On January 1, France made it mandatory for the biggest fashion companies to provide buyers with detailed information on environmental characteristics, such as the percentage of recycled material in a product, where the garments are sewn, and the materials are woven.

AGEC: what is it?

France’s new requirements fall under the country’s Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy, or AGEC, which aims to push companies towards more circular production and shoppers towards more responsible consumption habits.

Duties and fines

This year, the law will be released in stages, applying to companies that sell more than 25,000 items per year, and generate revenues of over 50 million euros ($54 million) in the country.

Penalties for non-compliance will result in fines measured as a percentage of global brand revenues and lawsuits.

Being caught off guard is becoming riskier for brands, not to mention that several of them are already facing lawsuits over alleged misleading environmental claims.

The law requires brands to provide consumers with much more transparency about supply chains regarding:

• trace the countries where the materials come from;
• environmental impact of the materials used;
• define the essential granular data for the needs of environmental impact fashion.

Read this article with all the information your consumers need to have.

AGEC: let’s take an example

If a brand says a T-shirt is made of recycled material, it will need to disclose the proportion that is recycled. 
If more than 50 percent of a garment is made of synthetic fibers, it needs to carry a warning that it will shed microfibres in the wash.

There are strict guidelines governing whether a company can claim an item is recyclable, and brands are required to publish the country where a product is made, where the core material it contains is processed and manufactured, etc.

“We have a gap in every maison,” said LVMH environmental deputy director, Alexandre Capelli. “A quick scan of many major players’ French websites shows mixed uptake so far and highlights some of the complexity involved. A pair of leggings for sale at Nike are promoted as mostly recycled, but there’s no percentage breakdown of the recycled content. A black polyester “skort” for sale at Zara offers up details of manufacturing locations but misses any information about the risk of microfibre shedding in the wash. A synthetic Louis Vuitton jersey dress doesn’t carry a similar warning because the garment is dry-cleaned only, LVMH said.”

Alexandre Capelli, LVMH environmental deputy director

credits: Paris good fashion

How to find out if you are compliant with the law?

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