Temps de lecture : 10 minutes
Written byManoëlle Dousson
Fast fashion, Shein, and anti-fast fashion law: what if we finally switched to circular fashion?
Every year in the European Union, 12 million tons of textiles are thrown away – new or used (All of Europe, 2025). This represents about12kg of textile waste per person per year.
En parallèle, l’industrie textile mondiale vend plus de 100 milliards de vêtements chaque année et génère près de 4 milliards de tonnes de CO₂e – plus que l’aviation internationale et le transport maritime réunis selon certaines estimations.
For a long time, these figures remained abstract. But recent news –record fines against Shein, French “anti-fast fashion” law, new European rules on textiles– shows that a turning point is underway: the disposable fashion model is now openly challenged.
What if we concretely movedfrom a linear economy to a circular fashion economy? ?
What to remember
- A model at the end of its rope: fast fashion has become ultra-fast fashion, with millions of tons of clothing produced and discarded each year, a massive dependence on oil (synthetic fibers), and repeated health and social scandals.
- A major regulatory turning point: the CSRD, the European textile strategy, the textile REP, and the French “anti-fast fashion” law are gradually makingthe model based on overproduction, greenwashing, and opacitymore costly and risky.
- A competitive advantage for responsible players: brands and marketplaces capable ofprovingtheir CSR performance (traceability, eco-design, working conditions, chemical management) will be the ones thatgain the trustof customers, regulators, and investors.
- La mode circulaire comme horizon stratégique : seconde main, location, réparation, upcycling, scoring RSE… Passer d’un modèle linéaire à un modèle circulaire n’est plus un “nice to have”, mais un choix stratégique pour sécuriser son business model et répondre aux attentes des consommateurs comme des régulateurs.
De la fast fashion à l’ultra fast fashion : Shein, symptôme d’un système à bout de souffle
Since the 1990s, fast fashion has disrupted ready-to-wear: Zara, H&M, and other brands have accustomed the market to collections refreshed every two to three weeks. The goal is to:react in real-time to trends, while driving costs down as much as possible.
Avec Shein et Temu, on est passé à une nouvelle étape : l’ultra fast fashion.
The principle is:
- thousands of new references launched online every dayextremely low prices,,
- fragmented production through a large network of subcontractors,
- a 100% data-driven model that tests micro-series and immediately relaunches viral products.
- This model relies on three key ingredients:
Overproduction and overconsumption
In Europe,
- 4 million tons of textiles are wasted every year; 80% of clothing is thrown away, only 20% is recycled.Globally,
- 92 million tons of textiles are thrown away every year, with a potential trajectory of 148 million tons by 2030 if nothing changes.Strong dependence on synthetic materials
Synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon, etc.) overwhelmingly dominate textile production. Their production and washing release
- plastic microfibers:microfibres plastiques :"20% of water pollution in the world is thus attributable to dyeing and processing of textiles" (National Assembly, 2024).
Health impacts and repeated scandals
- In 2024, the authorities in Seoul uncoveredlevels of toxic substances (phthalates, heavy metals)sometimeshundreds of times above legal limitsin Shein and Temu products.
- En novembre 2025, un nouveau rapport de Greenpeace Allemagne montre que 32 % des 56 vêtements Shein testés dépassent les limites européennes de produits chimiques dangereux (phtalates, PFAS, etc.), y compris dans des vêtements pour enfants.Le Figaro, 2024)
These cases illustrate what NGOs and scientists have long denounced:the quest for "always faster, always cheaper" comes at the expense of health, climate, water, biodiversity, and human rights.
Une prise de conscience qui se traduit (enfin) en règles
CSRD, stratégie textile européenne et responsabilité élargie des producteurs
Awareness is no longer just citizen or activist: it is nowregulatory.
- TheCSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive)gradually imposes thousands of European companies – including many fashion brands and marketplaces – to publish detailed information abouttheir environmental and social impacts, their risks, and their governance.
- En 2022, la Commission européenne a adopté la Stratégie pour des textiles durables et circulaires, avec un objectif clair : d’ici 2030, tous les textiles mis sur le marché de l’UE devront être durables, réparables, recyclables et en grande partie issus de fibres recyclées.
- In 2025, the EU adopted a directive establishing aextended producer responsibility (EPR) for textiles: brands – including online platforms selling in the EU – will have to finance thecollection, sorting, and recyclingof textiles placed on the market.
In practical terms, this means:
- Additional costs for the largest players, including ultra fast fashion, as they will pay for the end-of-life of the products they flood the market with;
- Aneconomic incentive to design more sustainable, repairable, and recyclable products, under the threat of seeing contributions skyrocket;
- Anincreased requirement for transparencyon supply chains, chemistry, emissions, and waste.
La loi française « anti fast-fashion » : bonus-malus, publicité et ciblage de l’ultra fast fashion
In parallel, France is moving forward with a law specifically designed for fast fashion. Theproposed law aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of the textile industry, known as the “anti fast fashion” law, was unanimously adopted by the National Assembly in March 2024 and then widely approved by the Senate in June 2025.
It notably includes:
A definition of “ultra express fashion”(ultra fast fashion), targeting platforms that:
- put very large volumes of references on the market,
- renew their collections at an extreme pace,
- practice abnormally low prices.
A bonus-malus systemon the textile REP sector, based on a sustainability and environmental impact index:
- amalus that could reach €10 per item by 2030, with thresholds starting in 2025, for ultra fast fashion products;
- abonus for virtuous actors(more local production, better sustainability, repairability, less impactful materials).
- The prohibition of advertising for ultra fast fashion.(including through influencers), in order to limit incentives for overconsumption.
3. And for marketplaces: how to evaluate and sort brands?
The Scoring by Positive tool
Benefit from expert analysis to help you make responsible purchases by scoring your suppliers on their CSR practices.
In this context, marketplaces (fashion, lifestyle, sports, decor…) are faced with a new responsibility:
No longer just "letting sell," but making decisions based on the CSR performance of their sellers.
This is precisely where structured evaluation tools for corporate responsibility (CSR) come into play. Positive Company® has developed a CSR evaluation tool that allows marketplaces to assess their suppliers. This is particularly the work done byLa RedouteandCdiscount!
The principle is:
-
A questionnaire tailored to the size of the company
The requirements are not the same for a micro-enterprise, a small and medium-sized enterprise, or a mid-sized company: the framework isgraduatedaccording to maturity and available resources. An evaluation aligned with ISO 26000
Brands are evaluated on 5 major themes derived from the international standard ISO 26000:
- activity and business model,
- governance,
- social (working conditions, human rights),
- environment (climate, resources, pollution, waste),
- societal (relationships with communities, local anchoring, customers).
-
Supporting evidence
Responses must be supported by documents: charters, contracts, reports, minutes, internal policies, etc. The goal is toreduce the declarativein favor of evidence. An expert rating and analysis
The Positive Company® team assigns an overall score and by theme, which allows:
- the marketplace tohighlight the most responsible brands,
- topenalize(or support) those that are the least scrupulous,
- todrive a supply strategyconsistent with new regulatory and consumer expectations.
In a context where Shein is penalized for misleading practices and greenwashing, a marketplace's ability toshow that it has audited and selected its sellersbecomes a realcompetitive advantage, but also aregulatory lifeline.
Questions fréquentes
Frequently asked questions about fast and ultra fast fashion.
Fast fashionrefreshes its collections every few weeks, with large volumes at low cost.Ultra fast fashion
L’ultra fast fashion(Shein, Temu…) goes further: thousands of new references per day, micro-series tested in real time, ultra-low prices, and production spread across hundreds of suppliers. The core of the model: volume, speed, and rock-bottom prices.
Because Shein concentrates several risks: acolossal volumeof products brought to market,abnormally low pricesthat raise questions about social conditions and quality,deceptive business practices, repeated alerts about thepresence of hazardous chemicals..
Circular fashion is not limited to "going organic."
It is based on:fewer products, but more durable ones, second-hand, rental, repair, and upcycling, a design thought from the start tolast and be recycled, anda different value sharing.upcycling, une conception pensée dès le départ pour durer et être recyclée et un partage de la valeur différent.
Buy less, but better, especially for basics, prioritizesecond-handor rental.locationFor occasional pieces, favor transparent brands regarding their production, avoid impulsive purchases on ultra-cheap platforms, where the true cost is paid elsewhere (social, environmental, health).
Sources / additional resources:
- Bruneau de la Salle, M.Ultra fast fashion: a reflection of the excesses of the industry, the political-economic issues, and the urgency of legislative action, ISIGE Mines Paris-PSL, September 2025.
Read the article - Duff, L.Is Shein unfairly hated?YouTube, November 2025.
Watch the video - Le Parisien.Press article on the rise of ultra fast fashion and platforms like Shein.National daily, June 2025.
Read the article - European Commission.Strategy for sustainable and circular textiles.Communication from the European Commission, Brussels, June 2023.
Consult the report - European Parliament.Parliament adopts new rules to reduce textile and food waste.Press release, Strasbourg, September 2025.
Read the press release - Assemblée nationale (France). Loi visant à réduire l’impact environnemental de l’industrie textile (dite “loi anti fast-fashion”). Dossier législatif, Assemblée nationale, mars 2024.
Consult the article from the National Assembly - Senate.Bill aimed at reducing environmental impact, 2025
Consult the article from the National Assembly