In France, a new law is cutting into the fabric of fast fashion with the sharpness of a tailor’s shears. It is more than a crackdown on environmental harm. From 2025, garments with the lowest environmental scores will face heavy taxes. By 2030, penalties could reach fifty percent of the retail price and even include advertising bans. And transparency will no longer be optional. Every product must carry its ecological backstory, from water and carbon impact to its end-of-life fate as landfill or reuse.
The system is built on eco-scores — a 16-metric measure of a garment’s environmental footprint. But scores alone cannot build trust. They need a foundation. How does anyone know that the numbers and measurements are real, consistent, valid, and science backed. This is where accreditation becomes essential.
At the heart of accreditation is competence in laboratory testing. This is not the glamorous side of fashion, but the hidden safeguard that holds industries it accountable.
- Flammability testing ensures a child’s nightwear does not turn danger into disaster.
- Chemical residue testing checks for harmful dyes, toxins, and heavy metals that cling to fabric and, in time, to skin. Colour fastness tests force fabrics to withstand light, wash, and wear, showing whether they hold their truth or bleed away.
- Tensile strength, seam durability, abrasion and pilling resistance measure whether clothing can endure more than a season of wear.
- Even shrinkage and dimensional stability tests reveal whether a garment will keep its shape or betray its promise after the first wash.
These tests are not abstract exercises. They are the unseen backbone of trust. And accreditation ensures that these tests are carried out with rigour, consistency, and impartiality. Laboratories accredited by NATA demonstrate not only technical capability but accountability. Accredited results are not just numbers— they are evidence that has been independently verified, results that consumers, regulators, and industries can believe in.
France’s law is powerful because it recognises that sustainability cannot be built on style alone. It must be underpinned by science and proven through testing. Accreditation ensures that the system behind the eco-scores is trustworthy. Without it, any brand could make empty claim clean water is clearly shared responsibility. By reducing lead, saving every drop, and embracing best practice, we ensure a healthier, safer, and truly lead-free future for all Australians. s about their products. With it, every claim is held to the same standard, as garments are tested by competent and qualified laboratories.
Australia is well-placed to follow. Through NATA, the technical and quality infrastructure already exists. Accredited laboratories across the country perform the same battery of textile tests: fire, chemical, durability, and more. The frameworks are in place. The science is proven. What is needed is not capability but will — the momentum to weave these practices into policy and culture.
Accreditation has always been more than compliance. It is the seam that holds trust in place. As fashion shifts from aesthetics to ethics, as garments are asked to carry not just bodies but values, the hidden infrastructure of accredited testing matters more than ever.
France has chosen to stitch policy and science into the fabric of fashion. Australia has the threads and the tools. The question is not whether it can follow, but whether it will.
Watch our animated video on Fashion Matters to see how accredited testing underpins the science of sustainability. This video was made possible with information contributed by Nick Di Cresce, Deputy Sector Manager.