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

After it became clear that the online fashion store Shein was selling sex dolls with a disturbingly “childlike” appearance, the French authorities have warned them to restrict access to the Chinese retailer.

Shein, which claimed the dolls were being sold by third-party sellers on its website, plans to open its first brick-and-mortar store this week inside BHV, Paris’s most upscale department store.

The Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Control (DGCCRF), France’s consumer watchdog, announced last week that it had found the dolls on Shein’s website, noting that their descriptions “left no doubt about their “paedophilic nature.”

Shein received a 40 million euro fine from the watchdog for “deceptive” pricing practices and excessive environmental reporting.

The government has the right to request that access to the French market be prohibited, according to France’s economy minister Roland Lescure, who spoke to BFM TV on Monday.

The sale of the dolls on Shein’s platform was deemed inappropriate by Frederic Merlin, president of Societe des Grands Magasins, the company’s owner.

Shein has been criticized for its factory working conditions and the negative effects of cheap, “throwaway” fashion products, aside from the sex-doll scandal.

Describe Shein.

Shein, which was founded in China in 2012 and is now based in Singapore, is a privately held company led by its founder and CEO, Chris Xu, and has grown to be a global leader in “fast fashion,” a process that allows clothes to be produced at low prices and quickly adapt to new trends.

The online retailer, which has about 6, 000 clothing factories in China, primarily sells products via mobile apps and ships products to more than 150 nations. Shein’s global sales increased by 20% from the prior year to reach a record high of almost 38 billion Singapore dollars (US $29 billion).

Shein will debut its first permanent location&nbsp on Wednesday inside the BHV department store in the posh Marais neighborhood, despite having previously operated pop-up shops. However, more than 100 000 people have signed a French petition opposing the opening.

What are Shein’s main criticisms?

Shein has a shaky work and environmental record despite having a global business and having numerous investigations that have revealed troubling practices. A Shein factory worker was working up to 75 hours per week as of 2022, according to a Channel 4 investigation.

This was still the case two years later, according to a 2024 investigation by the advocacy group Public Eye in Switzerland.

Despite the anonymity of the report, Reuters reported that two suppliers of the company’s fashion chain were employing children under the age of 16, despite the fact that it didn’t disclose who the suppliers were or where they were based.

Shein violated fundamental standards for working conditions and human rights, according to another report released by the non-profit World Benchmarking Alliance for 2024.

Shein’s supply chain mapping (identifying factories along the supply chain) was incomplete, according to the report, which reduced Shein’s ability to disclose her working conditions.

Up to 35, 000 pieces of finished clothing are produced each day in Shein factories, which use a lot of synthetic fibers, high water and energy costs, and produce a lot of textile waste.

According to the environmental non-profit Changing Markets Foundation, the manufacturers use about the same amount of carbon dioxide as 180 coal-fired power plants due to their high use of virgin polyester, a synthetic fibre made from petroleum-based products.

The DGCCRF discovered that Shein had misled French customers about price reductions advertised on its website in May of this year, following a year-long investigation into Shein’s business practices between 2022 and 2023.

Shein accepted the fast-fashion giant’s 40 million euros ($46.9 million) fine from the French government.

How has Shein’s arrival in other French fashion houses affected other brands?

In protest, several French fashion houses have banned their merchandise from the BHV department store. There would be no sense being sold in the same store as Shein, co-founder of French footwear brand Odaje, Guillaume Alcan, Le Monde reported.

One week after Shein’s arrival was announced, on October 1, a French bank pulled out of negotiations to purchase the BHV building. Additionally, Paris City Hall blocked plans for a rugby stadium in Paris that would feature the BHV logo.

In another instance, Disneyland Paris halted plans to open a Christmas pop-up shop in BHV and stopped creating window displays for the holiday season, claiming that “conditions were no longer in place” to “calmly hold Christmas events” there.

Some BHV employees have also carried out strikes and protests on the streets recently.

What has Shein said in response to the “sex doll” controversy?

Authorities are empowered by French law to remove illegal content from online platforms, including images of children being sexually abused. The government may impose a ban on access to internet addresses on service providers and search engines if websites don’t comply.

The DGCCRF, the consumer watchdog in France, issued a formal notice on November 1st instructing Shein to take urgent corrective steps to remove the sex-doll listings from its website or be completely outlawed from the French market.

Shein responded by releasing a statement in response, stating that as a precaution, Shein had temporarily removed the “adult products” category from its website and had temporarily removed all of its “adult products” categories. Additionally, it stated that an internal investigation had been launched into its product-screening practices.

Executive Chairman Donald Tang stated that Shein’s commitment to combating child exploitation is non-negotiable. He claimed that the listings were from “third-party sellers,” but he made no mention of which third parties or their locations. He did say, “I take this personally. Our foundation is based on trust, and we won’t tolerate any acts that go against it.

However, Shein’s actions were insufficient, according to the child-protection NGO Mouv ‘Enfants, which advocates for the end of child violence. It staged a protest on Monday in Paris’s BHV shopping complex.

The company will continue to work as a cofounder of Mouv ‘Enfants as long as these dolls are available anywhere in the world, according to Arnaud Gallais, who cofounded the company.

Are French protests against Shein also motivated by its “outsider” status?

Shein’s protests don’t just revolve around ethics. They are also tied to Parisian retailers’ worries about the economy, who are renowned for their devotion to the past and their craftsmanship.

Therefore, there is a concern that international competition, particularly “fast-fashion” retailers, may outperform domestic businesses that uphold these values.

Source: Aljazeera