Our glossary

The Paris Good Fashion glossary was born following the citizen consultation on responsible fashion carried out in 2020 at the initiative of our association alongside a collective of committed actors*.

It responds to the expectations expressed by more than 107,000 participants, concerning the need for consumer information and the need to use a common language understood by all. Hence, the members of Paris Good Fashion decided to develop this glossary in order to exchange and communicate on the same basis.

Initially published in French, this glossary is now available in English in order to make as many people as possible benefit from this work. It includes about 350 definitions, and is the result of collaborative work with our members**.

  1. We first defined the main categories and terms to be included. First, we defined the main categories and terms to be included: general terms of fashion and sustainable development, labels and certifications, actors and initiatives, and materials. Another category was established, that of "Basic concepts". It includes the most important generic terms of our sector. These are also often the most complex, as their scope is either very broad or unclear.
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  2. Then, we carried out bibliographical research, which allowed us to carry out a state of the art of the existing definitions by basing them on the official and international definitions when they existed.
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  3. When they did not exist, the terms were the subject of consultation and in-depth reflection by Sylvie Benard, Clémence Grisel and Isabelle Lefort in order to be enriched and as precise as possible. For each term, you will find the bibliographic references that helped establish its definition.
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  4. Following this work which took place from March 2021 to February 2022, the definitions were submitted to the members for correction and validation. Special thanks go to Claudia Lee and Guy Morgan (Chanel), François Souchet (BPCM), and Andrée-Anne Lemieux (IFM) for their careful reading of the translation, coordinated by Clémence Grisel.

If you would like to know more, or have any suggestions, please contact us at contact@parisgoodfashion.com

* Eram Group, Etam Group, Galeries Lafayette, Petit Bateau, Vestiaire Collective, WSN

** They participated in the WG: Chantal Cabantous (Balmain), François Souchet (BPCM), Éric Dupont, Guy Morgan, Claudia Lee (Chanel), Christophe Bocquet and Aude Vergne (Chloé), Sylvain Cariou and Hugo Sereys (Crystalchain), Clémence Hulet and Alice Timmerman (Deloitte), Géraldine Vallejo, Yoann Regent and Annabelle Villot Malka (Kering), Frédéric Lecoq (Lacoste), Hélène Valade and Alexandre Capelli (LVMH), Thomas Bucaille and Pauline Mattioli (Petit Bateau) as well as Léonore Garnier (FHCM), Adeline Dargent (Syndicat de Paris de la Mode Féminine) and Andrée-Anne Lemieux (IFM)

Made by hand. Also used to describe products made in small quantities rather than industrially, requiring manual skills that may involve the use of tools or machines. There is no legal definition, although UNESCO refers to "craft or artisanal products" as being “produced by artisans, either completely by hand or with the help of hand-tools or even mechanical means, as long as the direct manual contribution of the artisan remains the most substantial component of the finished product.”

References:
UNESCO
Paris Good Fashion
Buttons, zippers, Velcro, studs, etc.

Before clothes can be mechanically recycled, seams are unpicked and hardware are removed so as not to damage the shredder. Hardware that are not removed could produce sparks (creating a fire hazard) or dust (reducing the quality of the recyclable material).

References:
Refashion - Lexique
Refashion - Eco design
Naturally occurring metals that are at least five times denser than water. Examples include cadmium, chromium VI, lead, mercury and nickel. Although many businesses restrict their use of heavy metals, they are still widely used in the fashion industry and are found in dyes, pigments, plastic, pesticides, textile finishes and jewellery.

Heavy metals are toxic and harmful to both human and environmental health. Many are fatal if inhaled or ingested. Heavy metals can enter the environment through wastewater discharges and landfills.

References:
Condé Nast, The Sustainable Fashion Glossary
Tchounwou, P. B. et al. (2012) Heavy metal toxicity and the environment
Chemsec (n.d.) Evaluate your textile chemicals
Fletcher, K. (2014) Sustainable Fashion & Textiles: Design Journeys. Abingdon: Routledge
Natural plant fibre known as a bast fibre, made from the stems of industrially-grown hemp. France is Europe’s leading producer of hemp fibre. After harvest, the stems are naturally or chemically retted (separation of the fibres from the rest of the stem), scutched (impurities removed) and combed prior to spinning.

Hemp is an ancient plant, once produced to make textiles for clothing and ship’s ropes. Quick and easy to grow, hemp adapts to most soils and climates, and requires very little water or chemical inputs. Unlike most other crops, hemp enriches and purifies the soil in which it grows, and every part of the plant, from seed to stalk, can be used.

All these advantages make hemp a more sustainable alternative to conventional cotton.

References: 
European Confederation of Flax and Hemp
The Good Goods
Condé Nast - The Sustainable Fashion Glossary
MISTRA Future Fashion (2019). Environmental impact of textile fibers – what we know and what we don’t know. The Fiber Bible Part 2.
A set of tools developed by the Sustainable Apparel Coalition for the standardised measurement of environmental and social performance across the value chain:

• Products: Higg Materials Sustainability Index (MSI) and Higg Product Module (PM)
• Facilities: Higg Facility Environmental Module (FEM) and Higg Facility Social & Labor Module (FSLM)
• Brand and Retail: Higg Brand & Retail Module (BRM)

The most widely adopted is the Higg Materials Sustainability Index. It measures the environmental impact of different materials in terms of global warming, eutrophication, water scarcity, resource depletion and use of fossil fuels, and chemistry.

Reference: Sustainable Apparel Coalition