About this Episode
France has become the first country to introduce a specific law targeting ultra-fast fashion, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of a business model built around producing huge numbers of cheap clothes at extraordinary speed.
The law was officially published in July, and its first major measure came into force on September 1: an environmental malus on products from ultra-fast-fashion brands. In 2026, the charge can reach €12 per item, capped at 50% of its pre-tax price. By 2030, it can rise to €20.
The system is designed to target products from companies that put enormous numbers of new items on the market while offering little incentive to repair or keep them for longer. The money collected will help finance textile collection, sorting, reuse, repair and recycling.
The law also introduces new transparency requirements, including information about a product’s environmental and social impacts and where it was manufactured. From January 2027, advertising for ultra-fast-fashion products will also be restricted, including influencer promotions, although some provisions remain subject to European legal scrutiny.
The measure is largely aimed at the ultra-fast-fashion model used by platforms such as Shein and Temu, rather than traditional European fashion retailers.
The idea is simple: if a business model encourages people to buy huge quantities of clothes that are quickly discarded, some of its environmental cost should no longer be invisible.
France is now testing whether putting a price on that cost can help make disposable fashion less disposable.
