Introduction
The fast fashion industry is one of the fastest growing ones on the market these days, with manufacturers putting out billions of clothing items annually. But all this growth has come at the cost of our planet Earth. The ever-evolving trend cycle has created a demand for the ever-increasing rate of production of new articles. Such a system not only functions off of unethical labour practices which endanger the lives and livelihoods of workers but also leads to environmental devastation as scarce resources like water are funnelled into mass producing low quality clothing that is designed to be discarded after a single use. Since the fast fashion model involves making the latest styles available to the masses as soon as possible, it means that corners are cut not only when it comes to ethics and sustainability, but also quality. Companies have no incentive to change their business model as it is profitable for them to both manufacture and sell poor quality items – it keeps their production costs low and sales high as consumers often have to buy the same items twice due to its poor construction, leading to clothing waste. Often, companies and consumers alike are ill-equipped to deal with such huge amounts of used clothing, leading them to be dumped in either third world countries or landfills. In order to address the adverse environmental impact of fast-fashion companies and curb overproduction and overconsumption, attempts have been made by many nations to create legislations that regulate and improve the production and sale practices of these corporations. One salient example of this is France’s anti-fast fashion bill.
What does the Bill entail
Widely dubbed as the anti-fast fashion bill, the bill was proposed and unanimously passed in the National Assembly, France’s Lower House of Parliament on March 14th, 2024. The Bill is aimed at limiting the environmental pollution and climate catastrophe that is exacerbated by fast fashion retail giants and it does so by proposing five main components.
Defining Fast-fashion: The bill seeks to establish a clear definition of what constitutes fast fashion.While the bill itself has not put forth strict criterions, the government will formulate this based on the rate of production of clothes by the company. There will be a threshold set for the amount of clothing produced annually, and crossing this to-be-determined line will deem the company to be fast fashion. This is an important criterion to ascertain as for many years, companies have managed to evade the curtailment of unsustainable clothing manufacturing by touting that the category of fast fashion is too wide to be defined and that there was no way to determine which manufacturer would come under it. Another argument used is that since they have a relatively smaller stock of items compared to slow fashion brands, fast fashion retailers can produce the latest styles without having much leftover clothes. The Bill cuts through to the root of this issue by prescribing the total number of clothing items which can be produced. 
Transparency of Information: The Bill makes it mandatory for manufacturers to disclose information related to the sustainability and overall environmental footprint of the item to the customers so that they can make well-informed choices while shopping. Having to disclose the reality of their production practices and materials used in the making of an item would incentivise companies to better their manufacturing processes in order to attain brand loyalty from customers based on sustainability, instead of affordability. By mandating transparency in both the supply chain stages and the final sale stage, the Bill allows consumers to see through green-washing techniques and invest in brands that ethically and environmentally aligns with them.- Imposing a Sin Tax: There shall be an eco-contribution penalty on fast fashion items wherein textiles, clothes and accessories shall be given an environmental score. Products with bad scores shall incur a penalty of €5 per item, which has a scope of annually increasing by €1, extending to €10 per item by 2030. Sin taxes are imposed on those goods which are perceived as having a high social cost. By imposing what is effectively a sin tax on fast fashion, France is putting forth that buying such items is as unhealthy and ill-advised as buying substances like nicotine.
Investing into Home-Grown Companies: A portion of the money accumulated from the above-mentioned sin tax is set to be invested into environmentally friendly, sustainable French brands. This serves two purposes. It is a protectionist policy aimed at fostering a less competitive environment for domestic fashion brands to thrive. It is also a financial motivation factor meant to incentivise brands into developing more sustainable production practices. - Banning Fast Fashion Advertisements: The Bill aims to ban all advertising related to fast fashion brands and retailers in France. A large portion of sales for these companies are accumulated through offline advertisements on billboards and television and online advertisements on various social media platforms like X (previously Twitter), Instagram and TikTok. By putting an end to this, France would be restraining the wide reach of these retailers, thus limiting sales and creating space for more sustainable brands to take their place in the attention economy.
Conclusion
While the Bill still requires assent from the French Senate to become law, it has spurred a widespread conversation on sustainability in fashion and the role that a country’s legislature can safeguard and promote it. France’s anti-fast fashion bill is a much-needed initiative in today’s environmental landscape. By emphasising on limiting unethical and unsustainable production, encouraging transparency and fostering the growth of sustainable brands, France is setting an example for the world at large when it comes to regulating fast fashion
