A right written for electronics first
The idea that you should be able to fix what you own, rather than replace it, has moved from repair-café slogan to binding law. The EU Right to Repair Directive (Directive 2024/1799) was adopted in June 2024 and member states had to transpose it into national law by 31 July 2026. In its first wave it covers products already under EU ecodesign rules: washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators, displays, welding equipment and, via separate rules, smartphones, with tablets and laptops phased in from 2027. Manufacturers must keep spare parts available for five to ten years, publish repair manuals, sell parts at reasonable prices, and stop using software or hardware locks that block independent repair.
Clothing is conspicuously absent from that first list. Textiles sit outside Annex II of the Directive, so garments are not yet covered by binding repairability obligations. The closure is scheduled, not abandoned: the Esprit regulation's textile delegated act, expected around 2027 under the Commission's Working Plan 2025–2030, is meant to bring durability and repairability requirements — abrasion resistance, colour fastness, modular fastenings, standardised trims — into force for apparel.
France built the laboratory early
France did not wait for Brussels. Its reparability index, introduced under the 2020 Anti-Waste law (Loi AGEC, Article 13), scores products from one to ten on how fixable they are. For garments the methodology weighs practical things: how easily a zip can be replaced, how resistant the structural seams are, how long a spare part takes to arrive, and what share of the spare-part price sits against the cost of the new item. The forced transparency changes design behaviour — a brand must now account for post-sale cost at the collection stage, not after the sale.
France also turned repair into a subsidy. Since December 2022 the Bonus Réparation, financed entirely by producer EPR fees, gives consumers a discount at the till of a certified repair shop across 73 product categories, including clothing and footwear. The repair business is reimbursed by the responsible producer organisation. It is not perfect — awareness is low and certified workshops are limited — but it is a working model for paying people to fix rather than bin.
The anti-fast-fashion law raises the stakes
In July 2026 France went further with a law aimed squarely at ultra-fast fashion (Law No. 2026-602, enacted 8 July). It places a levy on each article from covered retailers, starting at roughly €0.25–€12.00 per item and rising to €2–€20 by 2030, and makes those products ineligible for tax credits on donated unsold goods. Sellers must display public-interest messages about the environmental and social impact of fast fashion, and from 1 January 2027 the law bans advertising and influencer promotion of ultra-fast-fashion products, with administrative fines up to €100,000. The explicit targets named in reporting are platforms such as Shein, Temu and AliExpress.
Together, the reparability index, the repair bonus and the anti-fast-fashion levy form a coherent signal: make things that last, make them fixable, and make throwing them away the expensive option. For a category long optimised for volume and speed, that is a structural shift rather than a tweak.
What repair looks like in practice
Legislation is only half the story; culture supplies the rest. Repair cafés — community events where volunteers fix clothes, electronics and furniture for free — have grown from a Dutch experiment into a global movement, and mending has been reframed from chore to craft on social platforms. Brands are responding with services: in-store and mail-in repair, visible mending kits, and spare-part shops for buttons, zips and elastics. The most durable garments are the ones designed for the repair bench in the first place — reinforced seams, replaceable hardware, and fibres that survive a second life.
For shoppers, the practical takeaway is to weight repairability as a buying criterion, the way you might weigh fit or price. A coat with a replaceable zip and a documented spare-part supply is a different object from one engineered to be discarded the moment a seam fails.
A wardrobe built to be mended
The right-to-repair conversation aligns neatly with how a considered wardrobe is built. Buy pieces engineered to be worn and fixed, keep them in rotation, and let repair extend their life rather than end it. Our outerwear and extended-size ranges are sized in inches with the construction detail that makes long-term wear practical.
Frequently asked questions
Does the EU Right to Repair cover clothing?
Not yet. The 2024 Directive initially covers electronics and appliances; textiles are expected to be brought in through an ESPR textile delegated act around 2027.
What is France's reparability index?
A 1–10 score, introduced under the 2020 Anti-Waste law, showing how easily a product can be repaired, with a textile methodology that weighs zip replacement, seam resistance and spare-part lead times.
How does the French repair bonus work?
Since December 2022, consumers get a discount at certified repair shops across 73 categories including clothing and footwear, financed by producer EPR fees.
What changed in France's 2026 anti-fast-fashion law?
It levies a per-item fee on ultra-fast-fashion retailers, bars tax credits on their donated unsold goods, and bans their advertising from January 2027.
