After years of debate, France's parliament has given final approval to a law designed to slow the rise of "ultra-fast fashion," taking direct aim at the online retailers shipping vast quantities of inexpensive clothing into Europe.
What the law does
Lawmakers definitively adopted the measure on June 29, France 24 reported. Its centerpiece is a rising environmental penalty — a "malus" — charged on each ultra-fast-fashion item, scheduled to climb to as much as 10 euros per product by 2030, though capped at half of the item's pre-tax price, according to Business of Fashion. The law also bans advertising for ultra-fast-fashion brands, including paid promotion by social-media influencers, and requires the companies to display messages on their sites encouraging shoppers to buy less and to reuse and repair clothes.
Crucially, the law defines "ultra-fast fashion" by the sheer volume of new items a retailer floods onto the market and by how cheap and hard to repair they are — a line drawn so that the rules bite hardest on the likes of Shein and Temu rather than on European chains such as Zara.
Still some steps to go
The bill now goes to President Emmanuel Macron to be signed into law within days, and it could still be referred to France's Constitutional Council for review. France must also notify the European Commission, which has signaled concern that the advertising ban may not fully comply with EU law — a question that could shape how forcefully the measure is ultimately enforced.
Why France acted
Supporters frame the law as both an environmental and an economic measure. The global fashion industry is a heavy consumer of water and a significant source of textile waste, and ultra-fast fashion — built on rapid, disposable trends — accelerates that churn. French lawmakers also cast the law as a shield for Europe's textile makers against a flood of low-cost imports, most of them shipped from China.
The companies and the critics
Shein said it would study the law once the detail is published and raised questions about how it squares with EU digital and e-commerce rules; Temu and AliExpress did not immediately comment. The legislation was not universally welcomed at home either: some left-wing lawmakers complained that the final text had been watered down from earlier versions and abstained from the vote.
France's move puts it ahead of the wider European Union, which has not adopted comparable restrictions but is separately reworking customs rules for the small, low-value parcels that fast-fashion sellers rely on. For now, the French law stands as an early test of whether governments can curb a business model built on speed, volume and rock-bottom prices.
