France said on Monday (November 3) it could ban Shein's access to the French market if the Chinese online retailer ever resumed the sale of child-like sex dolls, which Shein decided to pull from sale after pressure from French regulators.

"If such conduct is repeated, we would be within our legal right to stop Shein's access to the French market," French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told BFM TV.

Shein pulled from sale child-like sex dolls after they were found on its website by the French consumer watchdog, the company said on Sunday (November 2).

France's Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs, and Fraud Control (DGCCRF) had said it spotted the dolls on the website along with several other pornographic items such as adult-looking sex dolls, and had reported the matter to judicial authorities.

The agency added that no filtering measures effectively limit access on the website to this pornographic content for minors or sensitive audiences.

France's High Commissioner for Children Sara El Hairy told Reuters that she wants to hold accountable those who purchased the dolls, calling them "potential predators."

The scandal comes as Shein is set to open a permanent store in Paris' historic BHV department store on Wednesday (November 5). A small protest against Shein's "participation in pedo-criminality" took place outside the store on Monday afternoon.

BHV Director Karl-Stephane Cottendin said that both the department store and Shein condemned the sale of the dolls and that the e-commerce giant responded as soon as the issue was reported.

"I believe that what is happening... reminds of the necessity of a store, because in a physical store, these types of situations would never have taken place," Cottendin said.

E-commerce analyst Laetitia Lamari said the scandal will tarnish Shein's "respectability," which it strived to establish over the years, especially so close to the opening of its BHV shop.

"What's happening today is that Shein is in a controversy that reveals this system that we can no longer control, this 'ultra' system, of ultra-speed, of ultra-volume," Lamari said.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 3, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF PROTEST SIGN WITH PICTURE OF CHILD-LIKE SEX DOLL THAT WAS WITHDRAWN FROM SALE FROM SHEIN

SHANGHAI, CHINA (FILE - NOVEMBER 28, 2023) (REUTERS - Access all)

2. VARIOUS OF PERSON BROWSING SHEIN WEBSITE

INTERNET (FILE - MARCH 15, 2024) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE)

3. VARIOUS OF ARTICLES OF CLOTHING ON SHEIN'S FRENCH WEBSITE

PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 3, 2025) (BFMTV - No re-use after November 4, 2025 at 0730GMT / Must on-screen courtesy "BFMTV")

4. FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER, ROLAND LESCURE, DURING TV INTERVIEW

5. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER, ROLAND LESCURE, SAYING:

“First of all, we could all want to fight fast fashion, these platforms that sell every day various new collections with prices that challenge every single competitor. We're against it, we're starting to fight against it, we put in place a tax on small packages. But now, it has gone too far. As you said, these horrible objects are illegal."

6. INTERVIEW IN PROGRESS

7. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER, ROLAND LESCURE, SAYING:

“Let me be very clear on this - if such conduct is repeated, we would be within our legal right - and I will ask for it - to stop Shein's access to the French market."

PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 3, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

8. VARIOUS OF MAN HOLDING PROTEST SIGN WITH PICTURE OF CHILD-LIKE SEX DOLL THAT WAS WITHDRAWN FROM SALE FROM SHEIN

9. (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR CHILDREN, SARA EL HAIRY, SAYING:

“Let me be very clear - I want to hold responsible all those who bought these dolls. This shows how far we want to go. No one has the right to buy pedo-criminal dolls. These are deliberate miniature copies of children that hold teddy bears, that wear children's clothing, and today we know that being in the possession of these pedo-criminal objects, just like the consumption of pedo-criminal videos or being in the possession of images, these are stages before acting on it. So these are potential predators."

10. PROTEST AGAINST SHEIN

11. SIGN READING (French): “Shein participates in pedo-criminality”

12. BHV DIRECTOR, KARL-STEPHANE COTTENDIN, SPEAKING TO JOURNALISTS, PROTESTERS HOLDING SIGNS BEHIND HIM

13. (SOUNDBITE) (French) BHV DIRECTOR, KARL-STEPHANE COTTENDIN, SAYING:

“As soon as this weekend, we condemned it (sale of child-like sex dolls on Shein) publicly, firmly and officially. Shein has taken action, they immediately withdrew the product, and they themselves condemn it, Shein itself condemns it. They are currently conducting an investigation, and this investigation will particularly be conducted with firmness and with a demanding nature. I believe that what is happening, which we condemn, reminds of the necessity of a store, because in a physical store, these types of situations would never have taken place."

14. STREET IN FRONT OF PARIS’ HISTORIC BHV MARAIS DEPARTMENT STORE, SHEIN BANNERS ON FACADE

15. SHEIN BANNERS

16. (SOUNDBITE) (French) E-COMMERCE ANALYST AND CO-FOUNDER OF BUTTERFLY AGENCY, LAETITIA LAMARI, SAYING:

“This will stain Shein's respectability, which has worked so much on it. Implanting itself in the BHV Marais is about giving itself a more respectable image than that that one could have of it. It's coming to Paris, the capital of fashion, on the sixth floor of a fashion institution, and then saying, 'I've succeeded. I went through the digital side, which for a long time was considered as the lesser side of retail, and now, I'm opening a big store while all the others around are closing. So this puts a small dent in Shein's respectability."

INTERNET (FILE - MARCH 15, 2024) (REUTERS - Access all) (MUTE)

17. SWEATSHIRT THAT COSTS 7.99 EUROS ON SHEIN WEBSITE

18. HANDBAG THAT COSTS 5 EUROS ON SHEIN WEBSITE

PARIS, FRANCE (NOVEMBER 3, 2025) (REUTERS – Access all)

19. (SOUNDBITE) (French) E-COMMERCE ANALYST AND CO-FOUNDER OF BUTTERFLY AGENCY, LAETITIA LAMARI, SAYING:

“Shein today is one of the most powerful actors of global e-commerce, and its model relies on ultra-speed, ultra-conception, ultra-manufacturing - everything is always going very, very, very fast. And what's happening today is that Shein is in a controversy that reveals this system that we can no longer control, this 'ultra' system, of ultra-speed, of ultra-volume."

20. SHEIN BANNERS

21. (SOUNDBITE) (French) E-COMMERCE ANALYST AND CO-FOUNDER OF BUTTERFLY AGENCY, LAETITIA LAMARI, SAYING:

“But here, they went beyond a border, the border of pedo-criminality, and this right here is serious. Right now, it's no longer in a classic e-commerce context, it's in an international context in which we all should get along in order to be able to stop the machine, or at least put it on pause, to make sure that Shein conducts more human checks, more traceability and more limits."

22. SHEIN BANNERS