sustainability / Regulation

The European Union has unveiled plans to significantly water down landmark sustainability rules that would require large fashion brands to report more details about their environmental footprint and take on more responsibility for abuses in their supply chains.

It’s been almost a year since Italian prosecutors linked Armani and then Dior to sweatshops on the outskirts of Milan in an investigation expected to bring up to a dozen more brands under the microscope. In response, officials and industry leaders have rushed to tighten controls over the luxury supply chain.

The French Senate has yet to take up the ‘sin tax’-style penalty on fast fashion products, a year after the country’s lower house unanimously approved the bill.

Brands like Patagonia, Nike and Lululemon have been working for years to address the exploitation of migrant workers at key fabric suppliers in Taiwan. Despite some progress, the issue has persisted.

A backlash against complex and costly new rules is threatening Europe’s pioneering efforts to make the industry operate more responsibly. Failure to address valid criticisms risks undermining the whole endeavour, argues Kenneth P. Pucker.

This year offered up a jarring reality check for players seeking to improve the industry’s environmental and social impact, with brands deprioritising sustainability efforts even as the risks of inaction have become more apparent.

A fragmented fashion industry needs to cooperate in order to avoid falling further behind on decarbonisation efforts, according to the BoF-McKinsey State of Fashion 2025.

BoF senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young and chief sustainability correspondent Sarah Kent unpack a scandal that has linked brands like Armani and Dior to Italian sweatshops.