Why French are up in arms as Shein opens shop in Paris : NPR
Employees of BHV department stores take part in a demonstration in front of the BHV Marais shopping center in Paris, on October 10, during a strike to protest against the arrival of the fast fashion brand Shein.
Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
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Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images
PARIS — Nearly 170 years ago, a young merchant named Xavier Ruel opened a small store in central Paris with a simple idea: good quality at fair prices. This modest store quickly became the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville, or BHV, one of the city’s most iconic department stores.
These days, customers come in to pick up everything from toasters to stockings, or just to browse the store’s annual Christmas displays.
Today, the store has also become a flashpoint in France’s growing backlash against ultra-fast fashion. On November 1, Shein, the Chinese online retail giant, is set to open its first permanent store within BHV. The move sparked strong criticism in France, a country that prides itself on its craftsmanship, sustainability and haute couture.
“The store sold its soul to the devil”
Inside, some aisles already seem emptier than usual. Several French brands withdrew in protest.
Among those refusing to return is Marie Cosson, a long-time BHV customer, who says she is heartbroken.
“The store sold its soul to the devil,” Cosson says. “I came to say goodbye to the staff.”
The brand name of fast fashion company Shein is seen at a garment factory in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, 18 July 2022.
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In 2023, BHV was bought by a real estate group called Société des Grands Magasins – the same company that brought Shein to several Galeries Lafayette department stores across France. In a press release, the group specifies that this partnership “aims to attract a younger and more connected clientele”.
Across town, in the 11th arrondissement, this announcement galvanized a different type of fashion movement.
Earlier this month, activists and designers gathered at a new headquarters for Une Autre Mode Est Possible, which means “Another Fashion is Possible.” Organizers say the space will focus on slower, sustainable design, where designers will offer workshops on topics such as making clothing from reused materials.
Its founder, Arielle Lévy, launched an online petition against the arrival of Shein. It has already collected more than 100,000 signatures.
Arielle Lévy in front of the headquarters of a sustainable fashion house she founded in Paris, Une Autre Mode Est Possible, which means “Another fashion is possible”.
Rebecca Rosman for NPR
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Rebecca Rosman for NPR
“We are in Paris, the fashion capital,” explains Lévy. “Enough is enough. People need to stand up and say we don’t want this.”
The reaction also reached Paris town hall.
“For us, Shein represents ultra-fast fashion, it is a model that we must fight,” says Florentin Letissier, deputy mayor of the city in charge of sustainable development and waste reduction. “These are cheap clothes made in conditions of modern slavery. They are bad for the planet and for our own designers.”
Workers produce clothes at a textile factory that supplies clothing to fast fashion e-commerce company Shein, June 11, 2024, in Guangzhou, south China’s Guangdong province.
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There have been numerous reports of poor working conditions at Shein factories, including a 2024 investigation by Zurich-based human rights watchdog Public Eye that found evidence that the company was pushing its factory workers in southern China to work 75 hours a week in poor conditions.
The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, described the arrival of the brand as a “betrayal of the values of Paris”.
French lawmakers are also moving quickly.
In June, the French Senate passed a bill that would ban ads for fast fashion brands, punish influencers who promote them and add an environmental tax of up to 10 euros per item of clothing by 2030. Regulators have already fined Shein $46 million (€40 million) for misleading advertising.
“They don’t respect creativity”
In a boutique on Boulevard Saint-Germain, Marie-Emmanuelle Demours, CEO of the French ready-to-wear brand Paul & Joe, holds up a tailored coat and shows off her hand-sewn buttons.
“They were made by hand, one by one, in Paris,” she says. “This is what fashion should be.”
Demours says Shein represents the opposite; mass production, poor quality and widespread design theft.
“They will steal from anyone, any brand,” she says. “They don’t respect people, the planet, or creativity.”
Marie-Emmanuelle Demours, CEO of French ready-to-wear brand Paul & Joe, highlights the details of the brand’s clothing. She says she is opposed to mass-produced, poor-quality clothing.
Rebecca Rosman for NPR
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Rebecca Rosman for NPR
Other designers have made similar allegations against Shein, leading designers to file lawsuits against the company.
When interviewed by NPR, Shein declined to directly address allegations that its clothing was made in “modern-day slavery conditions” or that it copied designs from other brands.
In an emailed statement, Quentin Ruffat, spokesperson for Shein France, instead commented on the company’s partnership with Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), as “an opportunity to experiment with new ways to combine our industry-leading on-demand model with offline retail.” He added: “this collaboration allows us [to] meeting this demand while helping to increase footfall at SGM’s retail destinations, which we hope will in turn benefit the wider offline retail ecosystem.
Thibaut Ledunois, director of innovation at the French Fashion Council, warns that Shein’s ambitions go well beyond clothing.
“Their strategy is to become the supermarket of the world,” he says. “It’s not just about fashion, it’s about a model of society – and that’s why so many French citizens are really engaging in this area.”
Perhaps this is why, almost 170 years after Xavier Ruel opened his little boutique selling quality products at fair prices, Parisians are still fighting to keep his dream alive.
