, directed at “fashion producers,” are not aimed simply at “fast fashion” brands. Instead, they target apparel more generally, including all footwear and clothing made, imported, or sold in the subject states. These bills, if they are approved, would require retailers and brands to tell regulators and the general public about the chemicals in their clothes, the supply chain that goes into making them, the effects that making and selling clothes have on the climate, the working conditions in factories, and a slew of other information about production and sales. State laws like these create a quandary for manufacturers and retailers of covered products because most cannot sell different products in different markets and the changes they must make to accommodate a single state’s fashion products may force global change. Taken together, these bills attempt state regulation of the global operations of apparel brands.
Washington’s HB 1107
Washington state’s proposed fashion law, House Bill 1107 (HB 1107),[vi] has already had its first hearing in the state house. As currently drafted, it would obligate “fashion producers” of covered products sold or offered for sale in Washington to submit annual disclosures to Washington’s Department of Ecology (“Ecology”) starting January 1, 2027. The “fashion producer” of a covered product (an “article of wearing apparel or footwear”)[vii] is defined by a hierarchy that covers (1) the brand owner of a product, (2) the brand or trademark licensee of a product, (3) the importer of record for the product into the U.S., and (4) the person who “first sells, offers for sale, or distributes” the product in Washington.[viii] Clothing retailers, distributors, and e-commerce platforms would be subject to the proposed law.
Any covered products containing “priority chemicals” like PFAS would have to be disclosed to Ecology, as would any activities, initiatives, or goals related to reducing the fashion producer’s impact on the environment. These disclosure requirements apply to fashion producers of any size. Disclosures would also detail volumes of excess products and all procedures for disposing of such excess. Fashion producers with over $100 million in worldwide (not just state) annual gross income must submit further disclosures to Ecology that address the producer’s environmental due diligence policies and real and/or potential adverse environmental impacts associated with operations.