The French fast fashion bill’s selective scrutiny

Apparel industry emissions jumped 7.5% in 2023, according to the Apparel Impact Institute and further derailing the industry from its 2030 climate goals. The institute attributes much of this increase to the growth of polyester production, closely linked to fast fashion. 

In this context, France’s parliament approved a bill to curb ultra-fast fashion, passed by the National Assembly (lower house) in 2024 and amended in June 2025. 

If implemented, the bill introduces several major measures: 

An essential part of the legislation is the distinguishment between “ultra-fast” and “classic” fast fashion. Although first coined in the 1990s by the New York Times to describe Inditex-owned Zara, the term has long been vague; the regulation now places it squarely in the spotlight.  

Senate targets   

The proposed bill from the French Senate (upper house) draws a sharp distinction between “classic” and “ultra-fast” fashion, defined largely by production volume. Under its current wording, still under negotiation with the National Assembly, classic fast fashion brands release roughly 1,000 new products per day to market, while ultra-fast fashion platforms produce closer to 12,000. The measure directly targets Shein and Temu. Shein lists more than 300,000 new products annually and generates an estimated 16.7m tonnes of carbon emissions, more than several countries. 

Shein has pushed back, stating, “Shein is not a fast fashion company,” and describing its model as “part of the solution, not the problem”. The Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) appears to agree, approving the company’s net-zero goals by 2050 in May 2025, along with its voluntary relocation to Singapore, which brings greater disclosure requirements. Nevertheless, many commentators remain skeptical as towhether such commitments can be achieved without cutting production volumes and fundamentally changing its business modelNotably, according to Fashion Revolution’s 2024 What Fuels Fashion report, 89%of brands in the industry do not disclose production figures. Campaigns such as the Or Foundation’s Speak Volumes campaign aim to change that, yet secrecy remains the norm. 

Geography matters  

The bill also draws a geographic boundary. The strictest advertising bans and surcharges apply only to non-European ultra-fast fashion platforms. European players such as H&M and Zara would face environmental disclosure obligations but avoid the toughest restrictions. Jean-François Longeot, chair of the Senate’s sustainability committee, has said the bill is designed to target companies such as Shein and Temu “without penalising the European ready-to-wear sector”. 

Critics have described this carve-out as hypocritical, viewing it as western protectionism against Chinese retailers. Arguably, Shein did not invent overproduction but accelerated it beyond the scale of established European brands, many of which, including Inditex-owned Lefties, continue to expand their presence in France.  

The debate ultimately highlights a deeper challenge: the absence of clear, consistent industry standards for defining “fast fashion” or “sustainable fashion”. As Vogue Business noted in its editorial Are You an Accidental Fast Fashion Brand?, assessing which companies are leading or lagging requires more nuanced criteria than production volume or geography alone. 

What’s the fibre mix? 

Beyond number of products, the material type, origin and processing treatment of a product itself are significant factors that determine its impact.  The Apparel Impact Institute identifies the surge in polyester production as a key driver of the fashion industry’s rising emissions, due to the material’s resource-intensive processing. Shein relied heavily on polyester in 2023, accounting for 75.5% of materials used. While there is a commitment to convert 31% of its polyester to recycled polyester in Shein-branded products by 2030, this still carries a number of significant emissions. 

That said, the Materials Market Report by Textile Exchange documented that polyester made up 57% of global fibre production in 2023 – a figure which suggests the usage goes far beyond ultra-fast or even “regular” fast fashion.  

Designed for circularity? 

Circular fashion seeks to keep garments in use for as long as possible, then recover their materials at end-of-life. The Ellen MacArthur’s Butterfly diagram illustrates this through two loops: the inner loop of durability, repair and resale, and the outer loop of recycling. 

Balancing these loops is challenging. Fibres that enhance durability, such as polyester blends, hinder recycling, whereas single-fibre fabrics are easier to recycle but wear out faster. A WRAP and Leeds Institute of Textiles and Colour study found more durable T-shirts often contained some synthetic fibres, arguably slowing overproduction. 

Shein has been critiqued for poor quality and harmful substances in garments that encourage a throw-away, rather than repair/recycle culture. Such concerns are not unique to the brand of course. A Which? Survey of UK high-street shoppers found many believe high street garment quality has declined over the past decade. While Shein is seen as accelerating this trend, it predates the Covid-19 pandemic and the brand’s rise to notoriety. 

Supply chain operations  

A commonly associated trait of fast fashion brands is the rapid switching of producers and squeezing of supplier margins. While Shein’s agility and lean operations allow it to shift orders at unprecedented speed, its Supplier Community Empowerment Program (SCEP) has already disbursed over US $33 million to related initiatives, with $37 million earmarked for investment before the end of 2028. 

Meanwhile, 63% of suppliers surveyed in Vogue Businesses’ 2025 Sustainability Leaders survey said that all brands expect them to advance sustainability efforts while continuing to squeeze margins. Better Buying 2025 Garment Industry Scorecard similarly found that progress on purchasing practices had stalled across the industry, particularly in planning and forecasting. 

Worker support?  

The squeeze on suppliers has serious implications for labour rights. Fast fashion has long been marked by labour exploitation and subcontracting, with intense pressure to meet targets often leading to unsafe working conditions. Shein has repeatedly faced investigations over human rights abuses in its supply chain, with Swiss human rights advocacy group Private Eye alleging that these issues persist despite the brand’s commitments. 

Without stronger due diligence and supply chain oversight – which have faced rollbacks under the EU Omnibus Directive simplification – regulatory pressure may simply shift further down the value chain, intensifying a “race to the bottom” in wages, workplace safety, and human rights protections. 

Additionally, as recent Made in Italy investigations show, subcontracting and illegal labour occur at all levels of the supply chain, regardless of price point. At the time of writing, luxury brands including LVMH-owned Loro Piana, Alviero Martini and Valentino remained under judicial administration, while investigations into Dior and Giorgio Armani were recently resolved. 

Reaching consumers 

The French Fast Fashion Regulation acknowledges the role of “overselling” in driving consumption. It specifically targets influencer-led trends and haul culture, in which individuals showcase and review large numbers of recently purchased items, as part of its efforts to curb unsustainable buying practices. Shein and Temu have accelerated consumption via direct-to-consumer models, hyper-targeted marketing, and gamified shopping. Yet many other brands also drive demand through clearance culture, with site-wide discounts and events including Black Friday, popularised in the US in the 1990s, normalising low prices and cyclical consumption. 

All that said, the need for affordable clothing remains critical. In the UK alone, 5.5 million adults experience clothing poverty, unable to afford basic everyday clothing. While fast fashion practices merit scrutiny, the challenge lies in improving garment quality while keeping clothing accessible and affordable. 

What’s next?  

The next steps for the bill are to notify the European Commission and convene a joint committee to reconcile the Senate and National Assembly versions before implementation. A key point still under debate is how “fast fashion” will be defined. 

Under a range of common fast fashion characteristics, regardless of geographical bias, Shein would be classified as a fast fashion company. But the lines between leaders and laggards are vaguer than most brands would like to admit. While other brands might argue they have pushed standards down in the industry through their ultra-competitive model, this doesn’t lead to any real improvement. 

Selective scrutiny risks creating blind spots. Regulation must drive measurable environmental and social improvements across all brands, not merely push actors into other markets or further squeeze workers. That means asking whether regulation spotlights a few visible offenders while letting others quietly continue with business as usual, and whether Shein, if held to account and willing to act on its commitments, could use its scale to set stronger standards as H&M have in several areas. 

Genuine leadership will not come from marketing copy or “othering” Shein and Temu. It will come from disclosing and cutting production volumes, building transparent and fair supply chains, and taking responsibility from design to disposal. Furthermore, at a time when the climate crisis is deepening vulnerabilities further, the rights of workers and their voice are essential to include. 

How the industry responds to this legislation will show whether fashion is ready to confront its systemic issues or keep treating them as the problem of a few outliers.