Europe’s green credibility faces its Shein moment

When Chinese fashion giant Shein opened its first permanent store inside BHV Marais on 5 November, the scene in Paris told two stories at once: inside, shoppers lined up to browse the brand that built its empire on disposable fashion; outside, environmental activists demanded tighter controls on ultra-fast fashion’s wasteful overproduction.

More than 113,000 people have now signed a petition calling Shein’s arrival a “point of no return”. Even Disneyland Paris has pulled its Christmas pop-up with the department store – a backlash that exposes Europe’s uneasy balance between climate virtue and consumer appetite.

France has gone further than protest. In June, lawmakers approved Europe’s first bill of its kind, introducing a rising environmental levy – up to €10 per garment by 2030 – on ultra-cheap clothing. The law will also restrict advertising and offer tax incentives for repairs and resale. The goal is simple: make throwaway fashion finally pay for the damage it causes.

Yet, beyond France, European regulation still looks timid. The EU’s flagship Textile Strategy and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive remains riddled with loopholes. Millions of low-value parcels (under €150) still enter the single market duty-free and with minimal scrutiny, and Shein’s direct-to-consumer model thrives on exactly these blind spots. While France legislates, Brussels deliberates – and Europe’s climate credibility frays at the seams.

The hypocrisy Europe cannot afford

I’m part of a generation that has grown up watching climate promises morph into PR campaigns. Now, as Chair of the UK’s youth delegation to COP30, I see this moment as a regulatory Trojan horse – a test of whether Europe’s sweeping green laws can survive contact with corporate reality as Shein moves from digital to physical.

It’s not only a question of image, but of integrity – of whether Europe can rebuild the foundations of how it does business.

If Europe allows Shein to set the pace on cheap, throw-away fashion – with all the wage cuts, factory shortcuts and hidden supply chains that entails – it will erode the very foundation of its Green Deal: the idea that prosperity and planet can coexist. Instead of building a Renewed Social Contract grounded in responsibility, Europe risks exporting the costs of its consumption while importing its consequences.

This is the deeper hypocrisy: Europe demands accountability abroad but fails to enforce it at home. Sustainability clauses fill its trade deals, supplier audits are routine in Bangladesh or Vietnam; yet those same standards disappear at Europe’s own borders, where products slip through digital loopholes and duty exemptions. For a continent that prides itself on values-based trade, that isn’t inconsistency – it’s complicity.

Ironically, some of the very countries Europe lectures are already showing what genuine accountability looks like. In Bangladesh, Youngone Corporation  – a leading manufacturer for global outdoor and sportswear brands – has built environmental and social principles into every part of its business: renewable-powered, LEED-certified factories, transparent digital supply-chain audits, and long-term investment in worker housing and education. It’s proof that sustainability works when it’s embedded into a system, not bolted on for marketing.

Europe could learn from that approach. Real sustainability doesn’t rely on slogans or selective audits – it requires clear standards, applied consistently across production and environment alike. In the city of Chittagong in Bangladesh, Youngone’s “Clean Chittagong” initiative extends those same principles beyond the factory gates. Working with local authorities and the university, the company has supported city-wide efforts in water and sewage treatment, fumigation and large-scale waste cleanup beyond its Korean Export Processing Zone.

By setting and upholding its own accountability benchmarks, it shows what responsible production looks like in practice – the kind of follow-through Europe still struggles to legislate.

Europe’s problem isn’t innovation, it’s will

To bridge that gap between rhetoric and reality, the EU must turn ideals into enforceable systems that reward integrity and penalise deception.

It has already approved a directive to combat greenwashing. From 2026, brands won’t be able to present themselves as “carbon neutral” or “eco-friendly” without verifiable evidence. Two further steps could move the needle.

First, create a European Public Audit Registry for imported goods. Every brand in the single market should publish verifiable data on carbon, labour and traceability. We deserve to know the real cost of what we buy, just as we know a product’s ingredients or country of origin.

Second, empower customs authorities with real-time environmental, social and governance (ESG) checks. A unified digital customs platform could flag high-risk shipments and require proof of compliance before release, closing the Shein loophole that allows millions of micro-imports to bypass EU environmental and labour standards.

These reforms align directly with Friends of Europe’s call to make climate neutrality a driver of prosperity and build a fair, resilient economy. They would show that affordability and accountability can coexist – and that Europe’s social contract still applies beyond its borders.

Critics may argue that stricter enforcement will push consumers toward even cheaper, offshore platforms. But the cost of inaction is far higher. The fashion-textile value chain accounts for 2-8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and dyeing and finishing are estimated to cause one-fifth of industrial water pollution. Europe’s credibility as a climate leader depends on tackling this consumption crisis with the same urgency it applies to energy or transport.

The Shein story captures a continent at a crossroads: between conscience and consumption, ethics and enforcement. France has shown courage is possible; Brussels must now prove consistency is, too.

If Europe cannot hold the line against the world’s most notorious fast-fashion empire, it risks losing the moral compass of its green transition – and the trust of a generation that believed in it.

The views expressed in this #CriticalThinking article reflect those of the author(s) and not of Friends of Europe.