August in the Basque Country was not a holiday for everyone. On the fringes of the G7 summit in Biarritz, luxury jewels, equipment manufacturers, fast fashion leaders and supermarket chains exhibited the “Fashion Pact” to the 7 most important leaders on the planet. Nearly 150 stakeholders in the clothing sector form this coalition, which should work for the environment in the coming years. Finally the beginning of an awareness?

After the Paris Climate Agreement, Emmanuel Macron appointed François Pinault, CEO of Kering, to unite the brands and raise their awareness of the need to create more sustainable fashion.

The signatories pledge to limit the impact of the textile sector on the oceans, biodiversity or the climate. Their ambition is to regulate pollution by supporting research and innovation, to ban intensive agriculture from their production, or to favour renewable energies.

Although this grouping is a step forward in this area, it is not unanimously accepted. The Fashion Pact is already struggling to convince NGOs (WWF, Greenpeace…), who condemn the discrepancy between the speeches and the real desire to move the lines, reminding us in passing that a “specific commitment cannot justify the designation of a responsible brand”.

Even if the CSR and sustainable development commitments within these companies are not yet fully mature, we can only welcome the first steps of the action. Only time will tell of the integrity of these mastodons, which are at the moment, it should be stressed again, the biggest polluters on the planet.