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French Parliament Votes to Slow Down Fast Fashion

France is taking aim at fast fashion, especially from China. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
France is taking aim at fast fashion, especially from China. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
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French Parliament Votes to Slow Down Fast Fashion

France is taking aim at fast fashion, especially from China. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP
France is taking aim at fast fashion, especially from China. Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP

France's parliament on Thursday backed a string of measures making low-cost fast fashion, especially from Chinese mass producers, less attractive to buyers.
The vote makes France the first country in the world "legislating to limit the excesses of ultra fast fashion", said Christophe Bechu, minister for the ecological transition.
Key measures include a ban on advertising for the cheapest textiles, and an environmental charge slapped on low-cost items, AFP said.
The French clothes market has been flooded with cheap imported clothes, while several homegrown brands have declared bankruptcy.
But the main arguments put forward by Horizons -- the party allied to President Emmanuel Macron submitting the draft law -- were environmental.
"Textile is the most polluting industry," said Horizons deputy Anne-Cecile Violland, saying the sector accounted for 10 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and was a major polluter of water.
She singled out Chinese company Shein and its "7,200 new clothing items per day" as a prime example of intensive fashion production.
France will apply criteria such as volumes of clothes produced and turnover speed of new collections in determining what constitutes fast fashion, according to the law.
Once the law comes into force -- which still requires a vote in the Senate -- precise criteria will be published in a decree.
Fast fashion producers will be forced to inform consumers about the environmental impact of their output.
A surcharge linked to fast fashion's ecological footprint of five euros ($5.45) per item is planned from next year, rising to 10 euros by 2030. The charge cannot, however, exceed 50 percent of an item's price tag.
Violland said the proceeds from the charge would be used to subsidize producers of sustainable clothes, allowing them to compete more easily.
A measure to limit advertising for fast fashion was also approved, although conservative lawmaker Antoine Vermorel-Marques remarked that "a ban on advertising for textiles, especially fashion, spells the end of fashion".
An initiative brought by left-wing and Green party deputies to include minimum penalties for producers breaking the rules as well as import quotas and stricter workplace criteria in the industry into the new law was struck down.
High-end fashion is a cornerstone of the French economy thanks to leading global luxury brands like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Hermes, Dior and Cartier.
But the French lower-end fashion segment has lost ground to European rivals Zara, H&M and, more recently, to Chinese behemoths Shein and Temu.

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Fashion

Estee Lauder Beats Quarterly Sales Estimates, to Cut More Jobs

Estee Lauder beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter sales on Friday. (Getty Images via AFP)
Estee Lauder beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter sales on Friday. (Getty Images via AFP)
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Estee Lauder Beats Quarterly Sales Estimates, to Cut More Jobs

Estee Lauder beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter sales on Friday. (Getty Images via AFP)
Estee Lauder beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter sales on Friday. (Getty Images via AFP)

Cosmetics maker Estee Lauder beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter sales on Friday, driven by improving sales in China ‌and Europe ‌as CEO ‌Stephane ⁠de La Faverie's turnaround ⁠plan takes hold, sending its shares up 16% premarket.

The company, which has ⁠been in talks ‌to ‌merge with Jean ‌Paul Gaultier-owner Puig, posted ‌quarterly sales of $3.71 billion, compared with analysts' estimates of $3.69 billion, according to ‌data compiled by LSEG.

The company ⁠also ⁠revised its job cut target to a range of 9,000 to 10,000 from the previously estimated range of 5,800 to 7,000.

Fashion

Armani 2025 Revenue Fell 2.8%, CEO Hasn't Met Potential Buyers

FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
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Armani 2025 Revenue Fell 2.8%, CEO Hasn't Met Potential Buyers

FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)
FILE - Actress Cate Blanchett, from left, designer Giorgio Armani, and actress Julia Roberts pose for photographers upon arrival at the British Fashion Awards in central London, Dec. 2, 2019. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)

Italian fashion group Armani said on Wednesday its revenue fell 2.8% at constant exchange rates last year, weighed by a weak performance of its wholesale channel.

In 2025, the company's revenue totaled 2.2 billion euros ($2.57 billion), while total turnover, including direct licensee sales, was 4 billion euros.

"We face a possible structural change in the approach to luxury and fashion ⁠by current consumers ⁠and potential, which must be taken into account," Reuters quoted Armani group CEO Giuseppe Marsocci as saying in a statement.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) rose 3.2% year-on-year to 152.7 million euros, while operating ⁠profit increased 2% to 52.6 million euros.

Trends in the first months of 2026 were in line with the previous year, with unfavorable currency movements weighing on performance.

Giorgio Armani, the group's founder who died last September, instructed his heirs to sell an initial stake in the company to players such as L'Oreal, EssilorLuxottica and French ⁠luxury ⁠giant LVMH.

In an interview with Italy's Sole 24 Ore published on Wednesday, Marsocci said there was no update on the group's shareholding structure, adding that interest in the Armani group remained strong.

"We have not started meetings with the three potential buyers, and there are no tensions among the family members," Marsocci said in a separate interview with WWD magazine.

Fashion

Ferragamo Expands Leather Mapping Efforts as EU Sustainability Rules Take Shape

James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
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Ferragamo Expands Leather Mapping Efforts as EU Sustainability Rules Take Shape

James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
James Ferragamo, a chief product officer for the Salvatore Ferragamo group, talks with journalists during an interview with the Associated Press, in Milan, Italy, Wednesday, April 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Italian luxury brand Ferragamo said it can map the country of origin for much of the leather used to make its coveted footwear and handbags, a first step in traceability according to experts.

The announcement comes during a wave of European Union sustainability rules that are increasing pressure on fashion brands to account for materials in their supply chains.

The family-run and publicly traded fashion house has been issuing sustainability reports for over a decade, but the 2025 report released March 31 is the first that contains figures on material traceability — notably for leather, which experts say is harder to trace than textile fibers such as cotton.

“We have been using leather in a more sustainable way,’’ James Ferragamo, the brand’s chief product officer and grandson of founder Salvatore Ferragamo, told The Associated Press in an interview last week. “I think it is one of the more sustainable materials in my point of view.”

Most of the tanneries working with the brand “control their water, have fair treatment of the workforce, monitor their supply chain ensuring that they’re buying leather from those who are not deforesting, and taking the right approach also in terms of breeding and animal welfare,” he said.

Traceability in fashion sustainability Traceability of materials is considered a first and necessary step for the fashion industry, which is facing a new EU framework that will require brands and their suppliers to ensure the items they produce are sustainable from the drawing board to end-of-life disposal. Precise terms are still being defined and compliance will be phased in over the coming years.

“Traceability is an essential factor, but it’s not sufficient,’’ said Francesca Romana Rinaldi, a sustainability expert and director of the Monitor for Circular Fashion at SDA Bocconi School of Management. “It enables the implementation of sustainability and circularity.”

She said that any company that is not tracing their materials “doesn’t know their supply chain” and “could be also criticized for greenwashing.”

EU regulations and directives are moving toward full circularity of materials to include measures extending the life cycle of garments, accessories and footwear through repairs and end-of-life management, including recycling and upcycling, she said.

The EU is also phasing in restrictions on destroying unsold apparel, accessories and footwear produced by companies with more than 250 employees and more than 40 million euros ($46.8 million) in annual revenues.

From breeding to assembly The family-run fashion house was founded in 1927 by Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence, after his return from Hollywood, where he had established himself as shoemaker to the stars with clients including Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland. Material scarcity during World War II pushed Ferragamo to experiment with alternatives, substituting wicker for leather and using cork for soles, the younger Ferragamo said.

In keeping with its origins, Ferragamo remains primarily a footwear and leather goods maker. Together, they comprised 86% of 2025 sales of 976.5 million euros ($1.1 billion).

Ferragamo launched its initiative on leather traceability with the calf leather used for its Fiamma bag, tracing it from breeding to assembly, the group announced in its 2024 annual report.

In 2025, Ferragamo enlisted tanneries supplying 80% of the hides it buys in a project to identify the country of origin of raw materials through supplier declarations. When including textiles such as cotton, silk and nylon, the company says 81% of its materials are certified under third-party sustainability standards.

“Today there is not one single solution, one single technological solution to trace the leather to the birth farm of the cows,’’ said Davide Triacca, Ferragamo’s sustainability director. “We got to that result through a very dedicated and consistent approach and today we are able to trace more than 80% of the entire leather that we supply and the vast majority of which comes from Europe.”

The EU does not require leather to be traceable. Sustainability experts underscore that approaches based on country-level mapping and supplier declarations do not establish a full chain of custody and instead reflect an early stage of traceability.

Ferragamo previously included a capsule collection with silky textiles made from orange fibers in 2017, one of its first research investments. More recently it used nylon from castor oil instead of fossil oil for a men’s tote bag, and its Back to Earth collection featured the brand’s trademark Hug handbag treated with vegetable dyes.

“Research keeps on going. It’s something that we’re doing all the time,'' Ferragamo said.

“We’re trying to find different ways of creating different materials. And sometimes the materials that we produce are not ready for market. But it doesn’t mean that we don’t experiment.”