The AGEC law: what is coming for the textile industry

Ending disposable plastic, fighting waste, acting against planned obsolescence, better informing consumers: the Anti-Waste for a Circular Economy law, known as AGEC, aims to deeply transform our current model of production and consumption. Ambitious, it reshuffles the cards in many sectors, including textile. What does AGEC require, on what calendar, and what can textile companies do now to anticipate and comply? Explanations.

The AGEC law and its main obligations

Enacted on 10 February 2020, AGEC accelerates the shift of production and consumption to limit waste and preserve natural resources, biodiversity and the climate. Its application spans several years through numerous decrees covering different parts of the economy.

For textile, the key text is decree 2022-748. Published on 29 April 2022, it implements Article 13 of the AGEC law and regulates the environmental claims of companies placing products on the market. At its heart: better informing the consumer about the ecological footprint of products available on the French market.

In textile, this information must be available, from January 2023, through a digital product sheet detailing the environmental qualities and characteristics provided for by the law, accessible to the consumer at the moment of purchase.

What must the environmental product sheet contain?

All textile consumer goods (clothing and household linen) must offer a display detailing, for each model:

• Incorporation of recycled material

• Recyclability

• Geographic traceability of the 3 major manufacturing steps: weaving or knitting, dyeing or printing, and making-up or assembly of the finished product

• Presence of plastic microfibres

There is no need to state the recycled-material percentage for leather articles, and for footwear the steps concerned by geographic traceability are stitching, assembly and finishing.

As in every EPR sector, textile brands must also indicate the existence of a bonus or penalty for the concerned model, and the criteria behind it. Decree 2022-748 also restates and specifies the ban on wording such as "biodegradable" or "environmentally friendly" (deemed likely to mislead the consumer) on packaging and products.

What calendar for the AGEC law?

A three-year schedule frames the application:

• 1 January 2023: all companies above 50M euros of annual turnover placing at least 25,000 units on the market.

• 1 January 2024: above 20M euros and at least 10,000 units.

• 1 January 2025: above 10M euros and 10,000 units.

Important precision: the turnover counted here covers only the products concerned by AGEC. A company making 50% bags and 50% garments is not concerned by this decree if its garment turnover stays below the thresholds.

Knowing the risks of non-compliance

What do companies risk if they miss the calendar? According to the government, a fine of up to 3,000 euros for an individual and 15,000 euros for a legal entity. When misleading commercial practices rest on environmental claims, the fine can rise to 10% of average annual turnover, or 80% of the expenses incurred for the practice. Beyond the financial cost, the damage a bad press does to a brand is obviously far more expensive and durable.

AGEC and textile: how to comply, fast?

Because it is globalized and fragmented, the textile value chain is not easy to trace. Between a final product found in a French store and a raw material that usually comes from the other side of the globe, the chain relies on many intermediaries scattered worldwide. This internationalization, and the profusion of actors behind a single garment, makes tracking particularly complex.

Although AGEC does not require going back to raw materials, being able to state the geographic traceability of the 3 main manufacturing steps rightly worries textile companies. Heterogeneous data sources, opaque suppliers, cultural differences, language barriers: despite these difficulties, solutions exist to start the compliance process today, and blockchain traceability is a particularly interesting option.

The advantages of a single, standardized platform

A traceability platform specialized in textile, Crystalchain routinely traces the supply, production, logistics and distribution chains of the most complex, globalized industries.

The collaboration induced by the platform drives a more efficient, more transparent flow of information along the value chain, giving real control over suppliers and product journey steps. Automatic alerts mean the slightest anomaly is detected immediately and easily corrected.

To help you comply quickly with Article 13, Crystalchain developed a simple dedicated solution: a standardized form lets you enter all the information required for the AGEC consumer restitution, and a QR code is generated in real time for each model, ready to print on labels. These QR codes send consumers to a web page where all the information is gathered and presented clearly, at the moment of purchase and after.

Compliance, and beyond

To go further, differentiate from competitors under the same constraints, and anticipate coming evolutions of AGEC and EU regulation, you can opt for deeper traceability of your chains: a space to communicate your commitments or highlight what makes your brand different. Show a video of the weaving step, photos of the cotton fields your textiles come from, give the floor to the farmers.

A guarantee of AGEC compliance, the platform gets you compliant in weeks, and can also compute the environmental display of your products with the methodology of your choice: Ecobalyse, PEF, or the biodiversity-focused methodology of our partner Green Score Capital. A first building block for steering your CSR strategy.