French Clothing Retail Collective Agreement: IDCC 1483 and the 2026 Scale

Quick answer. A French retail clothing and textile shop falls under national collective agreement IDCC 1483, brochure 3241, concluded on 25 November 1987. Its minimum wage scale was revised by amendment no. 29 of 16 December 2025, extended by order of 9 March 2026 and applicable since 1 April 2026. Coverage depends on actual activity, not on the APE code.

Hiring a shop assistant in a clothing store raises a question many owners answer too quickly: which collective agreement applies, and what minimum must be paid. The answer has lasting consequences, because an error of coverage or of grade is not settled month by month: it is claimed over three years.

Two numbers designate the same text and they do not serve the same purpose.

IDCC 1483 is the collective agreement identifier, the one the administration uses and the one that must appear on the payslip. Brochure 3241 is the Journal officiel publication number, under which the text is bought or consulted. The agreement itself was concluded on 25 November 1987, so it has been amended many times: it is always the consolidated version that governs.

On a payslip, a missing or inaccurate collective agreement reference is a formal defect, but above all it is the first signal an inspector looks at to judge whether the file has been built seriously.

This is where most disputes are decided, and it deserves to be stated plainly: the APE code is not the collective agreement.

The APE code is a statistical classification, assigned by the national statistics institute from the declaration made at incorporation. It is an indication of coverage, never proof. Coverage is determined by the main activity actually carried out, generally assessed by turnover or headcount.

The situations to settle before the first hire are always the same:

• the mixed business, selling clothing and other goods, whose dominant activity has to be determined;
• the designer who manufactures and sells, where manufacturing may shift coverage to an industrial branch;
• the vintage or consignment shop, whose clothing retail activity remains clothing retail, but whose legal model (buy-and-resell or agency) must separately be qualified;
• the corner or concession inside a department store, where the real employer is not always the obvious one.

Where doubt remains, it is better resolved in writing before hiring than before an employment tribunal three years later.

The scale in force results from amendment no. 29 of 16 December 2025, extended by order of 9 March 2026, applicable since 1 April 2026.

The important word in that sentence is extended. A wage amendment signed by the social partners initially binds only businesses that belong to a signatory organisation. It is the extension order that makes it compulsory for every business in the branch, including those that belong to nothing. An owner who believes they are outside the scope because they belong to no trade body is mistaken: once extension is published, the scale applies to them.

We do not reproduce the amounts grade by grade here: they must be read in the text published in the official collective agreements bulletin rather than copied from a third-party site, because the scales circulating online are frequently one or two amendments out of date. This is precisely the kind of figure that should never be taken second-hand.

Branch scale or statutory minimum wage: which prevails?#

Whichever is more favourable to the employee. If a contractual minimum falls below the statutory minimum wage, the statutory wage applies; if it is above, the contractual minimum applies.

This rule has a practical consequence many employers discover mid-year: an increase in the statutory minimum wage can absorb the bottom of the scale and render several grades inoperative until the next amendment is signed. The check is therefore not done once and for all; it is redone at every movement, grade by grade.

Litigation in clothing retail almost never concerns the principle of the agreement. It concerns three execution topics.

Part-time work and additional hours. The shop floor is the natural territory of part-time contracts, variable schedules and weekend reinforcements. It is also the leading source of reclassification and back pay: minimum duration, contractual allocation of hours, notice period for changes, uplift on additional hours, and the ceiling beyond which a contract may be reclassified as full-time.

Grading. Placing an employee at the right grade is not an administrative formality: it determines their minimum. An experienced sales assistant kept for years at the entry grade is a wage claim quietly accumulating.

The annual review. The scale moves. The statutory minimum moves. Employees progress. Without an annual review the gap widens unnoticed, and it surfaces at the worst possible moment, namely when an employee leaves.

It comes down to four steps, taken before the first hire rather than after.

1. Qualify coverage from the actual activity, and document it in writing in the file.
2. Grade each role according to the functions actually performed, not the job title.
3. Check the applicable minimum at every increase, contractual or statutory, grade by grade.
4. Secure part-time contracts on duration, allocation, notice period and the treatment of additional hours.

This is the framework we put in place for a clothing retail accountant file, and it extends naturally when the shop entrusts us with its payroll.

• The agreement is IDCC 1483, brochure 3241, dated 25 November 1987.
• The applicable scale results from amendment no. 29 of 16 December 2025, extended by order of 9 March 2026, in force since 1 April 2026.
• Extension makes the scale binding on every business in the branch.
• Coverage is determined by actual activity; the APE code is only an indication.
• The applicable amount is the more favourable of the contractual minimum and the statutory minimum wage.
• A grading error is claimed over three years, including paid holiday and social contributions.