{"id":121691,"date":"2025-11-04T18:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/121691\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T18:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:05:08","slug":"shein-races-to-contain-sex-dolls-scandal-in-france-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/121691\/","title":{"rendered":"Shein races to contain sex dolls scandal in France \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shein <\/a>has said it will co-operate with investigations by French <\/a>authorities after finance minister Roland Lescure threatened to ban the controversial online retailer from the country for selling childlike sex dolls on its marketplace.<\/p>\n

French authorities opened an investigation into Shein and three other ecommerce platforms on Monday after receiving alerts about sex dolls resembling children being sold by multiple third party sellers on their sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will co-operate 100 per cent with the justice system,\u201d Shein spokesman Quentin Ruffat told RMC radio on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish watchdog orders fast fashion group Shein to rectify breaches to EU consumer lawOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cI have heard the concerns of the children\u2019s commissioner … these issues of child sexual abuse are too serious to be ignored,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The controversy comes a day before Shein is due to open its first permanent store in Paris. The China-founded retailer\u2019s expansion plans have been met with vocal opposition from businesspeople, consumers and politicians in France.<\/p>\n

Shein said it had suspended its \u201cadult products\u201d category on its marketplace and imposed a global ban on sex doll sales.<\/p>\n

The retailer, which is best known for selling cheap women\u2019s fashion produced under its own brand, launched a broader online marketplace for third party sellers in 2023.<\/p>\n

Donald Tang, Shein\u2019s executive chair, said that \u201cevery related product has been removed. We are tracing the source and will take swift, decisive action against those responsible. We will also review our internal processes thoroughly and strengthen our safeguards to protect our customers and the integrity of our marketplace.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ruffat blamed \u201can internal dysfunction in our processes and governance\u201d for the listings.<\/p>\n

The furore around the sex dolls adds to a lengthy list of controversies involving Shein. The fast-fashion retailer, which sells a constantly changing range of clothes, has been accused of copying the work of independent designers and major brands.<\/p>\n

Environmental campaigners have criticised the toll that Shein\u2019s business model takes on the environment and the company itself confirmed last year that it found examples of child labour in its supply chain.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Shein\u2019s attempts to list on the public markets have run into difficulties in New York and London. The company filed for a Hong Kong IPO in July.<\/p>\n

AliExpress, Temu and Wish are also being investigated by French authorities for selling sex dolls with a childlike appearance.<\/p>\n

Shein is due to open its first permanent shop in Paris at department store BHV on Wednesday. The mayor\u2019s office is organising a rally and press conference on Tuesday afternoon to voice its opposition to the move. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf this behaviour [by Shein] is repeated … I will request that the Shein platform be banned from the French market,\u201d Lescure told BFMTV over the weekend. \u201cThese horrible items are illegal [and] there will be a judicial investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shein is also this month scheduled to open concessions in several Galeries Lafayette stores outside Paris.<\/p>\n

Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Merlin, chief executive of the company that owns BHV and the licence to operate the Galeries Lafayette stores outside Paris, said on RTL that the organisation had considered halting the Shein roll-out over the controversy \u201cbefore changing our minds\u201d.<\/p>\n

Several beauty and fashion brands, including Aime Paris and Maison Lejaby, have pulled their products from BHV in protest at Shein\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

The Houz\u00e9 family, which owns Galeries Lafayette and still runs the high-end department stores in the French capital, have said they will contest Merlin\u2019s decision to allow Shein to open in provincial locations.<\/p>\n

Earlier in October, Banque des Territoires said it had pulled out of negotiations to buy some of BHV\u2019s buildings, citing a \u201cbreach of trust\u201d due to the plans to open Shein concessions. Some of the department store\u2019s workers also went on strike over the decision last month. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is yet another scandal from Shein, the worst clothing company in the world,\u201d Yann Rivoallan, the head of a French fashion industry association, wrote on LinkedIn, calling for more action to stop the openings at BHV and Galeries Lafayette.<\/p>\n

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shein has said it will co-operate with investigations by French authorities after finance minister Roland Lescure threatened to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,1814,61,60,72514],"class_list":{"0":"post-121691","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-france","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-shein"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}