International Journalism

If one stands outside the front door of the Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (BHV), there is a great flow of people going in and out with big bags full of successful purchases. At the same time, you can see that luxury brands are withdrawing their products from the building. Think of Dior, Chanel, and Sandro. They do not want to be associated to SHEIN.

Paris is widely recognized as the capital of fashion. When SHEIN opened a physical store in Paris, it not only caused a lot of uproar in the city, but all around the world. Protests took place outside the BHV on the 5th of November. Social media was flooded with both criticism and curiosity. The discussion about fast fashion, however, goes far beyond one store or one city. It touches the core of a global problem: how the fashion industry deals with sustainability vs. fast fashion.

Lucía Riera, correspondent for the Spanish radio station Cadena SER in Paris, explains that SHEIN is indeed not welcome here, ‘The fact that SHEIN has arrived in Paris, the birthplace of fashion with so many luxury stores, and specifically in the BHV department stores, was a major shock’.

A real low price?

Fast fashion is characterised by speed and volume. New items are produced quickly, sold cheaply, and replaced almost immediately by new clothes. Whilst Paris serves as an important example in this problem, it is not unique. The tension between fast fashion and sustainable fashion is noticeable all over the world. Since the 60s, clothing production has increased rapidly, while prices have dropped. To accommodate these low prices, most companies have outsourced their production to countries that can supply cheap labour, though typically at the cost of weak labour laws and little regard for environmental regulations.

Dr. Lis Suárez Visbal, researcher Accelerate the Circular Transition (ACT), points out it is not only damaging our environment but also people. ‘To sell clothes this cheap, workers must be paid almost nothing. They have no protection, no contracts, no voice’.

According to the European Environment Agency report, the fashion industry is responsible for 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Textile bought in the EU in 2022 generated per person the equivalent of 1,800km of travel with a regular petrol car.  In the past, people used to donate the clothes that didn’t serve them anymore, but now not as much anymore. Only 1% of used clothes are recycled into new garments. Between 4% and 9% of all the clothes that are put out in Europe are thrown away without ever being used. Some of them are exported from the EU but around 87% are incinerated.

Dr. Visbal explains that fast fashion can inherently not be sustainable. ‘The whole model is based on producing as much as possible at the lowest cost’, she says. ‘That means exploiting resources and people’.

Ultra-fast fashion

SHEIN represents what experts now call ‘ultra-fast fashion’, which goes beyond fast fashion as production amounts get exacerbated. It produces even more and releases thousands of new items every day. It prioritises minimal cost and maximum output, at the cost of lower quality products. Dr. Visbal points out that this model goes even further than companies like H&M or Zara. Ultra-fast fashion uses the same logic and pushes it to its limits. It is economically successful, but socially and environmentally a disaster.

Although awareness of this issue is growing, changing consumer behaviour is rather difficult. Dr. Visbal believes that regulation is not enough if it doesn’t affect the consumers. ‘We need to change the educational system. We need changes that affect our culture and how we operate’, she emphasises. 

The arrival of a brand like SHEIN is an especially sensitive topic in Paris, as fashion is interwoven with the local culture due to its historical relevance. Since the time of King Louis XIV, fashion has been used as a tool of power and influence. In the 19th and 20th centuries, major fashion houses such as Chanel or Yves Saint Laurent helped shape not only the fashion culture within Paris, but globally, marking Paris as a global fashion hub. 

However, sustainable fashion designers in Paris are struggling to compete with (ultra)fast fashion. Operations like the opening of the SHEIN establishment further worsen the current situation designers in the city are facing. Nonetheless, groups resisting the turn in fashion exist and are mobilising to stand up for the identity of the city.