Juline Garnier / Photo credit: ROMAIN LONGIERAS / HANS LUCAS / HANS LUCAS VIA AFP 5:00 p.m., February 21, 2024

Several MPs want to tackle the “ultra fast-fashion” model thanks to a proposed law aimed at financially penalizing platforms selling low-cost, poor-quality clothing. Their objective: to create a “bonus-malus” on each item of clothing, which would help the French and European textile industry. Europe 1 explains.

Is this the end of t-shirts sold for less than five euros online? Several Chinese platforms which have built their economic model on the sale of low-end clothing, such as Shein or Temu, are in the sights of French deputies. The Horizons group will defend a bill in mid-March to financially penalize these companies. Other similar proposals have also emerged such as that of Dominique Potier (PS) or that of Antoine Vermorel-Marques (LR).

“This cost is the one inflicted on society”

One of the main measures that will be presented to the National Assembly is based on the creation of a “bonus-malus”. Concretely, for each item of clothing sold by these platforms, an additional five euros will be paid by the buyer, for example increasing the price of a t-shirt from three to eight euros on the site in France. And these five euros will be used to finance a “bonus” for textile companies which manufacture their clothes in France or in Europe, even if the exact amount of this bonus-malus will have to be debated.

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"The idea is to ensure that this ultra fast-fashion t-shirt sold and which does not respect our environmental standards, nor our health standards, nor our social standards, has an additional cost because this cost "is the one that it inflicts on society. And this to internalize it again in our production costs and thus encourage these manufacturers either to change or to leave our market because we consider that this is not virtuous." explains Antoine Vermorel-Marques, LR deputy for the Loire and member of the sustainable development and regional planning committee.

As a reminder, the principle of ultra fast-fashion is to offer several thousand new products per day on an online platform, without a physical store or stock of clothing stored in Europe. With extremely low prices - often less than ten euros per product - their aim is to encourage the consumer to buy not one but several products with each order, all sent directly from China by air. A strategy denounced by the MP in a video broadcast on TikTok parodying the fashion of "haul", these videos where Internet users reveal on camera the content of a clothing order made online.

@antoinevermorel42 €2 clothes that arrive by plane, contain substances harmful to health and end up on beaches in Africa, that's a no! I am submitting a bill to the National Assembly to introduce a bonus-malus in order to penalize brands and to encourage more virtuous approaches ♻️ #shein#sheinhaul#ecologie#fastfashion#stopshein#pourtoi#fyp @lookbookaly @menezangel_ @loufitlove @lila_drila @cilia.ghass @tifanywallemacq @veronika_cln @lia__toutcourt @iamm_mae.e@IAMM_MAE.E ♬ original sound - antoinevermorel

An “engine against job destruction”

“This is the model that we intend to fight against. For us, it is urgent to say stop, otherwise everything we are working on, on the circular economy, the sustainability of the product, the quality-price ratio, all this will collapse to the benefit of this economy which is not regulated,” explains the MP. “I think that this bonus-malus will be a real engine to avoid the destruction of jobs initially and perhaps ultimately an engine for job creation,” he adds.

Proposals viewed very favorably by professionals in the sector in France. Faced with Shein and its 5,000 new products published per day - some of which are created thanks to artificial intelligence - there is even question of the survival of the textile industry, according to Yann Rivoallan, president of the French Loan Federation. feminine wear. “Faced with consumer bulimia, we found an indicator there, a limit not to be exceeded,” he says happily.

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Stop consumer bulimia

He even sees a new vision of capitalism, focused on the protectionism of French and European industries. “If we don't do it, there will be repercussions in all areas: ecological, health, employment. Other sectors will end up going too, as is already the case with interior decoration in Temu” , denounces Yann Rivoallan. The goal is to reduce overconsumption and return to consumption levels before the emergence of these platforms. This is only a first step to improve the attractiveness of French and European brands.

“We are in an era of consumer frenzy. We see it with the consumption of videos on TikTok, which even creates addictions. It’s the same thing with the purchase of clothes on Shein. We must stop this,” insists the professional. As for LR deputy Antoine Vermorel-Marques, he assures us, he is open to voting on the bill from other deputies, such as those from the Horizons group. “The goal is to have an agreement quickly,” he concludes.