The sixth floor of Paris’s iconic BHV Marais department store, with its sweeping rooftop views toward the Eiffel Tower, is one of the most coveted retail spots in the city. It is also now the focus of an uproar over the Chinese e-commerce giant Shein, which is setting up its first physical boutique atop the fashion capital of the world.
The news that Shein’s ultracheap knockoffs, from pink miniskirts to black berets, would be moving beyond online retail and into brick-and-mortar stores has unified politicians and fashionistas in anger and given steam to an effort by French lawmakers to halt its continued online expansion as well. The Paris boutique is set to open on Nov. 1, and Shein is planning to open stores in five other French cities, a move that it promotes as an “homage” to France and its role in fashion.
But the company’s charm offensive has worn thin. On Friday, employees at BHV Marais quit their cash registers for a few hours and gathered outside to protest the opening of a 1,000-square-meter space for Shein. Many denounced what they said was the incursion into France of a low-cost Chinese competitor that used cheap labor and violated environmental and human rights standards in making its clothes.
“Shein goes against our beliefs,” said one employee, who, like others in the crowd, declined to give her name, citing privacy concerns. “We have always been a beautiful store with beautiful brands, and we try to promote corporate social responsibility.”
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, did not hold back. “Paris denounces the establishment of Shein, a symbol of fast fashion, at BHV Marais,” she declared in a LinkedIn post this week. The historic department store, known as the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville, was built as a bustling market hall in 1856.
An online petition calling for Shein to be barred from opening at BHV Marais gained nearly 100,000 signatures in a week. Shein did not respond to requests for comment.
In France, as elsewhere, Shein has seduced consumers by offering a head-spinning variety of cheap-chic clothing with free shipping direct from factories in China. At a time when France is facing economic austerity, political upheaval and stubborn inflation, the label has positioned itself as an affordable alternative to expensive French brands.
But as Shein has grown, so have questions about its practices. The company has been accused of working with suppliers that violate labor laws and of failing to make full disclosures about factory conditions. Shein has repeatedly said that it conducts regular internal audits and that it has a strict compliance code for its suppliers.
The Trump administration recently cracked down on Shein’s mail-in model in the United States by closing a loophole that allowed low-value goods to be shipped duty-free. European capitals are also moving to charge Shein and Temu, another Chinese fast-fashion retailer, for small packages until an European Union-wide tax goes into effect in a year.
France, home to Chanel, Dior and other high-fashion brands, has gone further. Just before Paris Fashion Week opened in September, the French Senate passed a so-called anti-Shein measure that would add taxes of up to 10 euros per garment purchased from Chinese online platforms like Temu and Shein and require the companies to report the environmental effect of their clothing. The legislation, which still needs final approval, would also ban the companies’ ads in France and penalize influencers who promoted them.
France’s antitrust watchdog fined Shein €40 million for “unfair commercial practices” in July, accusing it after a yearlong investigation of promoting misleading advertising discounts.
Shein has been pushing back. To stoke visibility, Shein opened its first pop-up store in the Marais district of central Paris during Fashion Week, drawing throngs. A French influencer, Magali Berdah, collaborated with Shein on a series of TikTok videos in which she interviewed young French shoppers gushing over Shein’s affordable fashion, while warning that new fees would put such goodies out of reach.
“This tax will not make fashion more responsible,” Ms. Berdah says in one video, referring to the Senate bill. “It will simply make it less accessible.”
“By choosing France as the place to trial physical retail, we are honoring its position as a key fashion capital and embracing its spirit of creativity and excellence,” Donald Tang, the executive chairman of Shein, said in a statement.
French bureaucrats, bankers and fashion brands are maintaining a united front. This week they continued to move with startling swiftness to curb the incursion, which French officials say has been made possible by a wealthy French family-owned real estate empire, the Société des Grands Magasins, or SGM.
That group operates BHV Marais and Galeries Lafayette, an iconic French department store with locations in numerous French cities. Recently, it struck a deal allowing Shein to operate out of stores bearing the Galeries Lafayette name in Paris, Dijon, Reims, Grenoble, Angers and Limoges.
SGM has been trying to buy the BHV Marais building outright. But this week, France’s state-owned bank, which had been negotiating with SGM to finance a joint purchase of the property, pulled out over the Shein partnership.
A spokesman for SGM said Shein was “committed to complying with all European standards, just like any other supplier.”
“Shein wants to take advantage of this transaction to adapt its current production model to European requirements,” he added.
Inside BHV Marais, French specialty brands are leaving the department store in protest, including the Aime and Talm organic skin care lines, Culture Vintage and Le Slip Francais, a lingerie brand.
“Our collective choices are building the future of our industry,” Mathilde Lacombe, the president of Aime, said on LinkedIn. “Who is joining us?”