France takes the fight to fast fashion (and four ways you can too)

By Sarah Currie-Halpern

What will it take to curb the environmental crisis caused by fast fashion? In France, the answer is the full power of the law. This June, the French Senate passed a bill aimed at low-cost and low-quality clothing retailers like Shein and Temu. The bill introduces new regulations intended to limit overconsumption, mitigate ecological damage, and bring consumers back to French clothing businesses.

The bill’s approach is three-pronged. It bans fast fashion advertisements and sanctions influencers who promote the products. It mandates an “eco-score,” a new system that calculates the environmental impact of a product by measuring emissions, resource use, and recyclability. It then taxes the lowest-scoring products between five and ten euros per product, with a maximum taxation amount of 50% of the original price.

This legislation is one of the most ambitious of its kind, but critics say it doesn’t go far enough. The bill is specifically targeted at “ultra” fast fashion brands like the Chinese ecommerce giants Shein and Temu, and exempts French and European brands like Zara, H&M, and Kiabi.

Ushma and Sarah, Co-Founders of Think Zero in front of a secondhand shop in NYC, are advocates of buying and selling secondhand clothing

The bill’s significant exemptions means that French consumers aren’t off the hook when it comes to individual responsibility. Remarkably, that’s where another French success story is actively unfolding. This April, the secondhand marketplace Vinted topped the list of most clothing sold by volume in France, surpassing giants like Amazon, Shein, and Adidas. In other words, the biggest clothing retailer in France isn’t a retailer in any traditional sense—it’s a digital peer-to-peer marketplace where people buy and sell secondhand from one another.

What’s happening in France could be the beginning of a larger shift. Fast fashion nevertheless remains an ecological disaster that must be addressed at home in our own wardrobes. While we wait for France to go bigger and the rest of the world to catch up, here are four ways to do your part:

Avoid the worst offenders

Some of the most egregious fast fashion offenders can be easy to spot. Several dozen pages of polyester dresses for $20 or less? That’s a dead giveaway. Sleek mall displays, however, can hide a mountain of waste (and unethical labor practices), and that’s where resources and blogs like Good On You and Sustainably Chic come in handy. Their regular roundups of brands to avoid and good alternatives make handy guides when it’s time for a wardrobe refresh.

Afends' hemp clothing from Australia

Secondhand first, every time

It has never been easier or more chic to buy secondhand. Vinted, Poshmark, and ThredUp make buying (and, in some cases, selling your own stuff) a breeze. Secondhand has even taken over high fashion through sites like Vestaire Collective and The RealReal. With authentication services that keep customers from getting scammed with a clever knockoff, there really are no more excuses for buying new.

Try in-store before you buy online

One of the biggest culprits of garment waste is online returns. Customers buy multiple sizes of one garment, keep the one that fits best, and return the rest. That returned merchandise doesn’t necessarily live happily ever after with the next buyer. The returns logistics company Otoro estimates that online retailers are only able to resell roughly half of the returns they receive, meaning the other half goes in the dumpster. An in-store dressing room can keep a perfectly good outfit from going to waste. Sometimes doing your part is as simple as pulling the curtain shut.

Pay attention to fabrics

Man wearing a wool blazer and cotton shirt

Don’t just be mindful of the brand. Fabrics matter, particularly when it comes to micro plastic waste. Synthetic fabrics shed tiny plastic fibers into the washing machine every time they’re washed. These fibers poison our waterways, oceans, and soil. Natural fibers like wool, cotton, linen, and hemp are not only micro plastic-free but often more breathable and durable than their synthetic alternatives.

No single shopping choice or piece of legislation will end fast fashion, but every personal decision that reduces demand, keeps wearable clothes out of the landfill, and prevents micro plastic fiber shedding matters. In 2025, anywhere in the world, that’s the kind of French revolution you can have right at home.