Shein in France: 100 brands and 12 trade federations launch legal action, alleging unfair competition

On Wednesday, Bernard Cherqui, President of the Alliance du Commerce, announced a groundbreaking collective legal action against fast fashion platform Shein: “Today, we have decided to move beyond merely sounding the alarm to government officials and to take action on behalf of 12 federations and over a hundred retail chains.”

Twelve federations and 63 companies in the sector, representing around a hundred brands and chains including Promod, Besson, Monoprix, the U cooperative, and Grain de Malice, are joining this initiative, which seeks formal recognition of the alleged unfair competition Shein has practised since entering the French market.

The parties have decided to join an action for unfair competition filed with the Aix-en-Provence Commercial Court by Maître Vincent de Carrière, who served as the court-appointed liquidator of the Olly Gan brand, which was wound up in summer 2024. A hearing on the matter is scheduled for January 12.

“Everyday in France, two million items arrive in the country. This number has quadrupled over the last three years. Throughout these years, our federations have observed blatantly illegal practices: misleading advertising, non-compliance, counterfeiting and serious breaches of personal data protection,” said the executive at the opening of a press conference bringing together the federations.

“Faced with these abuses, we have spent a great deal of time alerting the public authorities and public opinion more broadly. The unfair competition practised by Shein and other platforms represents a systemic threat to the survival of retail in France over the coming years, undermining our businesses, eliminating tens of thousands of jobs, and weakening our regions. Today, we are announcing that we are taking legal action against the Shein platform for unfair competition. This is the first time in the history of commerce in France that such an action has been launched. And it demonstrates our sector’s determination to put an end to a serious, repeated and well-documented attack on the proper functioning of our market.”

Representatives of the Alliance du Commerce, the CDCF, the women’s ready-to-wear federation, the e-commerce and distance-selling federation, as well as federations representing franchising, trade and distribution, jewellery and watchmaking, knitwear, lingerie, and swimwear, and toys, set out the elements of this alleged unfair competition, recalling recent French and European rulings sanctioning the platform for misleading commercial practices, breaches of product compliance and safety obligations, and violations of personal data protection regulations. This three-pronged pattern has led to €190 million in fines for an operator that, although it does not disclose the scale of its sales on the French market, has become a major player in France. 

While Jean-François Brunet, general delegate of the CDCF, points out that 800 million small parcels arrived in France in one year, and Yann Rivoallan notes that during a recent customs operation inspecting 200,000 Shein parcels, 80% were non-compliant, Marc Lolivier, president of Fevad, also highlights the “massive traffic” on the site, equivalent to the combined traffic of the Carrefour, Fnac, and Cdiscount sites, with over five million visitors per day. “But the problem for us has never been the growth of a player. The problem is when it is based on unfair practices. We call for the same rules to apply to everyone. And Fevad is joining this initiative to support companies that play by the rules. They must stop being penalised for being compliant, while their competitors use circumvention as a competitive lever. These companies are entitled to claim compensation for the damage they have suffered.”

Putting a figure on the damage

But what compensation is at stake? The group has turned to the Bruzzo Dubucq law firm, which notably represents taxi companies in competition cases against Uber. Maître Cédric Dubucq pointed out that two companies representing Shein have been sued: Infinite Style E-Commerce Limited and Infinite Style Service Co Limited, Irish-registered companies responsible for the commercial activity and the direct relationship with consumers. At the 12 January hearing, federations and brands may intervene voluntarily, explains the lawyer. “There is already a hearing underway, initiated by the court-appointed liquidator of Olly Gan, who has sued Shein’s Irish subsidiaries for unfair competition. The Code of Civil Procedure allows voluntary intervention when there is a sufficiently strong link with the initial proceedings. In this context, the companies have instructed our firm and a team of experts to represent them individually.” 

Thus, each company will be represented individually and will claim damages for Shein’s alleged unfair competition over the past five years. The federations and industry players also aim to halt the illegal practices immediately.

Although the amounts involved could run into millions, they have not yet been determined. “The economic reports of the various companies that have instructed us will be prepared by economic experts to quantify the loss,” explains Cédric Dubucq. “We’ll need to finalise the total number of companies, as some may still instruct us between now and the hearing.”

The company-by-company quantification will therefore have to be completed by January 12, 2026. “But the method for calculating the loss is known. In matters of unfair competition, victims’ losses can be assessed by reference to the relationship between their turnover and the illicit profit realised by Shein over the last five years,” said Dubucq.  

Economic and legal experts therefore face essential calculations over the coming weeks. If damages are awarded, however, the bill could be even higher for the Singapore-based platform’s European business. The federations, companies, and their advisers suggest that the public prosecutor could decide to intervene at the hearing. “It is a new provision that has never been used, but which allows the public prosecutor to demand the payment of a civil fine that would pay into a state fund,” says the legal expert, thereby extending an invitation to the prosecutor. “This civil fine can be set at up to five times the profits derived from the wrongdoing.”

For the time being, federations and brands intend to gear up to score a point against the Asian giant.

This initiative is intended to complement the actions taken by the public authorities against the platform, which will notably see Shein—having declined an invitation this week from the fact-finding mission on checks of products imported into France—appear before the deputies of the French National Assembly’s Sustainable Development and Spatial Planning Commission. “The public authorities have been informed of the action we are taking collectively,” explained Yohann Petiot, managing director of the Alliance du Commerce. “We must salute the increased mobilisation of recent weeks. The procedures that have been launched are significant, and as we have been raising the alarm about Shein for the past five years, we are very pleased that the pace of proceedings is accelerating. We must pay tribute to the current Trade Minister and his predecessors, who have committed themselves to this issue. But today it is professionals who are taking legal action to ensure that, once and for all, the law is upheld.”

The representatives are calling for a mobilisation that could spread across France and extend to other countries.