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France Introduces Up to 25 Euros Compensation for Clothing Repairs
Starting this October, anyone in France who has shoes or clothing repaired will receive a subsidy of between 6 and 25 euros. The repair bonus is intended to encourage consumers to visit cobblers and tailors instead of throwing away old shoes and clothes.
In the age of consumerism, we unnecessarily discard millions of tons of clothes, even though many of these items are still as good as new. An estimated 700,000 tons of clothing are thrown away in France every year, with around two-thirds of this ending up in landfills. Furthermore, the global fashion industry accounts for 8-10 percent of global carbon emissions annually. The emergence of fast fashion—the practice of purchasing cheap clothes to wear just a few times—has exacerbated this issue, as it relies heavily on synthetic materials and chemicals that harm the environment.
To address this issue, France has introduced a new initiative aimed at encouraging people to prolong the life of their clothing. The government will provide a ‘repair bonus’ to individuals who choose to have their garments repaired. Starting in October, they can claim back between €6 and €25 for the cost of mending clothes and shoes at designated workshops or cobblers. The program is administered by an eco-organization called Refashion, which not only encourages repair and reuse but also urges people to reduce their textile consumption and donate unwanted items to charity. Refashion states that over half of the donations can be used again, and a third can be recycled into something new.
