French authorities discovered that Chinese fast-fashion giant Shein was selling “childlike” sex dolls on its French site, and are now threatening to ban the company just as it’s set to open a brick-and-mortar location in Paris.
France’s consumer fraud agency, the DGCCRF, launched an investigation after an anonymous tip led them to listings for disturbingly realistic dolls that were roughly the size of little girls and that were “resembling children.” The agency said their appearance “left little doubt as to the child pornography nature.”
Economy Minister Roland Lescure called the products “horrible” and “illegal,” warning Shein that if this ever happens again, France would yank the company’s ability to sell online in the country. He also kicked the case to the Paris prosecutor’s office, meaning there will be some kind of punishment.
Shein pulled the dolls from its global platform and banned all “sex-doll-type products,” blaming the listings on third-party sellers.
Shein was days away from opening its first-ever physical store in France, inside Paris’s BHV Marais department store. The location was already sparking protests from fashion workers and French brands, accusing Shein of exploiting cheap labor and trashing the planet for profit. Add a child-shaped sex doll to the mounting list of controversies.
Shien will remain available online in France, but between protesters raging against the fast fashion company’s unsustainable and exploitative business practices and the whole child sex doll dust-up, the company’s brick-and-mortar debut in the fashion capital of the world is looking like a dumpster fire at the moment.
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