France to ban advertising for fast fashion. Courtesy of Jenny Skavlan

Frankrike will introduce legislation that specifically regulates ultra-fast-fashion.

That’s to limit the pollution associated with cheap, imported clothing, and to prevent giant platforms like Shein from flooding the market.

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The bill, which was unanimously passed in the lower house of the French parliament recently, will make it both less attractive to buy mass-produced and extremely cheap clothes, and more expensive and more difficult, especially for the Chinese giants such as Shein and Temu, to sell products in France.

If that happens, France is single-handedly at the forefront of the EU’s upcoming textile strategy.

The world’s first

According to France’s sustainability minister, Christophe Béchu, the bill is the world’s first against limiting ultra-fast fashion.

The bill involves a number of different measures, including a ban on advertising for the cheapest textiles, which will also apply to influencers and on social media.

In addition, the bill includes an environmental tax of up to 10 euros on each garment sold by the ultra-fast-fashion companies. However, the fee cannot exceed 50 percent of the product’s selling price. The income from the environmental tax will be used to subsidize manufacturers of more sustainable clothing.

Furthermore, the fast-fashion manufacturers are required to inform consumers about the environmental impact of the products.

The bill must be voted through in the Senate before it becomes final legislation.

And there are still many loose ends.

Who should be categorized as ultra-fast-fashion, for example. And not least how the legislation is to be enforced.

Happens a lot during the day

“Fæbrik” creator and sewing queen Jenny Skavlan pays tribute to the bill on her Instagram profile:

“A lot happens a day when it comes to limiting the damage Fast Fashion inflicts on the earth”, writes the designer in the post.

She also highlights some steps Norway has taken to reduce the clothing industry’s harmful effects on the globe.

Among other things, the government has chosen to set up a working group that will prepare proposals for how a producer responsibility scheme for textiles can be set up in Norway.

The EU’s environment committee also wants action to prevent overproduction, overconsumption and to promote sustainable products within the EU.

The aim is that a significant proportion of the products placed on the EU market by 2030 are designed so that they are durable, energy and resource efficient, as well as easy to repair and reuse.

The use of recycled material in the products is also to be increased, the government writes on its website.

Here there is also a desire for less use of dangerous chemicals.

“People and nature are more important than the textile industry’s profit”, points out Skavlan in the post.

– I get bored

– An international political trend

The future in our hands leader, Anja Bakken Riise is positive about the French bill.

– I notice that the French are proposing to tax clothes like they tax cigarettes, she says.

If new regulations are to have any effect, high pricing is essential, Riise believes.

– Here are suggestions of up to ten euros per garment. It will sting the fast-fashion industry. If it goes through, the time for poor quality plastic clothing is over in France.

Riise believes that the French proposal is important because it shows that it is politics that should curb our overconsumption of clothes.

– Fast fashion should not be allowed to continue to litter the planet and push working conditions to new rock bottom levels.

– Is there any indication that this will eventually also come to Norway?

– This autumn, together with both the industry and the collectors, we submitted a number of proposals to the government on how they can slow down the overproduction of clothing. The government is currently working on the proposals. Among other things, we demand that it will be more expensive to sell cheap plastic clothing. So absolutely, the French proposal is part of an international political trend, Riise believes.

Advice for consumers

While the battle for sustainable industrial production is ongoing, Skavlan makes some suggestions that we consumers can think about.

She points out first of all that you should buy less, and preferably buy used.

“Buy clothes that last (in terms of material and style) and avoid plastic fibers when the plastic does not have a function,” writes the 37-year-old in the post.