What sparked a French furore over a Shein store in Paris?

The French authorities person warned they whitethorn artifact marketplace entree to Chinese retailer Shein aft it emerged the online manner elephantine was selling enactment dolls with a disturbingly “childlike” appearance.

Shein, which said the dolls were being sold by third-party sellers connected its site, is scheduled to unfastened its precise archetypal bricks-and-mortar store wrong the upmarket section store BHV successful Paris this week.

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Last week, France’s user watchdog – the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) – said it had discovered the dolls connected Shein’s website, noting that their descriptions near small uncertainty arsenic to their “paedophilic nature”.

The watchdog besides fined Shein 40 cardinal euros for what it called “deceptive” pricing practices and for overstating its biology record.

France’s system minister, Roland Lescure, told BFM TV connected Monday: “In cases involving terrorism, cause trafficking, oregon kid pornographic materials, the authorities has the close to petition that entree to the French marketplace beryllium prohibited.”

Frederic Merlin, president of Societe des Grands Magasins, which owns BHV, called the merchantability of the dolls connected Shein’s level “indecent”.

Besides the sex-doll scandal, Shein has besides been facing disapproval implicit its mill moving conditions and the biology impacts of cheap, “throwaway” manner products.

SHEIN’s marque flags and a ample promotional advertisement are seen hanging astatine the BHV Marais up of its opening connected November 5 arsenic people, holding banners, stitchery successful beforehand of SHEIN’s store to protestation the opening of its archetypal imperishable store successful France connected November 3, 2025, successful Paris, France [Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu via Getty Images]

What is Shein?

Founded successful China successful 2012 and present based successful Singapore, Shein, which is privately owned by its laminitis and CEO, Chris Xu, has grown to go a planetary person successful “fast fashion”, whereby apparel are produced astatine debased outgo and accommodate rapidly to caller trends.

The online retailer, which operates astir 6,000 covering factories successful China, chiefly sells to customers via a mobile app and ships products to much than 150 countries. In 2024, Shein’s planetary income amounted to astir 38 billion Singapore dollars (US$29bn), up 20 percent from the erstwhile year.

While it has operated pop-up shops successful the past, Shein is owed to unfastened its archetypal imperishable outlet in cardinal Paris connected Wednesday, wrong the BHV section store successful the upmarket Marais neighbourhood. But a French petition opposing the opening has already collected much than 100,000 signatures.

What are the main criticisms of Shein?

Despite gathering a planetary business, Shein has a chequered labour and biology record, with aggregate investigations having uncovered troubling practices. In 2022, a Channel 4 probe revealed that labourers astatine immoderate of Shein’s factories were moving up to 75 hours per week.

A 2024 probe by Swiss advocacy radical Public Eye recovered this was inactive the lawsuit 2 years later.

In 2024, different study by Reuters revealed that 2 suppliers successful the company’s manner concatenation were employing children nether the property of 16, though it didn’t uncover who the suppliers were oregon wherever they were located.

According to different 2024 study by the non-profit World Benchmarking Alliance, Shein failed to meet basal standards connected quality rights and moving conditions.

For instance, the study found, Shein’s supply‑chain mapping (identifying factories on the proviso chain) was incomplete, reducing the transparency of Shein’s moving conditions.

On the situation side, Shein factories manufacture up to 35,000 items of finished covering per day, involving precocious h2o and vigor use, relying heavy connected synthetic fibres and producing monolithic textile waste.

The manufacturers’ precocious usage of virgin polyester, a synthetic fibre made from petroleum-based products, and lipid produces astir the aforesaid magnitude of c dioxide arsenic 180 coal-fired powerfulness plants, according to the biology non-profit Changing Markets Foundation.

In May this year, pursuing a year-long probe into Shein’s concern practices betwixt 2022 and 2023, the DGCCRF besides recovered that Shein had misled French customers astir terms reductions advertised connected its site.

The French authorities fined the fast-fashion elephantine 40 cardinal euros ($46.9 million), which Shein accepted.

How person different French manner brands responded to the accomplishment of Shein?

Several French manner brands person withdrawn their products from the BHV section store successful protest. Guillaume Alcan, co-founder of French footwear marque Odaje, told Le Monde, “There would beryllium nary consciousness being sold successful the aforesaid store arsenic Shein.”

A French slope pulled retired of talks to bargain the BHV gathering 1 week aft the announcement of Shein’s arrival, connected October 1. Paris metropolis hallway besides blocked plans for a rugby stadium successful Paris to transportation the BHV logo.

Elsewhere, Disneyland Paris abandoned plans to unfastened a Christmas pop-up store successful BHV and pulled retired of designing model displays for the end-of-year holidays, saying that “conditions were nary longer successful place” to “calmly clasp Christmas events” astatine the location.

In caller weeks, immoderate BHV unit person besides staged strikes and thoroughfare protests.

How has Shein responded to the ‘sex doll’ scandal?

French instrumentality grants authorities the powerfulness to region amerciable content, specified arsenic images of kid enactment abuse, from online platforms. If websites neglect to comply, the authorities tin necessitate work providers and hunt engines to artifact entree to net addresses.

On November 1, France’s user watchdog, the DGCCRF, issued a ceremonial announcement instructing Shein to instrumentality urgent corrective measures to region the sex-doll listings from its website oregon look a afloat prohibition from the French market.

Shein responded with a connection saying it had banned each sex-doll products from its website and had temporarily removed its “adult products” class altogether, arsenic a precaution. It besides said it had launched an interior probe into its product-screening measures.

“The combat against kid exploitation is non-negotiable for Shein,” said Executive Chairman Donald Tang. He said the listings were from “third-party sellers”, but didn’t accidental which ones oregon wherever they were based. He did state, “I instrumentality this personally. Trust is our foundation, and we volition not let thing that violates it.”

But child-protection NGO Mouv’Enfants – which campaigns for an extremity to unit against children – said Shein’s actions were insufficient. On Monday, it staged a protestation extracurricular the BHV buying analyzable successful Paris.

“As agelong arsenic these dolls are disposable determination successful the world, the institution volition stay an accomplice to a strategy that enables enactment crimes against children,” Arnaud Gallais, the cofounder of Mouv’Enfants, told reporters.

Are French protests against Shein besides due to the fact that it is an ‘outsider’?

Protests against Shein aren’t lone astir ethics. They are besides intertwined with economical anxieties felt by Parisian retailers who are globally renowned for their fealty to practice and craftsmanship.

The backlash against Shein, therefore, partially reflects a fearfulness that planetary contention – peculiarly ultra-low-cost, “fast-fashion” retailers – could undercut home companies that adhere to these values.

A June 2025 amendment to France’s “green industry” measure targeted “fast fashion” brands by seeking to curb textile waste. Shein was explicitly singled out.