As postal operators in France, Italy and Poland sign agreements with ultra-low-cost platform Temu, the European textile confederation Euratex has warned that Europe’s resolve to better regulate non-EU online orders may be weakening.
The concern follows the mid-October deal between France’s postal service La Poste and Temu, a move that prompted France’s Minister for Trade, Serge Papin, to declare that France “was under attack”, referring to the growing influence of ultra-fast fashion on the French market. Since then, Temu has inked similar agreements with Poland’s Poczta Polska and Italy’s Poste Italiane, all intended to streamline the handling of Chinese parcels entering these markets.
Euratex argues that these deals run counter to the political direction previously endorsed by the European Parliament, and that they actively widen the regulatory loopholes Europe has sought to close. According to the industry body, the European textile sector has already suffered a 5 % decrease in clothing production and a 1.9 % drop in textile output during the first half of the year. Employment in these sectors has declined by 3 % and 4–5 % respectively. Meanwhile, clothing and textile imports have surged by 12.3 % and 7.7 %.
Euratex warned that without immediate, decisive and coherent action by EU member states and institutions, European standards risk losing meaning — along with a vital industrial ecosystem. It called for the immediate abolition of the “de minimis” exemption (which currently applies to non-EU parcels under US $ 174), and for customs, VAT and safety regulations to be applied to all parcels. Euratex also urged swift enforcement of the Digital Services Act so that foreign ultra-fast-fashion companies can no longer operate with impunity.
In September, Euratex contributed to a joint declaration against ultra-fast fashion, alongside roughly twenty other federations, urging European lawmakers to address the issue. The confederation said that media coverage and political awareness — in national capitals and Brussels — had “grown considerably”.
Euratex’s president, Mario Jorge Machado, said that approximately 100,000 textile jobs had been lost across Europe — nearly 10 % of a sector that employs around 1.3 million people. “This is unacceptable,” he said.
The organisation estimates that the sector comprises roughly 200,000 companies generating a combined turnover of US $ 197 billion.
