France Passed A Law To Penalize Shein And Ban Influencers From Promoting Fast Fashion.

France's Parliament definitively passed its long-awaited anti-fast-fashion law on June 29th after more than two years of legislative battles, EU notification requirements, standstill periods, and heated debate between environmental advocates, trade associations, and fashion industry federations about who the law should actually target and how far it should go. The final text defines fast fashion using two cumulative criteria: the sheer volume of clothing a brand places on the market and the ratio between a product's price and what it costs to repair it, a formula designed to capture the business model of ultra-fast platforms like Shein, Temu, and AliExpress without ensnaring French and European brands in the same net. Under the law, brands that meet those criteria will face a per-item fee on each garment they sell, with the fee set to increase over time, and will be prohibited from advertising in France, including through social media influencers, a provision that targets one of the primary channels through which these platforms have built their enormous audiences among younger consumers.

The legislative journey began in March 2024 when the National Assembly passed the bill unanimously at first reading, but the road from there to final adoption stretched across two years of negotiations, EU obligations, and Brussels-mandated delays. Shein was already fined 22 million euros by French fraud authorities in June for non-compliance with existing consumer protection law, and proceeds from penalties under the new law are intended to fund sustainable fashion initiatives and recycling infrastructure. France's Minister Delegate for Ecological Transition Mathieu Lefèvre welcomed the law as blazing a trail and said it struck the right balance by not making consumers feel guilty while still protecting French jobs. Yann Rivoallan, president of the French Federation of Women's Ready-to-Wear, who had led the industry's campaign against Shein for three years, called the adoption a huge collective victory. The law must now be formally promulgated by the President of the Republic within 15 days, and if enacted it will make France the first country in the world to impose a specific financial penalty on the ultra-fast fashion business model.

Source:https://ww.fashionnetwork.com/news/Anti-fast-fashion-law-finally-passes-in-france,1848154.html