She’s in or She's Infecting Fashion ?

Why regulating ultra-fast fashion is proving problematic in the European market

By Sophie Scandella

For a few years now, the fashion industry has been facing an even more harmful variant than its fast fashion epidemic; ultra-fast fashion. While fast fashion already seemed to embody the worst features of consumerism, its little sister seems committed to racing even faster and producing even more. That said, this competitive race is not without consequences, specifically, devastating social impacts on the workers involved and harmful environmental repercussions. And all this for a consumer who is dissatisfied with a product of questionable quality, potentially hazardous to their health, and who will likely discard the result of these efforts soon enough in favor of the next popular trend. 

Still, putting all the blame on consumers and their consumption choices, would mean overlooking the structural failure of mispriced goods, unequal purchasing powers and the psychology of attitude behavior gap. Accordingly, this article will not follow the path of consumer powers and boycott but rather the one of European public authorities and their attempts to regulate the gargantuan companies pulling the strings behind these overconsumption habits.

The Not So Hidden Costs of Cheap Tops

The issue first arose in the 1980s, and it was fashion journalist Anne-Marie Schiro, then working at The New York Times, who was the first to put a name to the growing consumerism in the fashion industry: Fast Fashion. She was inspired to use this term because of brands’ ability to create new collections very quickly. Nevertheless, current industries are now quicker, with SHEIN reaching up to 10,000 new products per day. This acceleration is made possible by e-commerce, which does not require physical sales or product displays, thereby allowing a wide range of products to be shipped directly from warehouses to consumers' homes.

There is no denying of the devastating environmental impact caused by these overproduction practices. Not only in terms of the materials used; with approximately 90% of Shein’s clothing made of polyester, a plastic derived from fossil fuels; but also, in terms of significant greenhouse gas emissions (accounting for 2 to 8% of global emissions). Moreover, the issue doesn't end there, since this overproduction generates a significant amount of textile waste. Once a fashion trend has faded and space needs to be made, thousands of tons are shipped to countries in the Global South, such as Ghana, where 60% of the clothing imports come from Europe. What's more, Shein's products are reportedly made with toxic substances that don't meet European standards. Of course, with thousands of new products released every day, it's hard to think about such trivial details! Several media sources (Public Eye, BBC) have also investigated the working conditions of employees, and, unsurprisingly, found that workers were paid by the item, without social security or a formal contract, and were required to work an astonishing number of hours; in addition, there was exploitation of the Uyghur community in Xinjiang, as well as child labor. After reading through all of this, unfortunately, you might find that there isn't much new to learn, but you might also wonder: how is it that so little has changed? Worse still, Shein has continued to gain popularity over the years and establish itself more and more firmly in the fashion industry, despite all the controversy.

From Microtrends to Macro Problems

In response to these numerous issues regarding ultra-fast fashion, the French government sought to find answers to these unsolved matters. In fact, two years ago, in March 2024, the National Assembly unanimously passed an anti-fast-fashion law, which was subsequently approved by the Senate the following year. The law aimed to impose a 5-euro penalty per item, as well as a ban on fast-fashion advertising. However, this law never came into effect because it remained stalled in negotiations between Paris and Brussels. Nevertheless, as of March 2026, France instituted a two euros taxation per item for small parcels. While one might expect this to be a possible solution to all the previously stated issues, the situation turned out to be more difficult in application. Indeed, it cannot be said that the tax made much of an impression on Temu and Shein, as both quickly found a loophole through other routes, namely via the Benelux countries or Poland, thus remaining unfazed by the French government’s efforts. If anything, the situation has worsened; this tax has had a negative impact on French logistics, as it is primarily French warehouse workers who fear the repercussions of this measure. While Italy had initially decided to follow France’s lead by introducing the same tax in January 2026, it ultimately backed down after observing the implications and the Netherlands and Belgium decided to renounce their tax pending European harmonization. This is not the case, however, for the French government, which remains resolute in its position. To this we can also add the Shein store scandal that occurred last November in the French capital.

The challenge lies in the fact that Shein operates in more than 40 markets simultaneously, meaning that a simple national tax is not very difficult to evade. Moreover, a new hub has been constructed recently in Wrocław, Poland, which has been under construction for a few years now, meaning that Shein has anticipated possible taxes or regulations. Thus, the new European tax planned for July 2026 on small parcels does not seem so impressive anymore knowing that products imported in Poland will be able to circulate freely around the EU. In addition, more than 60 organizations have joined forces to raise this issue with the Commission, but with little success due to the status of these platforms, which are not recognized as economic operators under current European law and thus fall into a legal gray area. Italy and France have, respectively, fined the ultra-fast fashion company 1 million and 40 million euros for greenwashing in the summer of 2025. Unfortunately, in the long run, European countries will need to find solutions to slow down the advance of these giants in the market, or to protect European brands, which have been significantly weakened by this phenomenon.  

Is Liberalism out of Style?

Throughout 2025, nearly 5 billion small packages arrived in Europe from China. Such figures highlight the fact that a seemingly insignificant decision, such as placing a Shein order on Black Friday, can have very concrete repercussions. This is particularly true in European markets, for example with Zalando, which laid off 2,700 staff in Germany during January 2026, as well as in the fashion industry in France, all for what? The rather bleak prospect of plastic products made by exploited workers that travel 1.5 times around the globe just to reach us. 

Similarly, regulatory solutions remain unclear, as taxes do not seem to be the most effective within the Eurozone free trade area. This raises the question of liberalism limits, prompting us to wonder whether market liberalization has gone a step too far, thereby exposing markets to unfair competition. This is especially true given the new local distribution strategy via giant hubs, as seen in Poland with Shein, and with Temu following the same path in the United States. Thus, the situation appears to remain in suspense without any genuine solutions, while NGOs, local communities, and businesses are concerned about the future repercussions and are pushing for stronger regulations.

Sources : OXFAM France, Agence de l'environnement et de la maîtrise de l'énergie, L’info durable, Science et vie, Carbo, Le Monde, Fashion Network, France info, Radio France, France bleu, The Tribune, RMC, Business of Fashion, the Observer, The Guardian, NL Times, Dutch news, Courrier International, Les Échos, Euronews, L’indipendente, Greenpeace Italy, Reporterre, BFM Business, Public Senat, RTBF, WE demain, Shein’s website, Philonomist, BBC.

Written by Sophie Scandella

Edited by Florence Cunnen