The environmental scoring system for France’s apparel distribution sector is taking shape. Validated by the European Union in May, the decree on environmental labelling was published in the Journal Officiel on September 6 and will be applied starting October 1.

This step was eagerly anticipated not only by the brands themselves, but also by the many service providers specializing in environmental scoring. These providers will be able to handle the complex impact assessments of garments on behalf of brands—or even independently. If a brand fails to publish its own score, the legal framework allows third parties to do so without the brand’s consent.

This aspect has been a subject of controversy for many months. Brands argue that service providers may lack access to reliable data, making scores inaccurate or misleading. French authorities explain that this provision is intended to encourage brands to publish their own data, as brand-calculated scores will legally supersede those from third parties.

In any case, brands have a grace period: starting September 15 and for a duration of one year, only brands can declare an eco-score on the official portal. After that deadline, third parties will be allowed to publish a score on their behalf, even without their prior approval.

According to some in the industry, this mechanism could serve as an indirect way of making environmental labelling mandatory.

The industry is also questioning whether subsidies could eventually be tied to environmental labelling, making its supposedly “voluntary” nature debatable. Manufacturers, in particular, point to the “Texhabi” eco-design aid from Ademe (the French Agency for Ecological Transition), which already requires the use of Ecobalyse—the calculation platform underlying the new labeling system.

Complex calculations and contested averages

It’s important not to confuse the French eco-score with the European “PEF” score, which is now intended for professional use only. France’s eco-label is based on 17 factors: product type, weight, whether the item is remanufactured, number of SKUs and price, company size, origin and nature of materials, and manufacturing locations—covering spinning, weaving, knitting, finishing, printing, garment making, washing—as well as transport and accessories such as buttons, zippers, and underwiring.

Each of the 16 environmental impact categories is factored into the final score using a system of normalization and weighting coefficients.

In the absence of data, an average based on equivalent products is applied to the calculation. This remains a point of contention between public authorities and the textile and clothing industry, which believes that less sustainable actors could exploit this provision to artificially improve their scores by claiming a lack of data.

Understanding the score

In addition to the initially planned impact score, a score per 100 grams of product was added late in the process—similar to how food products display price per kilo. The higher the score, the lower the item’s environmental impact.

Pascal Dagras, who oversees the display project for the French government, indicated in spring that a public campaign explaining the eco-score will launch in early 2026 under Ademe’s leadership. In the meantime, brands are expected to educate their own customers, as the score remains obscure to many consumers.

Until this awareness grows, October 1 marks a clear regulatory milestone: all previous environmental scores displayed by brands that do not align with the new methodology will be considered non-compliant. This also raises the issue of reconciling the French system with the European PEF, given that the two scores reflect opposing views on product durability—one focused on physical wear, the other on broader lifecycle metrics. A legal convergence between both approaches is seen as inevitable.