Faced with warnings from sorting and recycling players, weakened by the decline in export opportunities and the rise of Asian competition, the State has announced unprecedented financial support to maintain the collection of clothing and shoes in France.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition has announced €49 million in aid for 2025 to support the textile and footwear collection and recycling sector, according to a letter. “The objective is to consolidate the economy of collection, sorting, reuse, and recycling across the country while strengthening our capacity to manage used textiles ,” said Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher in her letter to industry stakeholders dated Thursday. It added that support of “€57 million” is planned for 2026 .
This announcement follows protests from companies in the sector, which say they are threatened with asphyxiation. In Arras (Pas-de-Calais), the sorting organization Le Relais dumped 12 tons of clothing in front of a Kiabi store on Tuesday. Similar actions were carried out in front of other stores. According to the “polluter pays” principle , which makes manufacturers and distributors responsible for the end-of-life of their products, a contribution is levied on each item sold to finance collection and recovery.
Refashion, the organization that collects these contributions, then pays the players in the clothing sorting sector a contribution that has so far amounted to 156 euros per ton. Le Relais, the main player in textile collection and sorting in France, had requested an increase in this contribution to 304 euros per ton of sorted clothing. The aid announced Thursday by the government will increase this amount to 223 euros per ton in 2025, and 228 euros for 2026. “We need to structure and consolidate the most” textile materials and “secure investments in industrial tools ,” the minister acknowledges in her letter.
Since last summer, France, a leading European and global player in textile waste recovery, has seen its sector threatened by Asia, with the first visible consequence being the closure of numerous clothing and shoe collection points. The eco-organization Refashion – tasked by the government with supporting the fashion industry towards a more circular economy – highlighted in a press release on Tuesday “the sudden drop in export prices for sorted used textiles, mainly in Africa” , as African customers are increasingly turning to clothing from Asia. Each year, approximately 270,000 tons of textile waste are collected in France and “60% of sorted products” are resold as second-hand clothes – 90% of which are sold abroad, according to Refashion’s 2023 report.
