Major fashion brand slammed with €1m fine for greenwashing practices in back-to-back blow

Daily Mirror

6 days ago

The online fast fashion retailer, Shein, has been fined by Italy's antirust authority AGCM for "misleading or omissive" environmental claims only one month after a hefty fine from French regulators
For the second month in a row, online fast fashion retailer Shein has been hit with a hefty fine for misleading customers about the environmental impact of its products.
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On Monday, August 4, Italy's antitrust authority, AGCM, fined Shein €1m (£870,600) for 'misleading or omissive' environmental claims. The new fine comes just a month after France's Directorate for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) fined Shein €40m (£34.8m) for its "commitments concerning environmental claims" as well as for misleading customers about price reductions.
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Following an investigation last September, AGCM concluded that the sustainability messages on Shein's website were inaccurate due to their 'vagueness and generality, and, in other cases, from their misleading nature, omission, and/or contradiction with other information'.
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The Italian authority stated that recyclability and product circularity claims made in the #SHEINTHEKNOW section of the retailer's website were 'found to be either false or at least confusing'. It also found that claims made by the brand to promote its evoluShein by Design line may have led consumers to believe the collection was made entirely from sustainable materials.
The investigation also found that the fast-fashion company made misleading and vague statements about its intention to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 2030 and to reach zero emissions by 2050. According to AGCM, these statements were contradicted by the fact that Shein's greenhouse-gas emissions have increased since 2023.
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The Italian fine was imposed on Infinite Styles Services Co. Limited, a Dublin-based company that operates Shein's website in Europe. Shein has not yet responded to The Mirror 's request for comment.
However in a statement to The Guardian, Shein said: 'We have cooperated fully with the AGCM throughout this process, and took immediate action to address the concerns raised as soon as we became aware of them.
'We have strengthened our internal review processes and improved our website to ensure that all environmental claims are clear, specific, and compliant with regulation.'
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On the same day the Italian fine was announced, Shein shared an update about its sustainability effort detailing the integration of 'new energy vehicles' for internal warehouse transport and news that four new Shein-managed facilities achieved a 'Zero Waste to Landfill' certification. The certification is awarded by the third-party certification organisation TÜV Rheinland.
Pressure from European authorities has been mounting on the online retailer over the course of the year. A few months before the France fine, the European Commission found Shein guilty of engaging in illegal commercial practices under EU law following an investigation with national consumer protection authorities.
The Italian fine was lenient compared to the French fine, but France has been leading the charge against the fast fashion retailer in a bid to both protect consumers and French businesses.
On June 10, the French Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to regulate 'ultra' fast fashion giants Shein and Temu, passing a bill which would sanction companies with low 'eco-scores' and prohibit fast fashion advertisements.
The minister for ecological transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, called the bill "a major step in the fight against the economic and environmental impact of fast fashion and a strong signal sent to businesses and to consumers'.
The Mirror reached out to Italy's AGCM and France's Directorate for Competition, but neither provided any further comment.