SHEIN said it wants to open physical stores in French department stores, starting with a location on the sixth floor of the Paris department store BHV and with others to follow later.
Stores in Galeries Lafayette department stores in Dijon, Grenoble, Reims, Limoges and Angers are planned to follow.
Retailers and officials push back
SGM chief Frédéric Merlin said the stores should attract a younger audience. “A customer can buy a SHEIN dress and a designer handbag on the same day,” he said.
Galeries Lafayette announced its intention to block the plans, saying SHEIN’s “ultrafast fashion” runs counter to the department store chain’s values.
SHEIN is known for its low prices and has long been under fire in Europe. The web store grew into one of the world’s largest fashion companies by sending low-cost packages to customers directly from Chinese factories, a system that benefits from import duty exemptions for small shipments.
Both the United States and the European Union are tightening those rules. French politicians recently supported a bill to curb fast fashion that would include an advertising ban for SHEIN.
