Understanding everything about textile environmental display

On September 9, 2025, the regulatory texts framing the environmental display on clothing were published in the Official Journal. The display of the environmental cost, on a voluntary basis, will come into force on October 1, 2025.

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Environmental display, this is the note affixed to a product that will reflect the environmental cost of the product sold. The higher the result, the higher the environmental cost.

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What is the objective of environmental display? How will this score be calculated for textile products? What does Sami offer to help you deploy this display? We take stock.

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1. Environmental display, schedule and objectives

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1.1 Definition and objectives

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Environmental display is an environmental cost index, intended to inform consumers of the environmental impact of the products or services they consume.

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Environmental display is calculated over the entire life cycle of the product concerned, following a common methodology defined by the State, we will come back to this just after in the chapter dedicated to the calculation method.

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The deployment of environmental display should help achieve three major objectives, as recalled by the government in March 2023:

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• inform the consumer about the environmental footprint of products so that they can make an informed purchase choice and oriented towards better environmental performance.  
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• encourage eco-design among manufacturers, i.e. encourage brands to design their products in a more responsible way.
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• reduce the environmental impact of the sectors concerned by environmental display.

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‍1.2 Textile environmental display schedule

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The Climate and Resilience Act of August 2021 made the implementation of environmental display mandatory.

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4 sectors are concerned: textiles, food, cosmetics and furniture.

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Article 2 of this same law then provided for an experimental phase for a maximum duration of 5 years, until 2026.

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But textiles are part, with food, of the two sectors that have been judged priorities by the government. The schedule was therefore brought forward with deployment as early as January 1, 2024 on a voluntary basis before mandatory implementation in 2025.

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However, the construction of the calculation method took longer than expected. The one that will be applied for environmental display in textiles was unveiled by the Ministry of Ecological Transition in November 2024.

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The European Commission validated the French project on May 15, 2025. After exchanges with the Council of State during the summer, the regulatory texts were published in the Official Journal on September 9, 2025. Environmental display comes into force on October 1, 2025. 

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1.3 The format of textile environmental display

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Several format options have been studied and tested.

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Finally, it is the option of an open scale, i.e. with a score in absolute value, which has been retained by the ministry.

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Here is the logo you will find on clothing:

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The higher the score, the greater the environmental impacts.

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This format has the advantage, according to the arguments put forward by the administration, of being able to be deployed in all sectors, of facilitating the articulation with the European framework and of reducing the risk of rebound effect, i.e. of clearly signaling to the consumer that all products have an impact, even those that have a better environmental score than others. This risk of rebound effect was associated with the format of an ABCDE ranking, the good environmental grade possibly encouraging excessive consumption of the product concerned.

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The Ministry of Ecological Transition published, in August 2025, the graphic charter of this display. 

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2. The method of calculating textile environmental display

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2.1 A brief history

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The challenge of recent years has been to find the right method for calculating the environmental score of clothing. That is, a method:

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• Standardized, adapted for companies of different sizes, nature, and economic models.
• Taking into account the multiple environmental impacts of these activities: greenhouse gases, biodiversity, resource depletion, etc.
• Readable for consumers — which forces limiting the number of different indicators.

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The Climate and Resilience Act of August 2021 provided for an experiment in environmental labeling in the textile sector. This experiment did take place and began in 2021 with the Xtex call for projects led by the ADEME.

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11 experiments were conducted with the aim of testing, through case studies carried out by volunteer companies, several methods of evaluating and communicating the environmental performance of textiles.

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A report on these 11 experiments was published by the ADEME in March 2023. It appears that large-scale deployment of environmental labeling in the textile sector is possible. It is also recommended to rely on the PEF framework, the Product Environmental Footprint (see below), to build the methodology.

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In March 2023, in light of the results of these experiments, the Secretary of State for Ecology, Bérangère Couillard, presented the 8 environmental issues that the government wishes to integrate into the environmental labeling system.

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2.2 The LCA and 3 complements

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These environmental issues are not impact indicators. It was therefore necessary to find a way to take these issues into account in the calculation of the environmental label.

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For this, the tool chosen was the LCA, the life cycle analysis. For the record, the LCA is a method for quantifying the impacts on the environment of a product or service by taking into account all stages of its life cycle: from the production of raw materials to the end of life, including manufacturing or transport.

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More specifically, the LCA methodology is that of the PEF, the Product Environmental Footprint, developed by the European Commission. The PEF includes 16 environmental impact indicators:

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The calculation of the eco-score is therefore based on the LCA and the 16 PEF indicators presented above.

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Moreover, within this general PEF framework, there are then sector-specific rules. This is what we call the PEFCR: product environmental footprint category rules. These are specific rules that provide guidance for carrying out a PEF assessment in each sector concerned.

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For the textile sector, the latest version of the PEF Apparel & Footwear was published in April 2025.

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However, given the objectives of French environmental labeling, the 16 PEF indicators do not adequately take into account all environmental impacts.  

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Additional criteria have therefore been considered. This is what we call the non-LCA complements and there are 3 of them:

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• A “Export outside Europe” complement

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As it stands, the references provide that clothing is disposed of locally, reused, or recycled. However, many clothes are exported outside Europe and directly thrown away without being reused, in countries that often do not have a waste management system. This would represent 9% of the clothes distributed on the French market.

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This complement should therefore make it possible to take into account the impact of clothes that end up as waste in countries other than European countries.

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2 parameters are taken into account to calculate this Export outside Europe complement:

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- the mass of the garment
- its probability of ending up as waste outside Europe, depending on its classification (synthetic or natural materials).

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• Microfiber supplement

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Microfibers are these tiny particles found on clothing that are released into the environment (water, air, soil) throughout the garment's life cycle.

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Currently, this is not taken into account in the PEFCR A&F. These microfibers, particularly microplastics, can be persistent and toxic to living organisms.

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Two parameters are again taken into account to calculate this supplement:

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- persistence, i.e., the biodegradability of the fiber (persistence accounts for 70% in the calculation of the coefficient)release, i.e., the ability of a fiber to release fibers into the environment (30%).

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• A supplement on durability

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This was one of the major challenges in developing this calculation method: successfully taking into account and reflecting the durability of clothing in the score.

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Two types of durability exist:

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• the physical durability of the garment, i.e., the garment's ability to withstand wear
• non-physical durability, which takes into account other criteria to assess the possibility that the garment will be worn longer

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These two types of durability are included in the PEFCR A&F.

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However, for the moment, only non-physical durability is taken into account in the French regulatory calculation of food labeling.

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A durability coefficient will thus be established for each garment. This coefficient will be calculated based on 3 criteria:

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Range width (40%)

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This refers to the number of references marketed by the brand or on a platform in the clothing market segment. This criterion accounts for 40% of the durability coefficient.

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The number of references to be indicated must be “the maximum number of references marketed on the same day throughout the year”, according to Ecobalyse.

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Here are some examples of range width indices:

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• 100% for fewer than 1000 references
• 50% for 7000 references
• 0% for 16,000 references and above.

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Incentive to repair (40%)

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This criterion accounts for 40% of the overall score of the durability coefficient.

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Two parameters are taken into account:

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• the ratio between the average repair cost and the selling price. An index is calculated based on this ratio.
• the provision of a repair service. This criterion is not taken into account for clothing marketed by SMEs or VSEs.

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Display of traceability (20%)

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This criterion accounts for 20% of the total score of the durability coefficient.

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This refers to the display of traceability on the steps, at a minimum, of manufacturing, finishing (or dyeing), and weaving/knitting.

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If the display conditions are met, the index is 100%. Otherwise, it is 0%.

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Summary

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These 3 criteria allow determining the durability coefficient: 0.67 for the least durable garments, 1.45 for the most durable ones. This coefficient comes to “aggravate” or “reduce” the overall environmental cost.

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2.3 Some examples of scores

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The online tool Ecobalyse provides some examples of scores obtained for different types of clothing.

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Here are the discrepancies observed for a T-shirt:

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• A cotton T-shirt marketed by a fast fashion brand and manufactured in China has an estimated environmental cost of 1005 points.
• A cotton T-shirt from so-called “traditional” fashion and produced in Pakistan has an estimated cost of 802 points.
• A cotton T-shirt from “traditional” fashion and produced in France has an estimated cost of 615 points.
• Finally, an organic cotton T-shirt from an “ethical” brand and produced in France would have an estimated environmental cost of 367 points, nearly 3 times less than a fast fashion T-shirt.

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As expected, it is the raw materials and the manufacturing step of the garment that represent the most significant environmental impacts.

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On this subject, you can read our complete article dedicated to the carbon footprint of the textile sector and the solutions deployed by brands to reduce their carbon footprint.

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3. What obligations surround textile environmental display?

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As we indicated at the beginning of this article, the deployment of textile environmental display is initially based on the voluntary participation of companies.

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However, two elements have been integrated:

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• The deployment of environmental display is mandatory for brands that already communicate the carbon footprint of their products
• One year after the entry into force of the decree on environmental display, i.e., October 1, 2026, if the brand has not communicated about the environmental cost of its clothing, any natural or legal person (individual, association, etc.) will be able to generate a default score without the brand's consent.

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The default score will be unfavorable, i.e., calculated with the worst estimates for the brand. The goal is very clear: to encourage companies to calculate their own score, with their real figures, before default scores are attributed to them.

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Companies have been able to publish the environmental cost of their products on the declaration platform launched by the government since September 15, 2025. 

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4. Textile environmental display and the anti fast-fashion law

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On March 14, 2024, the National Assembly voted unanimously on the law on the environmental impact of the textile industry, known as the anti fast fashion law.

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The text then provided for:

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• a bonus-malus system indexed on the score obtained as part of the environmental display. A financial penalty was then planned for clothing with the worst scores.
• the ban on advertising for fast-fashion brands.
• the thresholds to define the brands that fall under fast-fashion would be set by decree based on the number of new models put on the market.

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This text had been largely dismantled during its passage in Commission at the Senate in March 2025. However, several important provisions were voted again in first reading by the Senate on June 2, 2025.

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The bonus-malus system, which was threatened, is indeed preserved. A change nevertheless compared to the text voted by the National Assembly: the financial penalties will be indexed on the sustainability coefficient of the environmental display and no longer on the complete eco-score. However, this indicator still makes it possible to target the most unfavorable practices of fast-fashion.

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The amount of the penalties is maintained: 5 euros per item in 2025 and up to 10 euros in 2030, within the limit of 50% of the tax-exempt sales price.

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These penalties could be used to finance bonuses for the most virtuous brands. The allocation of the bonuses remains to be specified.

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5. How Sami supports you in textile environmental display?

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Sami has been conducting LCAs for several years now thanks to both the product analysis module of our software and the expertise of our consultants.

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Our software notably allows for the collection of numerous data more easily and quickly.

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Here is a simplified diagram of the flows of the company Picture Organic Clothing, in the textile sector, for which we carried out an LCA.

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We thus retrace the main flows to be taken into account at each stage. For example:

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• Composition of the garment: what raw material (cotton, polyester, wool, etc...) and the quantity of raw material (kg).
• Traceability: study of the countries in which the different phases of manufacture are carried out (spinning, weaving, cutting, etc...)
• Manufacturer data: energy used (coal, renewable electricity, etc...), quantity of energy consumed, chemicals, quantity of water used.
• Downstream: mode of transport used, distances, usage assumptions, end of life.

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Our software also allows us to analyze and interpret the results.

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Several of our consultants are specialists in LCA and the textile sector. This is particularly the case with Vanessa Pasquet, Consulting Director of Sami and contributor to the SBTI apparel guidance as well as the PEFCR textile.

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6. FAQ

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What is textile environmental display?

Textile environmental display is a labeling system that informs consumers about the environmental cost of textile products. It takes into account data such as the carbon footprint, water consumption, use of chemicals or even the durability of the product.

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How does environmental display work?

The display is based on an LCA of the product, following the PEF methodology and its 16 environmental indicators. 3 complements outside LCA have been added in the methodology of environmental display in order to better take into account the environmental impacts of fashion: a complement Export outside Europe, a complement microfibers and a complement durability.

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When will textile environmental display be deployed in France?

The European Commission validated the French project on May 15, 2025. Environmental display must be deployed in the second half of 2025, perhaps as early as the summer.

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Is this display mandatory in France?

The deployment of textile environmental display will be done on a voluntary basis. But several binding elements have been added, such as the possibility for any natural or legal person to calculate the ecoscore of a product one year after the publication of the decree if the brand has not done so.

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