Over the past fortnight, news headlines have played host to a head-spinning saga surrounding the ultra-fast fashion giant Shein.
It started when Shein opened its first physical retail space in Paris — a dedicated area within the iconic BHV Marais department store, operated by BHV-owner Groupe SGM. Excited shoppers queued around the block, some telling news reporters covering the opening that fast fashion democratizes the industry, pointing to the rising cost of living. A larger-than-life poster of Groupe SGM president Frederic Merlin shaking hands with Shein executive president Donald Tang loomed above the doorway.
But across the street, protestors countered their claims, citing Shein’s skyrocketing emissions and a litany of complaints lodged against the company by French authorities, which have come thick and fast in recent months, adding to the years-long campaign by French policymakers to block the proliferation of ultra-fast fashion. In July, French antitrust agency DGCCRF fined Shein €40 million for “deceptive commercial practices towards consumers” regarding price reductions, which the retailer says its European subsidiary, Infinite Style Ecommerce Co., identified and addressed over a year ago (it did not clarify which corrective measures it took, but added that it “takes its legal and regulatory obligations in France very seriously and remains committed to transparency and compliance with French regulations”). Then, in September, data protection authority CNIL fined Shein €150 million for allegedly misusing online cookies. On this point, Shein says the fine was “wholly disproportionate” and that it will appeal the decision, which it “firmly contests”.
Then, reports started swirling that French authorities had caught wind of “childlike” sex dolls being sold by third-party vendors on Shein’s e-commerce platform (part of a broader investigation into several e-commerce sites allegedly enabling minors to access pornographic content). The authorities threatened to suspend Shein’s website if the products were not removed. Shein temporarily paused third-party selling on its marketplace and put out a statement about its intent to work with authorities to “address any concerns swiftly”, while indefinitely delisting the entire “adult products” category. In a statement shared with Vogue Business, Shein’s head of public affairs for France, Quentin Ruffat, said: “Our priority is customer safety and marketplace integrity. This suspension enables us to strengthen accountability and ensure every product meets our standards and legal obligations.”
For the shoppers that filtered into the store unperturbed by all of the above, another twist was waiting: the product selection meant average prices were higher than Shein’s standard e-commerce offering. This proved to be the final straw for some, who took to social media to express their discontent. Then, Groupe SGM paused its plans to roll out Shein stores across its Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges locations. Shein declined to comment on the pricing, but says it is now focusing on “enhancing the experience offered in the BHV Paris store” and is aiming to develop “an even more complete and immersive customer journey for our shoppers”. The retail space “has been a strong success since its opening”, Shein added.
Given the broader context, some critics say Shein ought to have expected some negative response to its first bricks-and-mortar store. “This is no mere commercial move, it is an act of provocation,” says Anna Bryher, policy lead at campaigning organization Labour Behind the Label. “In the war between capitalism and human rights, this opening marks a new front: a direct challenge to France’s attempt to legislate against the destructive excesses of fast fashion, daring lawmakers to stop it.” (On the human rights front, Shein has faced a number of allegations. For example, its 2023 sustainability report revealed two known cases of child labor between Q1 and Q3, which Shein said at the time were “resolved swiftly”.)
As the store opening and ensuing backlash shows, Shein is a lightning rod for sustainable fashion activists whose aim is to call attention to the industry’s out-of-control waste problem, which they say is exacerbated by low-cost, low-quality garments. But as the dust settles on the opening, another view is emerging: some sustainable fashion experts are increasingly concerned that villainizing Shein in such binary terms risks overlooking the wider fashion system that makes its success possible. They argue that Shein has become fashion’s sustainability scapegoat, for reasons that — at times — extend beyond its environmental impact.
A false binary?
Earlier this year, a group of environmental advocacy organizations working together under the moniker Stop Fast Fashion Coalition dumped around 10 tons of textile waste outside the French Senate building. The stunt was designed to drive progress on France’s anti-fast fashion bill, says Mathilde Pousseo, general delegate at Collectif Éthique sur l étiquette (the French branch of the Clean Clothes Campaign), which was part of the coalition. The National Assembly (the lower house of the French Parliament) had voted unanimously in favor of the law in March 2024, but one year later, the Senate (the upper house) had not examined it.
When the Senate did eventually pick it up this summer, the scope was narrowed to distinguish between ‘classic’ and ‘ultra’ fast fashion, with the latter facing the brunt of penalties. The shift took the heat off many domestic brands in the process, focusing attention onto Shein and Temu — known for their ultra-fast models of production. The shift marked a fork in the road for sustainable fashion regulation, from systemic change to targeted attacks. The problem, however, is that it also revealed a flaw in this logic: policymaker attempts to define fast fashion revealed many of its core characteristics (overproduction, synthetic fabrics, trend-driven products designed for obsolescence, transactional relationships with suppliers, questionable workers’ rights, environmental degradation, urgency marketing and steep discounts) are present in almost every brand, from mass market all the way to high luxury.
Shein represents a more extreme version of the model. The retailer has consistently driven down prices, making the pioneers of fast fashion look expensive by comparison. At the time of writing, the cheapest womenswear product listed on Shein’s e-commerce site is available for 49 pence, and there were more than 3,000 products listed under the £20 mark.
Its environmental impact is impossible to ignore, and far outpaces companies that would be considered classic fast fashion under the French bill (under its definitions, classic fast fashion companies release around 1,000 new products per day, while ultra-fast fashion companies veer closer to 12,000). Shein’s 2024 impact report revealed total greenhouse gas emissions (across Scopes 1, 2 and 3) totaling 26,201,440 metric tons. For context, the H&M Group reported total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 8,770,000 metric tons in the same period, while Zara-owner Inditex reported total GHG emissions of 9,962,965 metric tons.
However, just because Shein’s impact dwarfs that of its competitors, doesn’t mean those competitors should be absolved of criticism, argues Dr. Jinou Xu, assistant professor at Politecnico di Milano. “Excessive focus on Shein may obscure the environmental impact of other major actors, and some criticism can be appropriated by established Western brands as a strategic tool,” she says. “The challenges involved are structural and cannot be resolved through condemnation alone.”
For brand and communications consultant Chinazo Ufodiama, who specializes in sustainability, the heightened response to Shein’s store opening is evidence of the fashion industry’s “oversimplification” of sustainability issues. During the protests, different stakeholder groups, with disparate priorities and interests, were able to “unite against a single enemy [...] without requiring any of these actors to interrogate their own complicity in the system that enabled Shein’s rise”, she explains. “It’s convenient. Brands spent decades offshoring production, squeezing wages and training consumers to expect cheap clothes that they can purchase and then discard at obscene rates. They created the blueprint; Shein just perfected it. Now, [other companies] can position themselves as the ‘good guys’ while distracting from their own complicity.”
The focus on Shein — and to a lesser extent, Temu — creates a false binary, Ufodiama continues. “In reality, fashion brands at all parts of the pricing spectrum operate with pretty much the same models. The legacy high street retailers were once celebrated for their design-to-shop floor two-week cycles, then the digital disruptors came in the late 2000s and poured rocket fuel on that system. Shein simply perfected the model in a more aggressively efficient and profitable way. Sure, they produce more styles and turn them around faster, but the difference here is scale rather than approach.” (On its approach, Shein has previously stated that it is able to achieve such speed-to-market and low prices by operating an on-demand production model, testing new products in small batches of 100 to 200 items, then using real-time customer feedback to automatically restock based on demand, which it says reduces waste.)
Many of the criticisms levelled against Shein mirror — and in some cases, magnify — systemic issues that even luxury is not immune to, says Pousseo. On the narrowed scope of France’s anti-fast fashion law, she says: “We were very surprised to see this law that addressed the whole textile sector just focus on two Chinese giants. What about the [rest of the industry]?”
Some experts also point to a growing anti-China sentiment globally, fueled by the US-China trade war and concerns about human rights abuses in the region. Shein, they say, has to an extent been caught in the crossfires. “As global supply chains undergo another period of restructuring, it is necessary to remain alert to the colonial and geopolitical narratives that may be disguised as environmental concern, so that sustainability does not become a new instrument of power,” says Xu.
Experts are not suggesting that the industry gives Shein a free pass. The criticisms are valid, they say, and the conversation necessary. But to move forward, the fashion industry needs to address the common practices that mass market and even luxury brands share with ultra-fast fashion players like Shein, says Politecnico di Milano associate professor Dr. Hakan Karaosman. “The fashion industry has a track record of exploiting social and environmental resources across supply networks due to its rigid, profit-first logic. Shein may well exacerbate these impacts, but we cannot ignore the fact that the rest of the industry has legitimized such irresponsible behavior in the first place.”
That means reducing overproduction, investing in rapid and widespread decarbonization, and prioritising a just transition, adds Dr. Karaosman. “As long as we discuss issues such as tariffs, decarbonization and microplastics in isolation, without considering their social consequences, many brands will exploit this paradoxical trade-off between short-term economic gains and long-term social costs for their own benefit. The fashion industry needs to wake up and focus on its most important resource: its workers. Otherwise, it will be too late to talk about sustainability in this industry.”
