The Senate approves a bill targeting the giant Shein

The text must still be the subject of an agreement between senators and deputies in joint joint committee.

A year after the National Assembly, the Senate adopted a bill to slow down the rise of “Fast Fashion”, this ultra ephemeral fashion embodied by the giant Shein and its low -cost clothes sent by millions from China. The text of the deputy Horizons Anne-Cécile Violand, supported by the government, was approved unanimously, Tuesday, June 10. To be implemented, he must now be the subject of a deputy-student agreement during a joint joint committee expected in the fall. In the meantime, the European Commission has been notified and has been able to send observations to France on this sometimes complex file.

Penalties for polluting companies, prohibited advertising, obligations for platforms, influencers sanctioned … The bill sets up a whole range of tools to limit an expanding phenomenon, that of “fast fashion”, sometimes baptized mode “ultra ephemeral” or even “ultra express”, term retained by the Senate. “This text has two ambitions: protect our environment and protect our business”praised before the senators Véronique Louwagie, Minister of Consumery.

Particularly targeted by senators, the Shein platform. The company based in Singapore is distinguished from historic actors of the textile industry by the multiplication of its products. A surge of 7,220 new references per day on average, according to an analysis carried out by AFP from May 22 to June 5. A figure to compare with some 290 new daily references in the “Women’s clothing” category, and 50 in that “Men’s clothing”, of the H&M site, a traditional actor in the sector. The ambition of the Senate and Government is therefore to target Shein rather than H&M, Zara or Kiabi.

“We have drawn a clear line between those we want to regulate, ultra express mode (…) and those we want to preserve: accessible but rooted fashion, which employs in France, which structures our territories, which creates the link and supports a local economic fabric”Hammed the Senator Les Républicains Sylvie Valente Le Hir, a rapporteur on the text.