In its continuing bid to clean up the fashion industry, France is once again leading the way with legislation to encourage a more circular form of ownership. This week, Bérangère Couillard, the Secretary of State for Ecology, announced that individuals will be able to claim back between €7 and €25 towards the cost of mending clothes and shoes.
The government is to allocate €154 million to the program over a five-year period. Customers will be able to claim €7 for mending a heel and €10-25 for clothing repairs. The scheme will be run by non-profit Refashion, and the money can be claimed back at workshops and cobblers who have joined the scheme.
According to Refashion, 3.3 billion items of clothing, footwear and household textiles were put on the market last year, and an estimated 700,000 tons of clothing are thrown away in France every year, with most ending up in landfill.
