PARIS — Nearly 170 years ago, a young shopkeeper named Xavier Ruel opened a small store in central Paris with a simple idea: good quality at fair prices. That modest shop quickly grew into the Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville, or BHV, one of the city's most iconic department stores.
These days, customers come for everything from toasters to tights — or just to browse the store's annual Christmas window displays.
Now, the store has also become a flashpoint in France's growing backlash against ultra-fast fashion. On Nov. 1, Shein, the Chinese online retail giant, is set to open its first permanent boutique inside BHV. The move has provoked fierce criticism in France, a country that prides itself on craftsmanship, sustainability and haute couture.
"The store has sold its soul to the devil"
Inside, some aisles already look emptier than usual. Several French brands have pulled out in protest.
Among those refusing to return is Marie Cosson, a longtime BHV customer who says she's heartbroken.
"The store has sold its soul to the devil," Cosson says. "I came in to say goodbye to the staff."
In 2023, BHV was bought by a property group called Société des Grands Magasins — the same company bringing Shein into several Galeries Lafayette department stores across France. In a statement, the group said the partnership "aims to attract a younger, more connected clientele."
Across town, in the city's 11th arrondissement, that announcement has galvanized a different kind of fashion movement.
Earlier this month, activists and designers gathered at a new headquarters for Une Autre Mode Est Possible, which means "Another Fashion Is Possible." Organizers say the space will focus on slower, sustainable design, where designers will offer workshops on things like making garments from reused materials.
Its founder, Arielle Lévy, launched an online petition opposing Shein's arrival. It has already drawn more than 100,000 signatures.
"We are in Paris, the capital of fashion," Lévy says. "It's enough. People have to stand up and say we don't want this."
The backlash has also reached Paris City Hall.
"For us, Shein represents ultra-fast fashion — it's a model we must fight," says Florentin Letissier, the city's deputy mayor for sustainability and waste reduction. "These are cheap clothes made in modern slavery conditions. They're bad for the planet and for our own designers."
There have been multiple reports alleging poor working conditions in Shein factories, including a 2024 investigation by the Zurich-based human rights watchdog Public Eye, which found evidence the company was pushing its factory employees in southern China to work 75-hour weeks under poor conditions.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called the brand's arrival "a betrayal of Paris' values."
France's lawmakers are moving fast, too.
In June, the French Senate passed a bill that would ban ads for ultra-fast fashion brands, fine influencers who promote them and add an environmental tax of up to 10 euros per garment by 2030. Regulators have already fined Shein $46 million (40 million euros) for misleading advertising.
"They don't respect creativity"
In a boutique off the Boulevard Saint-Germain, Marie-Emmanuelle Demours, CEO of the ready-to-wear French label Paul & Joe, holds up a tailored coat and points to its hand-sewn buttons.
"They were made by hand, one by one, in Paris," she says. "That's what fashion should be."
Demours says Shein represents the opposite; mass production, poor quality, and rampant design theft.
"They steal from anyone, any brand," she says. "They don't respect people, the planet or creativity."
Other designers have made similar allegations against Shein, which have led designers to bring lawsuits against the company.
Asked for comment by NPR, Shein declined to respond directly to allegations that its clothes are made in "modern-slavery conditions" or that it has copied designs from other brands.
In an emailed statement, Quentin Ruffat, a Shein France spokesperson, commented instead on the company's partnership with Société des Grands Magasins (SGM), as "an opportunity to experiment with new ways of combining our industry-leading on-demand model with offline retail." He added, "this collaboration allows us [to] meet that demand while contributing to increased footfall to SGM's retail destinations which we hope will, in turn, benefit the wider offline retail ecosystem."
Thibaut Ledunois, director of innovation at the French Fashion Council, warns that Shein's ambitions go far beyond clothing.
"Their strategy is to become the supermarket of the world," he says. "It's not only about fashion, it's about a model of society — and this is why so many French citizens are really engaged in this."
Which may be why, nearly 170 years after Xavier Ruel opened his little shop for quality goods at fair prices, Parisians are still fighting to keep his dream alive.
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