In fashion... have we killed the wolf?

France has just enacted an unprecedented law to stop the unstoppable advance ofultra fast fashion, the final stage of the productive system of a fashion completely hijacked by hypercapitalism. If until now fashion had been positioned as the second most polluting sector on the planet,ultra fast fashion has managed to demonstrate that things can always get worse. These are mainly Chinese brands, led by Shein or Temu, which offer a purely online model, basing their offering on algorithmic detection of TikTok microtrends. The name of this production model is due to the record production and sales times, since while Zara requires 2 to 4 weeks between the design and sales phases, Shein does it between 3 and 7 days. The prices are extremely ridiculous, with a 30 to 50% discount compared to major clothing brands, thanks to an extreme violation of workers' rights. With ultra-accelerated production, uncontrolled consumption is promoted, since Shein puts 7,200 new products on sale every day, compared to Zara's 500 per month. Needless to say, theultra fast fashion It has a very high and worrying environmental and social footprint.

In March 2024, the French National Assembly unanimously approved penalizing this new fashion sector, and in June 2025, the Senate greenlit a package of measures focused on curbing this voracity. These measures are based on banning advertising by these companies and applying a 5 euro tax to each sale (which will increase to 10 euros starting in 2030). In addition, more transparent labeling regarding environmental impact is required. The destruction of unsold surplus clothing is also prohibited, in order to promote recycling and reuse. Finally, bonuses will be awarded to companies that improve their sustainability, as well as penalties for those that do not. All of this, with the aim of reducing the harm in terms of sustainability, opening the door for other countries to eventually join in. But... is this initiative really that sincere?

It is interesting to know that these measures will only apply to Chinese brands, but not to European ones. While it is true that theultra fast fashion has exacerbated the damage to the mass fashion industry in a worrying way, we must not forget that its origins are found in the model that Zara implemented in the 80s and that, followed by H&M, Mango or Topshop, gave rise to the birth of fast fashion, which had already become the dominant model. This was responsible for the destruction of the indigenous productive fabric, the result of massive relocation to countries with lower production costs such as Bangladesh, China, and Cambodia. The copious production of fast fashion It is based on the ability to respond quickly to trends, with micro-collections being renewed between 12 and 24 times a year, instead of the four main seasons that existed until then. In 2013, the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh, which killed 1,134 garment workers, highlighted that this system based its success on slavery and the inhumane conditions of its production systems.

If the motivation for these measures is truly a concern for sustainability, why has this awareness only been raised when the brands to be stopped came from Asia? The French government has been scandalized by the Shein model, which has ended up positioning the fast fashion as a lesser evil and a moderate system. Amancio Ortega, the original architect of everything, remains an untouchable figure in Spain, erected as a hero and one of the great national benefactors to whom we should all pay court. Like Sebastian de Lowland, owes the survival of its power structures to the fact that no villager dares to speak ill of the owner. While the implementation of measures to curb dehumanized ultra-capitalism is absolutely pertinent and necessary, when do we dare to kill the real wolves?