Antitrust, fine Shein EUR 1 million

That's not all: Shein's announcements that it intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 per cent by 2030 and to zero them by 2050 are presented in the 'Social Responsibility' section in a generic and vague manner, and are even contradicted by the increase in greenhouse gas emissions of Shein's business for the years 2023 and 2024.

The measure was followed by a response from the Singapore-based company, which was founded in 2012 but has become a global phenomenon for about five years: "Shein has actively cooperated with Agcm throughout the proceedings, promptly taking all necessary measures to respond to the critical issues raised as soon as it became aware of them," reads the ZIE note. We have strengthened our internal review processes and improved the website, with the aim of ensuring that all environmental statements are clear, specific and compliant with current regulations'.

The opening of the investigation by the Authority dates back to 25 September 2024 but the doubts on the actual sustainability of Shein's production model - which is presented as "on demand" and therefore less impactful, by the company itself - go back much earlier. The company has always defended itself, starting to publish a sort of annual sustainability report (which, however, marks as already mentioned a high increase in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023 and 2024, also in line with the production boom) and putting in place a series of operations aimed at showing a constructive attitude on this front, but not sufficient to really mitigate the impact. In January 2025, for example, Shein announced the establishment of the Shein Foundation and its commitment of €5 million to the Africa Collect Textiles (Act) Foundation, the charitable arm of Africa Collect Textiles (Act), a social enterprise that has developed a pilot programme to collect and recycle used textiles in Kenya.

The environmental issue is believed to be one of the biggest obstacles in Shein's path to listing. After abandoning speculation of an IPO in New York, the company, according to the Financial Times in early July 2025, had filed for an IPO in Hong Kong in order to speed up the listing process and lobby UK regulators to approve its London debut, which, according to news sources, was supposed to materialise as early as the first quarter of 2025 but has not yet gone ahead.

The subject of transparency in communicating one's sustainability practices was supposed to be regulated at the European level by the Green Claims Directive, which has had a complex and controversial process: the Commission's proposal dates back to 2023, but in June 2025 the Commission itself had announced that it wanted to withdraw it, despite the fact that a text was already awaiting the trilogue phase of the European institutions, At the end of June, the trilogue was finally cancelled. Partially regulating the matter, however, could be the Empowering consumers for the green transition directive (EU)2024/825. Member states have until 27 March 2026 to transpose it, but the provisions will be effective from 27 September 2026.