French authorities have started proceedings to suspend online fast-fashion retailer Shein until it complies with French laws, the finance ministry says, marring the opening of Shein’s first shop in Paris department store BHV.
The discovery of child-like sex dolls on Shein’s website on Saturday fuelled an outcry.
Shein said it had sanctioned the sellers and implemented a full ban on sex dolls.
“On the Prime Minister’s instructions, the government is initiating proceedings to suspend Shein for as long as necessary for the platform to demonstrate to the authorities that all of its content is finally in compliance with our laws and regulations,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
A Shein spokesperson told Reuters the company was seeking urgent consultations with authorities over the suspension.
Shein said in a statement it was temporarily suspending its marketplace in France, a move the spokesperson said was already planned before the finance ministry’s statement.
It was not immediately clear if the planned suspension would affect its Paris store, which opened at 1pm on Wednesday.
Protesters bearing “Shame on Shein” placards had gathered outside BHV on Wednesday as the online fast-fashion retailer opened its first shop amid fierce criticism of its low-cost business model.
After queuing for hours, dozens of shoppers filed into the 19th-century BHV department store in the city’s Marais shopping district, as riot police officers brought in to shield the store looked on.
Shein’s store, which occupies 1000 square metres on the sixth floor of the BHV, has caused uproar among politicians including Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, as well as retailers who say that Shein’s business model has an unfair advantage and has eroded French high streets.
The first shoppers to enter the store browsed rails of Shein clothes including jeans for 27.99 euros ($A51) and a black fake-leather jacket for 42.49 euros, while more still waited downstairs to be allowed in.
Shein, which sends clothes from factories in China direct to consumers in 150 countries worldwide, was approached to set up a concession by Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), which is hoping the launch will attract a younger clientele to the struggling BHV and bring benefits thanks to its ecommerce expertise.
“Every day, we’re told that physical stores are dying. Every day, we’re being told that thousands of jobs are at stake, that the French textile industry is dying, and these same critics are not the ones offering us solutions,” SGM Chairman Frederic Merlin told BFM TV.
“I believe that without innovating, the future honestly doesn’t look bright.”
France has been especially robust in its reaction to Shein and could ban it from advertising in the country under a planned law to rein in “ultra-fast” fashion that specifically targets platforms adding more than 1000 new products a day.
“We’ve been fighting this fight against Shein for two years and to see this brand set up in a historic building … that symbolises (the) French textile industry, it’s an unacceptable provocation,” said MP Anne-Cécile Violland, who spearheaded the fast-fashion law.
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