Website accessibility for fashion and apparel e-commerce
Since 28 June 2025 digital accessibility is a legal requirement for fashion and apparel e-commerce too. Check for free, in about a minute, whether your site meets the WCAG 2.1 AA criteria required by the European regulation.
Why it concerns you too
Online stores are among the services explicitly covered by the European Accessibility Act: selling clothing online to European consumers means your site must meet WCAG 2.1 AA. In fashion the risk is real: highly visual catalogues, updated constantly, are often built without alternative text or labels.
The obligation comes from EU Directive 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act), fully applicable since 28 June 2025. Non-compliance risks administrative fines, consumer complaints and remediation orders. Only service microenterprises are exempt: fewer than 10 employees and less than €2 million turnover.
The issues we find most often in this sector
Product photos without alt text
Hundreds of garment and look images uploaded with no alt attribute: for a screen-reader user the catalogue is empty.
Size and colour selectors without labels
Swatches and size buttons built as clickable graphics with no accessible name: choosing a variant is impossible.
Contrast sacrificed for aesthetics
Light-grey text on white and overlays on photos: elegant, but unreadable for people with low vision (and a struggle for everyone on a phone).
These are recurring examples found in scans of sites in this sector: your site may have others (or none at all). The only way to know is to check.
Check now, it's free
See in 30 seconds how many of these issues your shop has: the scan is free and no sign-up is required.
Analyse your site for freeFrequently asked questions
- Does the European Accessibility Act apply to fashion and apparel e-commerce?
- Online stores are among the services explicitly covered by the European Accessibility Act: selling clothing online to European consumers means your site must meet WCAG 2.1 AA. In fashion the risk is real: highly visual catalogues, updated constantly, are often built without alternative text or labels.
- Which accessibility issues are typical for fashion and apparel e-commerce?
- The three we find most often: Product photos without alt text; Size and colour selectors without labels; Contrast sacrificed for aesthetics.
- How do I check whether my site is compliant?
- Start with the free EAA Sentinel scan: a real browser analyses up to 3 pages of your site and returns a 0-100 score with the most severe issues in about a minute. The full report (€49 one-time) extends the analysis to up to 50 pages, with every issue and fix instructions. Automated analysis detects 30-40% of WCAG issues — the machine-verifiable ones: full compliance also requires manual checks.
Want the regulatory picture for your sector? European Accessibility Act for fashion and apparel e-commerce