Europe’s textile industry condemns agreements between postal operators and ultra-fast fashion companies

As postal operators in France, Italy and Poland strike deals with platforms such as Temu, the European textile confederation Euratex fears that Europe’s resolve to better regulate non‑EU online orders is crumbling.

This statement comes after the signing in mid‑October of an agreement between the French group La Poste and the ultra‑low‑cost Chinese platform Temu. A deal that prompted France’s Minister for Trade, Serge Papin, to declare “We’re under attack” in reference to the growing grip of ultra‑fast fashion on the French market. Since then, Temu has signed similar agreements with the Polish operator Poczta Polska and with Italy’s Poste Italiane, likewise aimed at streamlining the handling of Chinese parcels entering these markets.

For Euratex, these agreements run counter to the political direction set by Parliament and, moreover, actively widen the loopholes Europe is trying to close. This comes as the European textile industry reported a 5% fall in clothing production and a 1.9% drop in textile production in the first half of the year. In these two sectors, employment has already fallen by 3% and 4–5% respectively. And while exports are declining, clothing and textile imports have risen by 12.3% and 7.7%.

“If EU member states and institutions do not act now, decisively and coherently, European standards will lose all meaning and a vital industrial ecosystem will disappear,” warns Euratex. “The solution is simple and long overdue: we hope to end the de minimis exemption (a tax break on non‑EU parcels under €150, editor’s note), apply customs, VAT, and safety rules to all, and swiftly enforce the DSA [Digital Services Act, ed] so that foreign ultra‑fast‑fashion players can no longer act with impunity.”

In September, Euratex took part in the signing of a joint declaration against ultra‑fast fashion, bringing together some twenty federations determined to call on European lawmakers about the issue. According to the confederation, awareness has grown considerably in the media, in national capitals and in Brussels.

“Around 100,000 textile jobs have been lost in Europe,” Euratex president Mario Jorge Machado told FashionNetwork.com in September. “This is unacceptable. In a sector that employs 1.3 million people, this means that almost 10% of European textile jobs have been lost, and nothing has been done.”

Euratex says it represents a sector comprising 200,000 companies, generating combined turnover of €170 billion.