With great gusto, the French government is building a new ecological model where the sustainability specifications of consumer products, such as garments, shoes and home textiles, are clearly flagged to shoppers. The broader vision behind new legislation is that industry and consumers will gradually switch away from the wastefulness of linear consumption, towards more sustainable, circular ways of living, which in turn supports France’s ambitious carbon reduction targets. 

Customers will have access to environmental information, revealing how the item was made, what from, and how easy it is to recycle. 

A French anti-waste law designed to support the circular economy came into force this month. Large fashion brands must now comply with a new protocol for environmental labelling, making information on the environmental qualities and characteristics of a product available to consumers at the point of sale and after sale. This covers the product’s recyclability, traceability of textiles, and the presence of plastic microfibres. Certain environmental claims such as ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘biodegradable’ are banned from product information.