End fast-fashion’s impunity!

To the European Commission
This petition is run by [% inititator_name %]
Petition
Fast-fashion and ultra-fast-fashion brands like Shein, Temu, Primark, and Zara represent the worst of the fashion industry, and their practices cannot remain unpunished. We demand complete transparency for citizens regarding the real environmental impact of fast-fashion products.
We call on the European Commission to:
- Support the adoption of France’s environmental labelling methodology as it stands. This methodology evaluates the environmental impact of each product and highlights the excesses of fast fashion.
- Use this methodology as inspiration for calculating the environmental impact of clothing at the European level, as it is more effective than the current European methodology under development, which is overly influenced by private industry lobbies. This results in more favourable scores for fast-fashion products.
- Make this environmental labelling mandatory for all textiles and footwear sold in the European Union and enforce financial penalties for the most polluting products.
Why is this important?
Each year, 150 billion garments are produced around the world. [1]
This overproduction is driven by fast-fashion brands like Shein and Primark. These companies mass-produce cheap clothing at an astonishing speed, fueling an industry that is the second-biggest consumer of water, exploits workers in Asia with impunity and accounts for 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A single polyester dress, made from fossil fuels, can take up to 200 years to decompose, while synthetic fabrics shed up to 500,000 tons of microplastics into the ocean each year. [2] [3]Â
Fast fashion has a hidden cost that is not reflected in the purchase price!
But there are possible solutions out there. In response to this crisis, France has proposed an environmental scoring system that accurately reflects fast fashion’s excessive environmental impact and the cost of its aggressive marketing tactics.
This clothing score would allow consumers to make informed decisions about the ecological impact of their purchases. It is also the foundation of France’s anti-fast-fashion law.
Therefore, while France is making progress in legislation, it is crucial for the European Union to follow suit to ensure harmonised practices for all Member States.
And do so quickly, before it is too late.Â
Because, just as we are writing this, an alternative scoring system, inefficient and unsustainable, is being discussed at the European level. This scoring is dominated by fast-fashion industry lobbies like H&M and Zara. If adopted as currently proposed, this measure would be both cruel and misleading, benefiting only those who prioritise profit over the planet and its people. For example, under this system, an organic cotton T-shirt could receive a worse rating than a polyester one! [4]Â
Join us in this fight for a fairer and more sustainable fashion industry!
What is Fast Fashion?
Fast fashion refers to brands that mass-produce low-quality, cheap clothing at an extremely fast pace. They constantly renew their collections using aggressive marketing strategies, polluting materials, and exploiting cheap labor in countries with poor labor rights protections.
References:
- https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/jan/18/its-the-industrys-dirty-secret-why-fashions-oversupply-problem-is-an-environmental-disaster
- https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment
- https://iucn.org/resources/publication/primary-microplastics-oceans
- https://clothingresearch.oslomet.no/wp-content/uploads/sites/1026/2023/02/Background-paper-on-PEF.pdf
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