French authorities said on Wednesday they had imposed two fines on Shei totaling more than 22 million euros ($25.5 million), citing problems with product traceability, environmental labeling and delivery times.
The new penalties bring the total fines imposed by France on the Asian fashion giant to more than 210 million euros.
They were imposed by the government’s consumer protection agency DGCCRF following an investigation targeting several e-commerce platforms, mostly based outside Europe, including Shein.
The first fine of €5.77 million targets Infinite Style Ecommerce Co Ltd (ISEL), which handles sales for Shei.
The DGCCRF accuses Shei of not respecting a 14-day period required for consumers to be able to reconsider certain purchases and return them free of charge.
The watchdog also accuses the company of omitting mandatory traceability information, such as the places where its garments were knitted, dyed and manufactured, and of failing to disclose the presence of microplastics in its fabrics.
Microplastics, found mainly in polyester, are released into the water with every car wash, posing a serious environmental threat.
In addition, the agency imposed a fine of 16.73 million euros on Shein’s subsidiary ISSL (Infinite Styles Services Limited), accusing it of violating consumer law.
Shein said he was contesting both penalties.
“We dispute these findings and consider the fines grossly disproportionate,” the Singapore-based company said in a statement.
“There has never been any doubt about the fairness of the transactions on our platform, or the quality and safety of the products and services offered,” he said, arguing that no instance of consumer harm had been proven.
“We are not aware of a single customer complaint related to these issues,” he said.
Shein has been under fire since setting up operations in France.
It has been criticized by campaign groups and politicians for allegedly generating environmental pollution, practicing unfair competition, selling goods that do not comply with basic regulations and imposing poor working conditions in its Chinese factories.
Last year, the discovery of child sex dolls on the Shein platform caused outrage in France and prompted greater scrutiny.
After the outcry, Shein said it immediately removed the products from its marketplace — the section of its website that sells third-party products — and banned the sex dolls from its site globally.
