Landfilling, eco-toxic chemicals, a rising carbon footprint, and endless consumption. The modern clothing industry imposes a huge burden on the planet. But the EU is taking action. In October 2025, a new law came into force that makes it more costly for producers to sell unsustainable clothing in European markets.
Producer responsibility
According to the law, all EU member states must establish producer responsibility schemes for textiles and footwear. In concrete terms, this means that clothing producers will pay a fee according to the environmental impacts of their products. Product sustainability will be judged according to an eco-score ranking system. This score measures whether a product is repairable and recyclable, as well as the impact of manufacturing on the environment.
Hence, the EU law aims to cut not just end-of-life waste but all kinds of sustainability impacts through the entire supply chain. Member states have 30 months after the law comes into force to establish such schemes. The money collected from the sustainability tax will fund the collection, sorting, and preparation of used textiles for recycling or re-use.
Producer pays
The EU aims to shift responsibility for sustainably managing textile waste away from the consumer and towards the producer. This principle is known as Extended Producer Responsibility (‘EPR’). This is something that experts have long recommended, to reduce the immense environmental damage associated with fashion. The law gives firms a clear incentive to make more sustainable products. Producers of greener producers will have a better chance at competing on the market.
The law actively supports the build-out of alternatives. The fee collected from producers will fund information campaigns, educating consumers on sustainable textiles and footwear. It will also go towards greener manufacturing. This law should have far-reaching ripple effects through the supply chain. Producers will try to keep their EPR taxes low and reach for lower-carbon materials. We expect a wave of new demand for all kinds of biobased good;, from circular fibre to low-carbon dyes. And it will provide a boost for recycling firms that specialise in turning used textiles into new products.
France to tax fast fashion
France has been the quickest to embed the EU anti-waste law into national laws through its ‘anti-fast fashion’ bill. Under the bill every item sold by so-called ‘ultra-fast’ fashion brands in France will incur a €5 tax, increasing to €10 by 2030. The surcharge will be capped at 50% of the item’s retail price to maintain affordability.
How much producers pay will depend on their products’ eco-scores; based on an existing calculation tool used for the voluntary environmental scoring of textile products. The fines collected from ultra-fast fashion companies will be spent on supporting French sustainable fashion producers. The law is now being revised to comply with EU law and could be implemented early 2026.
Fashion protectionism
In a country wracked with political fissures, the anti-fast fashion bill has attracted striking consensus. On closer inspection, France has just the right conditions in place for an anti-fast fashion backlash. Low-cost and mass-produced clothing has swamped the French market. Between 2010 and 2023, the value of advertised products in the fast fashion sector in France grew from 2.3 billion euros to 3.2 billion euros.
Fashion is a major contributor to GDP in France. This includes domestic high street brands as well as the renowned luxury fashion houses, which still sustains a relatively large artisanal workforce. Lower-cost foreign competitors are a threat to this domestic industry. This is why the issue has been championed not just by the ecological left and the centre, but also by the French right-wing.
‘Ultra-fast’ fashion faces extra burden
Under its current wording, some of the bill’s rules would only apply to Chinese brands such as Shein or Temu, but not French and European fast-fashion companies. All clothing producers will be subject to product taxes based on their eco-scores. However, ultra-fast fashion platforms Shein and Temu will additionally face a ban on advertising, including the influencer-led advertising that drives so much of their revenue.
This two-tier application of the law results from a distinction in the bill between ‘classical’ and ‘ultra-fast’ fashion. What counts as ‘ultra-fast’ producers remains imprecise; but a final legal definition will likely set the bar so high that only Chinese companies with massive economies of scale will qualify. European fast fashion brand will likely be exempt from some rules as they will fall short of this threshold. Many see this as a way of protecting domestic producers from Chinese firms, including domestic French brands like Naf Naf, Kookaï, and Jennyfer; or bigger European firms like H&M and Zara.
A boost for circular firms
Despite the selective nature of France’s legislation, it is still a significant step that will provide a welcome boost for circular firms around the world. Some of the startups to benefit will be close to home. For example, Reju is a French-owned textile recycling startup that recently announced plans to build their first industrial-scale plants in France. The changing laws will also benefit US firms like Circ, which is building a commercial plant in France.
Yet many companies in the business of clothes recycling are pointing out that they need more support from the EU if they are to build enough infrastructure required to reach circular policy goals. This is the message from the European Circular Textile Coalition established in response to the EU law. They argue that the EU must support companies like them, with the tech and know-how to carry out recycling and help the region get the most out of its discarded textiles.
Support
The group wants government support for textile recyclers; but also for often overlooked parts of the circular fashion supply chain, like sorting and collection, or for companies that specialise re-introducing recycled textiles back onto the market. The EU is also being called on to address the impacts which its new law will have on developing countries, which play a huge role in upcycling, repairing, and re-selling discarded textiles originating from northern markets.
Non-profits representing secondhand textile markets on the African continent are calling for EU countries to send a portion of their producer fees to the countries responsible for sorting and re-selling unwanted textiles. This would be to fund better recycling infrastructure in these countries, acknowledging the continuing role that they will play until the EU builds domestic capacity.
The EU and France are leading the way in incentivising companies to produce more sustainably and more durably. The next part of the puzzle for Europe will be expanding regional recycling capacity so it can turn its growing supply of low-quality, used textiles into high-quality goods at industrial scale.
Author
Diederik van der Hoeven
Source
Supplier
European Union
French Presidency
Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M)
Kookaï
Naf Naf
Shein
Temu
Zara
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