France’s Anti-Fast Fashion Law: How the Fashion Capital is Leading Change

The recent French push to regulate fast fashion marks a decisive turn in how a country, whose capital city is known as the capital of fashion, uses laws and taxes to force a change, not only a regulatory one, but also on how to rethink an industry built on hyper-production and throwaway consumption. The result of the shift from voluntary sustainability to a more regulated market is a law that treats tax policy as a tool of environmental and social governance more than a budget-raising mechanism.

The Case Against Fast Fashion: Core Reasons for Regulation

The critics of fast fashion have been loud for many years. However, while environmentalists and representatives raised the first criticisms of the EU textile industry, dissatisfaction and concerns spread among regulators and legislators. Notably, all the criticism can be categorized as environmental damage from massive production volumes and short use cycles, social risks in opaque global supply chains, and market distortions that undercut more sustainable producers. 

In 2023, the EU Environment Committee adopted recommendations on measures to ensure textile products sold in the EU are more durable, easier to repair, reuse, and recycle, made predominantly from recycled fibers, and free from harmful substances. Additionally, the Committee emphasized that the production of clothes must respect human, social, and labor rights, as well as animal welfare and environmental standards throughout the supply chain. The key priority in achieving this is to end the mass production of low-quality, low-cost clothing. 

In its 2024 Briefing on the destruction of returned and unsold textiles in the EU's circular economy, the European Environment Agency outlined that 4-9% of all textile products placed on the EU market are destroyed before use, equivalent to 264,000 to 594,000 tonnes annually.

The same document states that online clothing returns are particularly high, averaging 20%, up to three times higher than in physical stores, with around one-third of these returns ultimately destroyed. Even though the data on unsold textiles is limited, the 2024 Briefing suggests that roughly 21% of textile products remain unsold, and about one-fifth of these unsold items are destroyed. 

From AGEC to 2025 Anti-Fast Fashion Law

The gradual introduction of related rules and regulations paved the way for the adoption and implementation of the Anti-Fast Fashion Law. In 2020, France adopted the Loi Anti-gaspillage pour une économie circulaire (AGEC), or the Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy.

The AGEC includes measures to phase out certain single-use plastic items, bans certain products, and promotes reuse, repair, and recycling. Additionally, this law supports initiatives such as a product repairability index and requires companies to handle unsold goods by reusing, donating, or recycling them. 

In other words, by underlining that producers must account for the lifecycle of products, AGEC set the frame and tone for the adoption of the 2025 Anti-Fast Fashion Law on June 10, 2025, which is considered one of the world's most ambitious attempts to regulate ultra-fast fashion. Nonetheless, the 2021 Climate and Resilience Law also plays a vital part in defining rules to reduce the environmental footprint of consumer goods, particularly textiles.

As stated by the French Senate, the global clothing market has reached unprecedented levels, with over 100 billion garments sold each year. Notably, annual sales in France rose by one billion over the past 10 years, totaling 3.3 billion items, or more than 48 items of clothing per person per year. The key issue with this rise is the environmental impact of the textile and clothing industry, which accounts for nearly 10% of the global greenhouse gas emissions.

The Three Pillars of French Anti-Fast Fashion Law

The French Anti-Fast Fashion Law has three main pillars: transparency and information, market access and communications, and taxation. Regarding the transparency and information, the Law requires that all items provide an eco-score and precise lifecycle data so consumers can see environmental impacts at the point of sale. 

Under the second pillar, French legislators altogether banned advertising ultra-fast fashion from January 1, 2026, including influencer and social media advertising. Those who breach this advertisement ban will face penalties of up to EUR 100,000.

The third pillar is directly related to the first and second, as it introduces an environmental tax tied to the eco-scores. The eco-tax will be imposed on a per-item basis and, in 2026, will be EUR 5, rising to EUR 10 by 2030, with a maximum of 50% of the retail price. An additional packaging tax of EUR 2 to EUR 4 will apply to light packages (under 2 kg) sent to France from outside the EU.

Why Regulators Are Zeroing In on SHEIN and Temu

If one were to think of who epitomizes the business model of extremely low item prices and a marketing ecosystem fuelled by social media, SHEIN and Temu are the first to come to mind. While the Law introduces concrete, historical rules for fast-fashion, legislators directly point to SHEIN and Temu as the main reasons the regulations are needed in the first place.

In May 2025, the European Commission launched an investigation against SHEIN in France, Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands, determining that this Chinese e-commerce giant has fake promotions, applies pressure techniques to encourage purchase, and provides misleading information concerning consumer rights, refund and return procedures, and the environmental characteristics of products. 

The battle between SHEIN and the French government escalated beyond investigation and Law adoption. On November 7, 2025, the French DGCCRF requested that SHEIN's online fast-fashion platform be suspended for 3 months due to the sale of illicit products on its platform. The request came just two days after SHEIN opened its first retail store worldwide in Paris.

Broader Implications of the Law

Environmental and packaging taxes tied to eco-scores and advertising bans that remove the key customer-acquisition channel are slowly eroding the low-price advantage that ultra-fast sellers rely on. However, this does not mean that fast fashion is the only one affected.

Even though mass-market companies such as Zara, H&M, and others are not directly affected by the Anti-Fast Fashion Law, the speed and volume of production, combined with cheap outsourced labour and production lines set up in China, could, in the long term, become an issue for these fashion companies. 

Another example of the impact this Law has on e-commerce-related businesses is the public notice released on October 15, 2025, by La Poste, the French national postal service, regarding the signing of an agreement with Temu. One of the main messages highlighted in the notice was that La Poste has been delivering Temu parcels since it arrived in France in 2023, that the agreement is a classic logistics services agreement, and that La Poste does not promote the arrival of Chinese goods in France.

Notably, the law could have a significant impact on the EU regulators as well. On September 30, 2025, the European Commission issued a detailed opinion about the French law, expressing reservations about aspects of the proposal and extending the standstill period by three months, until December 30, 2025. Nevertheless, once the Law comes into force, France will submit a report to the European Parliament presenting the results within a year. This means that the EU is paying close attention to this Law.

Conclusion

The French Anti-Fast Fashion Law is polarizing and creates tension between emerging e-commerce giants, customer expectations, and environmental protection and sustainability. However, France's strategy positions taxation at the forefront of environmental policy rather than treating it merely as a passive fiscal instrument. Whether these taxes will deliver genuine reductions in waste and emissions will depend on multiple factors. For now, the world's fashion capital is determined to make fast fashion more costly.

Source: French Government, French Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industrial, Energy and Digital Sovereignty, French Senate, European Parliament, EU Textiles Ecosystem Platform, European Environment Agency, Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy, La Poste Group, French Government Press Release