Paris (AFP) – Shein opened its first brick-and-mortar store in the world in Paris on Wednesday amid a heavy police presence, as controversy swirled over the Asian e-commerce giant’s fast fashion business model and sale of childlike sex dolls online. Riot police officers were deployed in the centre of the French capital ahead of the opening of Shein’s first permanent physical store on the sixth floor of the BHV department store, an iconic building that has stood across from Paris City Hall since 1856.
The first clients entered the store under the watchful eye of riot police at around 1200 GMT, after queuing for hours outside, AFP reporters saw. In the line outside before the opening, some said they arrived out of curiosity, while others pointed to the brand’s affordability. “Times have changed, generations have changed,” Mohamed Joullanar, a 30-year-old who already buys from Shein online, told AFP. “I’d never thought of going to BHV before,” the Moroccan master’s student added. “I always heard it was expensive, luxury products. But now, thanks to Shein, I’m here.”
Nearby children’s rights activists staged a protest. “Protect children, not Shein,” one of the signs read. Protesters distributed red flyers, denouncing “suspected forced labour” and “pollution”, and urging passersby to sign a petition against Shein’s presence inside the Paris store. Across the street, a poster critical of the brand hung at the top of City Hall, under the window of Greens politician and Paris mayoral candidate David Belliard. “Shein no thanks,” it read.
Shein, which was founded in China, has faced criticism over working conditions at its factories and the environmental impact of its ultra-fast fashion business model, and its arrival in France has been opposed by politicians, unions, and top fashion brands. Just days before the planned opening, a new controversy erupted over the sale of childlike sex dolls on Shein’s platform. The discovery triggered a new political outcry and the opening of a judicial investigation.
The Paris prosecutor’s office said ahead of the store’s launch that it had opened investigations against Shein, and also rival online retailers AliExpress, Temu, and Wish, over the sale of the sex dolls. The probes were for distributing “messages that are violent, pornographic, or improper, and accessible to minors,” it said. A photo published by French media showed one of the dolls being sold on the platform accompanied by an explicitly sexual caption. The pictured doll measured around 80 centimetres (30 inches) in height and held a teddy bear.
Shein, which was founded in China in 2012 but is now based in Singapore, has pledged to “fully cooperate” with French judicial authorities and announced it was imposing a ban on all sex dolls. Shein’s spokesman in France, Quentin Ruffat, has chalked up the sale of the dolls to “a malfunction in our processes and governance.”
Frederic Merlin, the 34-year-old director of the SGM company that operates BHV, on Tuesday said he considered pulling the plug on the partnership with Shein after the latest uproar but then changed his mind. He said he was confident about the Shein products that will be sold at his department store and denounced a “general hypocrisy” surrounding Shein. “Shein has 25 million customers in France,” Merlin told BFMTV/RMC on Wednesday. Merlin hopes that the Asian giant will help increase footfall at his department store.
Shein’s meteoric rise has been a bane for traditional retail fashion companies. Critics fear that Shein will further hurt stores in France, some of which have had to lay off staff or close. Shein is also scheduled to open five shops in other French cities, including Dijon, Grenoble, and Reims.
© 2024 AFP
