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.
    _
  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.
    _
  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.
    __
  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)

Réseau Innovation Immatérielle pour l’Industrie (R3iLab) is a French State-supported network of business leaders in the textile, fashion and creative industries whose mission is to promote innovation, especially intangible innovation, within the industry.

Reference: R3iLab
Natural plant fibre known as a bast fibre, made from nettle stems.

Like linen and hemp, ramie is an eco-friendly fibre. Because nettles are a perennial plant that require very little irrigation and little – if any – fertiliser or pesticides, it offers a more responsible alternative to cotton.

Reference: The Good Goods
See: Viscose
Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH) is a European Union regulation (1907/2006) which entered into force in 2007 and applies to all chemical substances which are manufactured, imported and marketed in the EU. At May 31, 2018, more than 20,000 chemical substances had been registered and their potential risks evaluated. Through REACH, Europe has the legal and technical means to guarantee a high level of protection against the risks that chemical substances can pose.

References:
European Chemicals Agency
French Ministry of Ecological Transition
Suitability of a material to be reused through a series of operations known collectively as recycling. This suitability is determined by the type of material (single fibre), the possibility to disassemble the product and the nature of collection, sorting and recycling processes.

Recyclability can be made easier upstream by ecodesign or design for disassembly.

A recycled textile produces a secondary raw material of sufficient quality to totally or partly replace virgin raw material.

References:
Eco-Emballage and Revipac (2019) Recyclage et recyclabilité
Cradle to Cradle Innovation Institute
Paris Good Fashion
Packaging that can be collected, processed and reused either as raw materials or finished products.

European Directive 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste sets out a number of key requirements. EU standard EN 13430 states that for packaging to be recoverable by material recycling, its design must make use of materials or combinations of materials which are compatible with known, relevant and industrially available recycling technologies.

ISO 14021 on environmental labels and declarations states that household packaging can be labelled as recyclable when:

• there are systems in place for collecting, sorting and transferring the materials to a recycling facility;
• recycling facilities are available for processing collected materials;
• the product for which the “recyclable” claim is made is effectively collected and recycled.

References: 
European Directive - 94/62/EC on packaging and packaging waste
ISO 14021 - Environmental labels and declarations
Plastic that can potentially be reused to make new materials or objects. While virtually all plastics are recyclable in theory, this is not the case in practice as recycling facilities are contingent on local economic, logistical and technical possibilities.

ISO 15270 provides guidance for the recovery of pre- and post-consumer plastic waste, including recycling.

References:
ISO 15270 - Plastics: Guidelines for the recovery and recycling of plastics waste
Kering Standards
Voluntary standard from Textile Exchange. The Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) is a chain of custody standard to track recycled materials through the supply chain. Input requirements verify that materials were actually diverted from a waste stream, and the standard uses the chain of custody requirements of the Content Claim Standard.

Reference: Textile Exchange
Fibre sourced from pre-consumer waste (industrial cotton waste such as garment manufacturer offcuts) or post-consumer waste, such as collected clothes.

Cotton can be recycled mechanically or chemically:

• Mechanical recycling: the feedstock is pulled into fibres. Because mechanical defibring can weaken and shorten the fibres, they are often reinforced by blending with virgin cotton or polyester. The fibre is then ready to enter the traditional spinning process.

• Chemical recycling: the feedstock is treated with enzymes to break down the polymers, following which cellulose monomers are regenerated to reform filaments, which then enter the traditional spinning process.

Certification schemes such as Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) and Global Recycled Standard (GRS) confirm that fibres have been recycled.

See: mechanical recycling, chemical recycling

Reference: Refashion
Down from pre-consumer or post-consumer sources such as pillows and duvets. Recycled down offers a significant opportunity to reduce consumption of virgin resources and valorise feather waste.

Recycled down certification schemes are the Recycled Content Standard (RCS), Global Recycled Standard (GRS) or Neøkdun.

References :
Textile Exchange (2022) Preferred Fiber & Materials Report
Kering Standards
Mixed-fibre textiles that include elastane are hard to recycle, hence most recycled elastane comes from pre-consumer waste. Fibres are depolymerised then repolymerised before spinning.

Recycled fibre certification schemes include the Recycled Content Standard (RCS), Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and SCS Recycled Content.

Reference: Patagonia
Around 800 thousand tonnes of leather waste is produced annually. Recycled leather - leather cut post use and then re-purposed - and bonded recycled leather fiber materials, play a role in diverting materials from the waste stream.

Bonded recycled leather fiber materials are mainly made from pre-consumer production scraps, consisting of recycled leather fibers and binders, or recycled leather fibers attached to the surface of a synthetic material.

Find out more

The European Outdoor Group (EOG) published a Recycled Leather report in 2019 that aims to support industry professionals to better understand recycled leather as alternative to virgin leather.

See: leather

References:
Textile Exchange (2022) Preferred Fiber & Materials Report
European Outdoor Group (2019) Recycled Leather report
UNIDO 2000—Wastes generated in the leather products industry
ISO 14021 defines recycled material as “material that has been reprocessed from recovered [reclaimed] material by means of a manufacturing process and made into a final product or into a component for incorporation into a final product."

Recycled material (also called "secondary raw material") can come from post-consumer or pre-consumer sources, from textile products (closed-loop) or from other industries (open-loop).

See also: Recycling, Chemical recycling, Closed-loop recycling, Open-loop recycling, Mechanical recycling

References:
ISO 14021 - Environmental labels and declarations
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2020) Vision of circular economy for fashion
Material obtained by recycling pre- or post-consumer nylon, used primarily to make carpets, hosiery, sportswear and swimwear.

Econyl and Q-Nova are the best-known brands of recycled nylon. Even recycled, nylon remains a synthetic, non-biodegradable material which, when washed, releases plastic microfibres responsible for ocean pollution.

Reference: The Good Goods
Made from recycled plastic (PET) bottles which are de-polymerised then re-polymerised into fibres. PET can be recycled in two ways:

• Mechanical, whereby the plastic is melted then re-extruded to form fibres.
• Chemical, whereby the polymer is broken down into molecules then reformed into fibres.

Like conventional polyester, recycled polyester still contributes to microfibre pollution.

References: 
The Good Goods
Textile Exchange
Article L541-1-1 of the French Environmental Code defines recycling as "any recovery operation by which waste, including organic waste, is reprocessed into substances, materials or products for use in its original function or for other purposes. Energy recovery operations, waste-to-fuel operations and backfilling operations do not qualify as recycling operations".

There are two main recycling systems: closed-loop recycling reuses the recycled material to make a product in the same category, e.g. making textile products from recycled textiles. Open-loop recycling reuses the recycled material to make a product in a different category, e.g. recycling PET bottles into polyester fibres.

Recycling can be chemical or mechanical, depending on the type of waste.

Find out more:

BS8001 defines recycling as an "action of processing a discarded or used product, component or material for use in a future product, component or material". It specifies that "recycling involves actions which might change the physico‑chemical state of an item. It includes the processing of organic material (e.g. composting) but excludes items used for energy recovery, as fuels, or for backfilling purposes (e.g. where suitable secondary material is appropriate to be applied in a process of landscape engineering)".

See: mechanical recycling, chemical recycling, open-loop recycling, closed-loop recycling

References:
French Environmental Code - Article L541-1-1
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2020) Vision of a circular economy for fashion
BS 8001:2017 - Section 2.52
Eco-organisation for the clothing, linens and footwear sectors in France.

Its role is to ensure the prevention and end-of-life management of textile and footwear items for companies that place these products on the market. Refashion plays a central role in the industry's eco-system. It accompanies the transition towards a circular economy and provides services to the various stakeholders: marketers, sorting and collection operators, local and public authorities, project developers and the general public.

See also: eco-modulation, Extended producer responsibility (EPR), TLC

Reference: Refashion
See: Regenerative farming
A global farming system focused on regeneration of soil and ecosystems, support of biosequestration, greater resilience to climate change, improved soil health and positive impacts on individuals and society.

Reference: Paris Good Fashion
Certification managed by the Regenerative Organic Alliance that promotes holistic and regenerative agricultural practices. Its three pillars are soil health & land management, animal welfare and farmer and worker fairness. There are three levels of certification - Bronze, Silver and Gold – so that farmers can phase in more regenerative practices over time.

References:
Regenerative Organic Certified
Framework for Regenerative Organic Certified
Directives which have force of law. Regulations can make reference to standards in order to simplify content, facilitate or lessen certain controls which are incumbent on public authorities, support implementation of public policies and contribute to respect for international agreements.

References:
AFNOR (NC) Parler normes couramment
Ministry of the Economy, Finance and Industry (2016) Guide relatif au bon usage de la normalisation dans la réglementation
A consumption model that gives precedence to use over ownership.

While rental can significantly extend a garment’s lifespan, its effectiveness in reducing overproduction and overconsumption has yet to be demonstrated. A reliable indicator of the potential environmental gains of renting over personal ownership must take other environmental impacts (packaging, washing and cleaning, distribution, etc.) into account.

Reference: Paris Good Fashion
The ease with which a product or component can be repaired.

Find out more

In France, since January 1, 2021 five categories of consumer electronics and white goods must display a repairability index. The anti-waste law (Loi AGEC ) aims to extend this to a sustainability index by 2024, through the introduction of additional criteria such as robustness and reliability.

References:
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
French Ministry of Ecology
Article L541-1-1 of the French Environmental Code defines repurposing as "any operation by which substances, materials or products that have become waste are used again".

The original user discards the component, product or material other than at a structure where it will be reused. The component, product or material thus becomes waste.

Augmentation may be required for the product to fulfil its new role.

Repurposing differs from reusing in that the repurposed item, on reaching its end of life, became waste.

References:
French Environmental Code - Article L541-1-1
Ademe
An ecosystem’s ability to withstand alterations or disturbances that impact its structure or function and, if these alterations or disturbances persist, to adapt.

Reference: Vocabulaire de l'environnement (2009) French Official Journal
Voluntary standard developed by Textile Exchange. Responsible Alpaca Standard certification applies strict criteria of animal welfare (nutrition, health, living environment, handling and transport), responsible land management (soil health, biodiversity, water, fertilisers and pesticides) and workers’ rights (hiring practices, child labour, wages, health and safety).

Reference: Textile Exchange
A form of consumption in which the buyer - which can be a public body, a private body or an individual - chooses to buy, use and dispose of products in a responsible way.

This notion of responsibility covers multiple aspects, for example environmental factors, economic factors, working conditions or health factors. A product can be responsible in some ways but not others, for example an organic cotton tshirt made in a factory where workers’ rights are violated.

Conscious consumption and collaborative consumption (sharing, donating, lending or swapping goods) are examples of responsible consumption.

References:
Ademe (2019) Consommer responsable
Paris Good Fashion
Voluntary standard developed by Textile Exchange as a guarantee that down and feathers are sourced from ducks or geese which have been humanely treated (respect of the Five Freedoms; no live plucking; no sourcing from animals that have been force-fed).

Reference: Textile Exchange
Voluntary standard developed by Textile Exchange. Responsible Mohair Standard certification applies strict criteria of animal welfare (nutrition, health, living environment, handling and transport), responsible land management (soil health, biodiversity, water, fertilisers and pesticides) and workers’ rights (hiring practices, child labour, wages, health and safety).

Reference: Textile Exchange
Voluntary standard developed by Textile Exchange. Responsible Wool Standard certification applies strict criteria of animal welfare (nutrition, health, living environment, handling and transport), responsible land management (soil health, biodiversity, water, fertilisers and pesticides) and workers’ rights (hiring practices, child labour, wages, health and safety).

Reference: Textile Exchange
British standard BS 8001:2017 defines reuse as an "operation by which a product, component or material* can be used again without requiring any reprocessing or treatment". This definition specifices that:

• Products, components or materials can be used again for the same purpose for which they were conceived without the need for any modifications, reprocessing or treatment.

• Items may need to be “prepared for reuse”, which involves checking, cleaning or repairing so that they can be reused without further processing.

* Reuse as defined by the French Environmental Code (article L541-1-1) refers to products or materials that are not classified as waste, and is distinct from repurposing.

References:
BS 8001:2017 - Section 2.59 Reuse/reused
French Environmental Code - Article L541-1-1
Natural rubber is made from latex, which is the sap of the rubber tree (Hevea). Synthetic rubber is manufactured from petroleum.

Rubber trees grow wild in the Amazon, where the sap is harvested by local communities. The trees are able to sustainably regenerate. However, only a small fraction of rubber is produced this way. In Asia, rubber-tree plantations are causing widespread deforestation and, combined with heavy pesticide use, destroying biodiversity. These practices also raise issues about workers’ rights and working conditions.

FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC certification show that the latex was obtained from sustainably managed forests.

References: 
WeDressFair
The Good Goods