{"id":114639,"date":"2022-08-29T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T05:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=114639"},"modified":"2022-08-22T11:28:53","modified_gmt":"2022-08-22T09:28:53","slug":"france-plans-fashion-revolution-with-climate-impact-labels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/france-plans-fashion-revolution-with-climate-impact-labels\/","title":{"rendered":"France plans fashion revolution with climate-impact labels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

Is it better for the environment if you buy a brand-new cotton T-shirt or a recycled one?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, it depends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recycling has apparent benefits, but the process shortens cotton fibres and so usually has to be mixed with some oil-based material to keep it from falling apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such trade-offs make it tricky to figure out the real sustainability rating of clothes \u2014 but brands in Europe will soon have no choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next year, France will pass a decree that will require every item of clothing sold in the country to carry a label detailing its precise climate impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An exact timetable has yet to be finalised, but the labels are expected to quickly become mandatory, and the European Union is mulling a similar rule for the entire bloc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For clothing firms, that means juggling many different and conflicting data points: Where and how were its raw materials grown? What was used to colour it? How far did it travel? Was the factory powered with solar energy or coal?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The French Agency for Ecological Transition (Ademe) is currently testing 11 proposals for how to collect and compare data \u2014 and what the resulting label might look like to consumers \u2014 using 500 real-life clothing items.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe message of the law is clear \u2014 it will become obligatory, so brands need to prepare, to make their products traceable, to organise the automatic collection of data,\u201d Erwan Autret, one of the coordinators at Ademe, told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome say the models are too simple, some say they\u2019re too complicated, but it\u2019s a sign of the maturity of the debate that no one questions the need for these calculations anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Transparent and informed\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The need for change in fashion is urgent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistics are notoriously hard to verify, but the UN says the industry is responsible for 10 percent of global carbon emissions, as well as a significant portion of water consumption and waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Labels can be a key part of the solution, say campaigners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will force brands to be more transparent and informed\u2026 to collect data and create long-term relationships with their suppliers \u2014 all things they\u2019re not used to doing,\u201d said Victoire Satto, of The Good Goods, a media agency focused on sustainable fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now it seems infinitely complex,\u201d she added. \u201cBut we\u2019ve seen it applied in other industries such as medical supplies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing how the winds are blowing, the textile industry has been racing to come up with technical solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A recent presentation by Premiere Vision, a Paris-based textiles conference, highlighted many new processes including non-toxic leather tanning, dyes drawn from fruits and waste \u2014 and even biodegradable underwear that can be thrown on the compost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the key to sustainability is using the right fabric for the right garment, said Ariane Bigot, Premiere Vision\u2019s deputy head of fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means synthetic and oil-based fabrics will still have a place, she said: \u201cA strong synthetic with a very long lifespan might be right for some uses, such as an over-garment that needs little washing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capturing all these trade-offs in one simple label on an item of clothing is therefore tricky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very complicated,\u201d said Bigot. \u201cBut we need to get the machine started.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainable options<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The French agency is due to collate the results of its testing phase by next spring before handing the results to lawmakers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While many welcome the labels, activists say this should only be part of a wider crackdown on the fashion industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really good to put an emphasis on life-cycle analysis but we need to do something about it beyond just labels,\u201d said Valeria Botta, of the Environmental Coalition on Standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe focus should be on setting clear rules on product design to ban the worst products from the market, ban the destruction of returned and unsold goods, and set production limits,\u201d she told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConsumers should not have to fight to find a sustainable option \u2014 that should be the default.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is it better for the environment if you buy a brand-new cotton T-shirt or a recycled one? Well, it depends. Recycling has apparent benefits, but the process shortens cotton fibres and so usually has to be mixed with some oil-based material to keep it from falling apart. Such trade-offs make it tricky to figure out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","nova_meta_subtitle":"Next year, France will pass a decree that will require every item of clothing sold in the country to carry a label detailing its precise climate impact","footnotes":""},"categories":[17143],"tags":[13445,12621,12810,19010,10453,11857],"supplier":[4077,20903],"class_list":["post-114639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-recycling","tag-clothing","tag-cotton","tag-fibers","tag-oilbased","tag-recycling","tag-sustainable","supplier-ademe","supplier-the-good-goods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114639\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114639"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=114639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}