational responsibility for managing the phase of the life cycle where the product becomes waste.<\/p>\n Specifically, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) aims to push fashion brands to think about designing more sustainable products, adopting environmentally friendly materials and reducing waste, as well as to promote a circular economy by incentivising separate collection and recycling of their products, for instance through the creation of take-back and donation schemes. Based on these premises, the legislation puts the onus on French textile manufacturers to contribute with a tax to the promotion of the circular economy (through the action exercised by the Refashion collective).<\/p>\n What is collected through this contribution serves to cover the running costs of the organisation and to develop\u00a0eco-design and material recovery initiatives<\/strong>, as well as to promote more sustainable behaviour and consumption.<\/p>\n To date, textile products subject to the EPR obligation are new products placed on the French market (excluding products not sold on French soil), intended for the end consumer, belonging to the following categories: clothing, footwear and household linen. This means that those affected by the EPR regulation for textiles and footwear are the ‘marketers’, i.e. the\u00a0companies that first issue invoices with French VAT<\/strong>, regardless of the sales channel used.<\/p>\n Based on the amendment of the EU Packaging Directive, which brought new challenges for manufacturers and retailers, France made special changes to the labelling of packaging and introduced the so-called\u00a0Triman logo<\/strong>\u00a0on 1 January 2022, in accordance with Decree No. 2014-1577.<\/p>\n Uniform internationally, it is the symbol that must appear on recyclable packaging and products and meets a need for transparency by providing more information to consumers about recycling or separate collection.<\/p>\n The Triman logo applies to several product categories:<\/strong><\/p>\n The labelling only applies to goods and packaging produced for domestic use and will be mandatory for all products released in France as of 1 January 2025.<\/p>\n As compulsory labelling for all products, the Triman logo and Info-Tri will also be subject to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), since a producer is responsible for what it produces, from design to distribution to take-back, and therefore also for proper disposal and recycling.<\/p>\n The Triman logo will therefore always have to be accompanied by\u00a0information for consumers on proper disposal.<\/strong><\/p>\n The repair bonus is also in the context of the ‘anti-waste law’ (introduced in 2020) which already applied to plastic packaging, disposable packaging and the repair of household appliances. France, with the aim of combating pollution and waste, has introduced a\u00a0bonus for repairing used shoes and clothes<\/strong>: ‘bonus r\u00e9paration’. A kind of ‘mending bonus’ that provides a direct discount on the invoice for repairs carried out at participating tailors’ and shoemakers’ shops.<\/p>\n This measure was launched in October 2023 with the aim of encouraging a change of mentality in the textile industry.<\/p>\n Through this instrument, it is intended to<\/p>\n The total value of the fund is\u00a0EUR 154 million<\/strong> and has a duration of five years. Artisans, shoemakers and tailors who join the programme by registering on the\u00a0Refashion<\/strong>\u00a0platform can benefit.<\/p>\n The digital product passport is one of the most eagerly awaited measures of the circular and sustainable textiles law and the eco-design legislation. As of today, further details on the ‘digital product passport’ launched by the EU Commission are still awaited, but France has adopted Decree-Law 2022-748 ‘relating to the obligation laid down in Article L. 541-9-1 of the Environment Code to inform consumers about the environmental qualities and characteristics of products that generate waste’.<\/p>\n The decree makes it compulsory from 1 January 2023 for manufacturers and importers who declare an annual turnover of more than \u20ac 50 million and put more than 25,000 units of products on the market per year to provide information on the\u00a0product’s environmental characteristics<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The obligation has been in force since 1 January 2024 for manufacturers and importers with an annual turnover of more than \u20ac20 million and more than 10 thousand units of products per year, and from 1 January 2025 it will be in force for those with a turnover of more than \u20ac10 million, also with more than 10 thousand units of products per year.<\/p>\n The information can be expressed electronically or by other means as long as it is easily accessible at the time of purchase (labels, cards, etc.) and includes, depending on the type of product:<\/p>\n For\u00a0textiles<\/strong>, it is the geographical indication of the country where each of the following operations is predominantly carried out, where they exist: weaving, dyeing and printing, making-up.<\/p>\n For\u00a0footwear<\/strong>\u00a0it indicates where the following operations are carried out: stitching, assembly, finishing.<\/p>\n The mass percentage of synthetic fibres present in the product must be indicated if they exceed 50% of the total material used. In this case, it must be indicated on the label “releases plastic microfibres into the environment during washing”.<\/p>\n The French National Assembly on 14 March 2024 approved a bill to limit the environmental impact of a model characterised by\u00a0very short production cycles<\/strong>\u00a0in order to revive the French textile industry, which has been hit hard by fast fashion consumerism, i.e. ‘low-cost, often remote and relocated textile production’.<\/p>\n The regulation envisages a\u00a0surcharge on ‘fast fashion’ brands<\/strong>\u00a0based on the environmental impact of textiles and stricter rules for online sellers. The surcharge will grow progressively and could\u00a0reach up to \u20ac10 per garment<\/strong>\u00a0by 2030, modelled on the tax that has already been applied in France to the most polluting cars.<\/p>\n Should the bill also find approval in the Senate, three regulations with\u00a0three main pillars<\/strong>\u00a0would come into force starting next year<\/p>\n Looking further into the bill, it is noted that the Chinese low-cost clothing and accessories brand Shein will be one of those brands whose products will almost certainly be taxed. The bill shows that\u00a0Shein<\/strong>\u00a0registers on average more than 7,200 new clothing designs per day and makes more than 470,000 different products available to consumers.<\/p>\n The Chinese giant is in a position where it ‘offers 900 times more products than a traditional French retailer’. Also in the crosshairs of the legislation are other fast fashion brands, including\u00a0H&M<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Zara<\/strong>, which is part of\u00a0Inditex<\/strong>, the Spanish multinational that also controls\u00a0Bershka<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Stradivarius<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The text also clarifies that the revenue generated by these penalties is to be used for the management of the collection, sorting, and processing of textile waste. But also to provide bonuses to companies that choose to produce their garments according to circularity principles, to support research and development, to increase the repair bonus and resources dedicated to reuse, and to finance public campaigns on the sector’s environmental impact and waste prevention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In a context in which the issue of sustainability in the textile sector is taking on a particularly important role, several European countries are equipping themselves with important standards to accommodate, even anticipate, what the EU has set forth. France, in particular, is making a significant commitment by initiating, in line with what has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27130"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27143,"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27130\/revisions\/27143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/it.andersen.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Sustainability in France: initiatives to combat fast fashion<\/h2>\n
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Extended Producer Responsibility: Material Recovery and Unsold Management<\/h2>\n
Triman logo: mandatory on French labels<\/h2>\n
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Clothes repair bonus: encouraging circularity and recovery<\/h2>\n
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DDP: France anticipates the introduction of the Digital Product Passport<\/h2>\n
Deadlines 2023<\/h3>\n
Deadlines 2024 and 2025<\/h3>\n
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Traceability<\/h3>\n
Plastic microfibres<\/h3>\n
France ready to tax fast fashion garments<\/h2>\n
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