A platform in fashion’s clothing

Many say Shein is not a traditional fashion house but a technology platform: a data-driven marketplace that ingests trends at breakneck speed, spins up thousands of micro-batches every day, and ships directly to consumers worldwide. That framing matters. Platforms scale faster, assume less responsibility for what is sold, and often claim they are “just intermediaries.” The EU has already recognised the systemic risks: in April 2024, the European Commission designated Shein a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP) under the Digital Services Act (DSA), subjecting it to tougher duties to assess and mitigate harm.

The commercial metrics are undeniable: soaring downloads, relentless product drops, expanding physical presence (including a headline-grabbing Paris store). But speed and scale are not neutral. They shape incentives. When your core differentiator is volume and velocity, you will always be tempted to trade diligence for growth, and externalise the risks onto workers, communities and most recently: children.

The line that must never be crossed

In recent days, the moral bankruptcy of this model has been laid bare. French authorities revealed that child-like sex dolls—around 80 cm tall, marketed with explicit descriptions and even pictured holding teddy bears, were available on Shein’s French site. France moved to suspend the platform while verifying compliance, urged the European Commission to act, and ordered customs inspections of Shein consignments. The Commission, already scrutinising Shein under the DSA, said the risk was “extremely concerning.”

Following the outcry, Shein removed the items, and France paused the suspension proceedings but placed the company under intensified monitoring and kept multiple investigations open. In parallel, officials highlighted a broader pattern of illegal or non-compliant goods, from dangerous toys to counterfeit items, flowing through the platform. This is not a one-off hiccup; it is what you get when hyper-scale retail meets thin gatekeeping.

Swedish media and commentators captured the public revulsion, and Shein responded by banning sex-doll listings and freezing its adult category, an implicit admission that its controls failed. Yet the issue is not only whether the offending listings are now gone; it is why they were there in the first place, and whether the platform’s economic engine will simply produce the next scandal tomorrow.

Not just France’s problem

France has asked Brussels to go further, sanctions under the DSA, arguing that platforms benefiting from Europe’s market must also uphold its basic standards. The Commission has confirmed it is actively engaging and will not hesitate to act if systemic risks are established. This must be a European response, not a whack-a-mole of national takedowns after each outrage.

Civil society is moving too. In Sweden, the social non-profit organisation Erikshjälpen has urged the government to act against Shein and similar actors that normalise sexualisation of children; earlier this year, it had already decided to stop accepting Shein items in its second-hand shops due to chemical safety concerns.

Why “transforming” ultra-fast fashion is a mirage

Supporters will argue that Shein is cleaning up: new policies, new audits, new promises. But there is a deeper problem. Ultra-fast fashion is not merely a quadrant on a sustainability matrix; it is an operating system, a growth logic that depends on overproduction, opaque supply chains, aggressive pricing, and algorithmic amplification of the cheapest, quickest thing next. The harms are not peripheral. They are features, not bugs.

And when a platform’s control systems are too porous to prevent the commercialisation of child abuse, the debate ends. There are red lines, ethical, legal, and human, beyond which incremental sustainability initiatives are not “improvements”; they are distractions.

What needs to happen now

Enforcement with teeth under the DSA. The Commission and Ireland (Shein’s EU base) should use the full toolkit, risk assessments, binding mitigation orders, audits, and, where warranted, sanctions. If systemic failures persist, suspensions should be on the table.
Coordinated customs and market surveillance. France’s mass inspections should be replicated across entry points, with rapid information-sharing on non-compliant goods and repeat sellers.
Liability calibrated to scale. Platforms that profit from third-party listings at vast scale must face proportionate accountability for what they monetise, not hide behind intermediary rhetoric.
Public procurement and retail stance. Major retailers and public institutions should refuse partnerships until credible, independently verified safeguards exist, not pledges, but performance.
Consumer clarity. This is not about shaming individuals; it is about naming models. When price tags look impossibly low, someone, or something, else pays.

A final word

We agree with France: ban what must be banned, and enforce the law without fear or favour. There are business models that cannot be morally refurbished. Shein’s latest scandal is not a reputational blip; it is a warning about the cost of allowing ultra-fast “platform fashion” to outrun the most basic guardrails of a civilised market. The line has been crossed. Now the line must hold.

Shein Has Reached the Moral Bottom Line