عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Fashion

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
TT
TT

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.

Most Viewed

 
 
Fashion

80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
TT
TT

80-year-old LL Bean Staple Finds New Audience as Trendy Bag

Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)
Gracie Wiener poses with some of her tote bags in Washington Square Park in New York, Wednesday, July 17, 2024, (AP Photo/Pamela Smith)

L.L. Bean created it 80 years ago to haul heavy blocks of ice. Now it's a must-have summer fashion accessory, The Associated Press reported.

The simple, sturdy canvas bag called the Boat and Tote is having an extended moment 80 years after its introduction, thanks to a social media trend in which they're monogrammed with ironic or flashy phrases.

New Yorker Gracie Wiener helped get it started by ordering her humble bags from L.L. Bean monogrammed with “Psycho” and then “Prada,” the pricey Italian luxury brand, instead of just her name or initials, and posting about them on Instagram. Then others began showcasing their own unique bags on TikTok.

Soon, it wasn’t enough to have a bag monogrammed with “Schlepper,” “HOT MESS,” “slayyyy” or “cool mom.” Customers began testing the limits of the human censors in L.L. Bean’s monogram department, which bans profanity “or other objectionable words or phrases,” with more provocative wording like “Bite me,” “Dum Blonde” and “Ambitchous.”

Social media fueled the surge, just as it did for Stanley’s tumblers and Trader Joe’s $2.99 canvas bags, which were once selling on eBay for $200, said Beth Goldstein, an analyst at Circana, which tracks consumer spending and trends.
The tote’s revival came at a time when price-conscious consumers were forgoing expensive handbags, sales of which have weakened, and L.L. Bean’s bag fit the bill as a functional item that’s trendy precisely because it’s not trendy, she said. L.L. Bean's regular bags top out at about $55, though some fancier versions cost upward of $100.
“There’s a trend toward the utilitarian, the simple things and more accessible price points,” she said, and the customization added to the appeal: “Status items don’t have to be designer price points.”

L.L. Bean’s tote was first advertised in a catalog as Bean’s Ice Carrier in 1944 during World War II, when ice chests were common. Then they disappeared before being reintroduced in 1965 as the Boat and Tote.

These days, they’re still made in Maine and are still capable of hauling 500 pounds of ice, but they are far more likely to carry laptops, headphones, groceries, books, beach gear, travel essentials and other common items.

Those snarky, pop-oriented phrases transformed them into a sassy essential and helped them spread beyond Maine, Massachusetts’ Cape Cod and other New England enclaves to places like Los Angeles and New York City, where fashionistas like Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker are toting them — but not necessarily brandished with ironic phrases.

“It’s just one of those things that makes people smile and makes people laugh, and it’s unexpected,” said Wiener, who got it all started with her @ironicboatandtote Instagram page, which she started as a fun side hustle from her job as social media manager for Air Mail, a digital publication launched by former Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter.

The folks at L.L. Bean were both stunned and pleased by the continuing growth. For the past two years, the Boat and Tote has been L.L. Bean’s No. 1 contributor to luring in new customers, and sales grew 64% from fiscal years 2021 to 2023, spokesperson Amanda Hannah said.

The surge in popularity is reminiscent of L.L. Bean’s traditional hunting shoe, the iconic staple for trudging through rain and muck, which enjoyed its own moment a few years back, driven by college students.