What: Even though it was not highly publicized, France has triggered a first round of regulations that are forcing changes across the fashion industry.

Why it is important: This echoes both the presentation of Laurent Raoul at the IADS 2022 General Assembly and the first 2023 CEO Talk with Sucharita Kodali. Department stores are not immune to the risk: most of them sell private labels too.

On the first of January, France enforced a new law, AGEC, making it mandatory for the biggest fashion players to provide shoppers with detailed information about environmental characteristics (the proportion of recycled material in a product, or where garments are sewn and material woven). LVMH confesses that there are gaps in every Maison when it comes to compliance with this new law.

According to Business of Fashion, fashion is not ready for such a ground-breaking regulation, which is also why the French law only applies to the largest players for now, in order to leave time for SMEs to adapt. All segments are involved and the reporter mentions that a visit to Nike’s or Zara’s website shows that they are also struggling to provide customers with the right amount of information.

This requires a change in the way things are operated but also shows that many things were not in control so far. The New York State is currently considering a similar regulation too.

Fashion is not ready for the regulation coming for it