Shein and Temu are facing tighter restrictions in France after lawmakers passed new legislation targeting ultra-fast fashion retailers.
The French Parliament has definitively adopted a bill designed to reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry, following more than two years of debate between the country’s lower and upper houses.
The law will impose financial penalties on ultra-fast fashion companies, with fines ranging from €0.25 to €6 per product in 2026 and rising to as much as €10 per item by 2030.
It will also ban advertising by ultra-fast fashion businesses, including promotions through online influencers.
The legislation is aimed at retailers and marketplaces that release high volumes of low-price products over short periods, with Shein, Temu and AliExpress among the businesses cited in reports on the bill.
France’s Senate said the proposal was intended to limit the growth of “mode express” and curb the rise in volumes placed on the market, as well as the environmental impact of the model.
The final version of the law has been narrowed from earlier proposals and is focused on ultra-fast fashion rather than the broader fast fashion sector.
Reuters reported that the revised text is aimed at online-first ultra-fast fashion operators and excludes European fast fashion retailers such as Zara and H&M.
The move comes as Chinese-founded ecommerce platforms continue to put pressure on traditional fashion retailers across Europe by selling large ranges of low-cost apparel direct to consumers.
Small enterprises minister Serge Papin said ahead of the vote that the issue was not only clothing, but the “societal model” France wanted to defend.
Shein told Reuters that some measures in the bill appeared inconsistent with the European framework governing digital services and ecommerce.
The law must still be promulgated by the French president before it can be enforced, unless it is referred to the country’s Constitutional Council.
The crackdown adds to growing European scrutiny of low-cost ecommerce platforms, with regulators increasingly focused on product safety, sustainability, customs rules and competition with domestic retailers.
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