New rules will also ensure products are more enviromentally friendly and that goods are also more easily repaired and recycled.
This seems more like the real news here. Keeping clothes lasting longer would be to everyone’s benefit.
Seriously. One of my pet peeves is shoes made with no outsole. Around 10 or 12 years ago a bunch of shoe brands decided they could save money if they stopped making shoes with a hard rubber outsole. Instead they just mold the tread into the soft midsole material. They spent a bunch of money convincing people it was fashionable. Probably a lot cheaper to produce for them. But the shoes wear out insanely fast.
I have never worn out a pair of shoes that way. Not against what you suggest but if they takes say 20 percent more energy but only 5 percent of people will take any advantage of it, that is a fifteen percent hit to the environment.
I just took those numbers out of my ass but there is a good chance that if you force companies to build say a product like this more durable, it could end up costing the consumer and the environment more than less. It is near impossible to legislate.
