Italy hands fast fashion retailer Shein €1 million greenwashing fine
The Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) announced on Monday that it had issued the fast fashion company Shein with a fine of 1 million euros for “deceived and / or misleading environmental messages”.
The authorities gave the fine to Infinite Styles Services Co. Limited, a company based in Dublin which manages the Shein website in Europe.
“Thanks to its website https://it.shein.com and other promotional and / or informational online pages, the company has disseminated environmental affirmations in the #Sheintheknow, Evolishein and Social Responsibility which were, in some cases, vague, generic and / or too emphatic, and in other, deceptive or omitive,” said AGCM in a declaration.
In particular, AGCM criticized Shein’s claims on recyclability and its “circular system” to minimize waste, which has been “deemed false or at least confusing”.
Italian officials also challenged Shein’s statements on his greenhouse gas emissions. The company says it aims to reduce emissions by 25% by 2030 and says it hopes to reach Net Zero by 2050. The AGCM said that these proposals were “vague and generic” and “were even contradicted by a real increase in Shein greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 and 2024”.
AGCM is the second European competition authority to amend Shein in just over a month, after the French antitrust agency issued the company with a penalty of 40 million euros in July.
An 11 -month DGCCRF survey revealed that Shein had engaged in “deceptive business practices towards consumers”, in particular “on the reality of the price reductions granted and the scope of commitments concerning environmental complaints”.
Shein accepted the fine and said he had already taken measures to rectify violations after being informed by the regulator last year.
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The company does not publicly disclose the profits updates, although sources familiar with the company have declared to Bloomberg that in the first quarter, the net income of the company had reached more than $ 400 million (346 million euros), while income was nearly $ 10 billion (8.6 billion euros). According to sources, the beneficiary margin of Shein has been lifted by customers rushing to get ahead of the American administration prices.
The China-based retailer built a solid consumer base by offering ultra-raw products, although its environmental and work practices have been examined.
The latter notably blocked his ambitions to launch an IPO (initial public offer) in London, Depending on reports. Shein filed an inscription in the British capital more than a year ago, although Chinese and British regulators did not agree on the language included in the risk disclosure section of his prospectus, in particular when this concerns human rights violations.
