Paris Probes Shein over Childlike Sex Dolls—on the Very Day It Opens its First Store at BHV

BBC, the Hill, Al Jazeera, Reuters, the Financial Times, and CNN contributed to this report.

Only in Paris do you cut a ribbon and dodge a subpoena at the same time. As Shein swung open the doors of its first-ever permanent store on the sixth floor of BHV, Paris prosecutors confirmed an investigation into the fast-fashion giant — along with Temu, AliExpress and Wish — after France’s consumer watchdog said childlike sex dolls were found on Shein’s marketplace.

Shein insists it’s cooperating “100%” and has now banned sex dolls globally, temporarily scrubbing its entire adult-products category while it audits what slipped through. Executive chair Donald Tang said every related listing has been taken down, sellers will be blocked, and the company is “strengthening safeguards.” In France, spokesperson Quentin Ruffat promised to hand authorities details on the sellers, buyers and products tied to the childlike dolls. AliExpress said the listings violated its rules and were removed as soon as it learned of them. Temu said it doesn’t allow such items and is working with officials to fortify protections for minors. Wish has been contacted for comment.

The legal front is serious. Prosecutors say the platforms are under inquiry for making violent, pornographic or “undignified” content accessible to minors and, in the case of Shein and AliExpress, for disseminating material of a pornographic nature involving minors. The cases are with the Paris Office des Mineurs, the police unit charged with protecting children. Economy minister Roland Lescure has gone further, warning that if such content reappears, he’ll seek to block Shein from the French market altogether. The DGCCRF, France’s consumer watchdog, has already fined Shein €40 million for misleading discounts and green claims — and said the dolls’ descriptions left “little doubt” about their child-pornographic nature.

All of this collided head-on with Shein’s Paris debut. Outside BHV, protesters gathered with child-protection and environmental groups denouncing the opening. Inside, Shein’s racks went up as BHV’s owner, SGM, said it had considered pulling the plug but was convinced by the retailer’s response.

“The clothes we’re going to sell do not exploit workers or children,” SGM chief Frédéric Merlin told French radio, even as designer Agnès B vowed to exit BHV in January and other brands quietly packed up.

Disneyland Paris scrapped a planned Christmas window display; more than twenty labels have severed ties with the store in protest. Paris City Hall lined up against the partnership, and a petition opposing the opening surged past 100,000 signatures.

The splash is spreading beyond the capital. Shein is slated to open concessions in seven regional stores operated by SGM, but Galeries Lafayette wants no part of it and will strip its name from those locations. The rift says the quiet thing out loud: in France, a country that treats couture like a civic asset, Shein’s ultra-cheap, ultra-fast churn remains a cultural and political lightning rod.

Shein, founded in China and now based in Singapore, has become a byword for disposable fashion and algorithmic trend-chasing. Its defenders say “on-demand” micro-batches cut waste, but critics point to massive textile turnover, heavy use of synthetics and questionable labor practices flagged in multiple investigations. The French backlash has sharpened into policy: lawmakers are pushing a fast-fashion crackdown with ad bans, tougher waste rules and taxes on small imported parcels, while Paris presses Brussels to end the low-value duty exemption that helps turbocharge cheap cross-border shipping.

For now, Shein’s brick-and-mortar beachhead is a calculated bet on foot traffic and normalization. SGM is leaning into the noise with cheeky billboards and talk of drawing a younger crowd. Opponents see something else entirely: a jarring mismatch between the city of haute couture and the platform accused of flogging throwaway clothes — and, until last week, hosting sex dolls with childlike features. As the store lights glow across from City Hall, the legal and political glare is only getting brighter.