PARIS — French high-street brand Pimkie’s announcement that it will partner with Chinese ultra-fast-fashion company Shein through its Xcelerator program has sent shockwaves through the fashion industry and is now facing legal action.
Founders and former owners of Pimkie, Association Familiale Mulliez, announced it will file suit against the company alleging the Shein deal violates the terms of Pimkie’s 2023 sale and misuses 140 million euros of the funds made available to preserve the brand’s autonomy and protect jobs. AFM, which still retains majority stakes in fast-fashion brand Kiabi and sport retailer Decathalon, framed the partnership as “contrary to the fundamental interests of the French textile industry.”
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Pimkie chief executive officer Salih Halassi rejected the claims. “Contrary to the allegations relayed today by the press, the Mulliez family has no legal basis allowing it to take action against Pimkie under the sale contract that we have concluded,” he said in a statement to Agence France Presse.
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In announcing the deal on Tuesday, Halassi said the partnership would create 50 jobs in France and support the company’s retail expansion efforts, which included the opening of 20 physical stores this year with plans for more in 2026.
Pimkie announced it will join Shein’s Xcelerator program to develop a low-cost Pimkie-branded line that will not be available in its physical stores, but will give the label access to Shein’s “suite of services” including logistics, production, and international e-commerce platform. Halassi said he expects the Shein partnership to generate 100 million euros in sales by 2028.
But the partnership has received fierce backlash from French and European fashion industry bodies.
The Fédération Française du Prêt à Porter Féminin, or French Federation of Women’s Ready-to-Wear, said it will support AFM’s legal action.
“We will do everything to prevent Pimkie from becoming the European showcase for an ethical and environmental disaster,” association president Yann Rivoallan said in a statement.
The group characterized the partnership as an “immoral” and “harsh break” from the brand’s 50-plus year history of accessible fashion on the French high street, calling it “a betrayal of everything our industry strives to build: responsibility, transparency and sustainability.”
“Let me be clear: this partnership is a disgrace. Pimkie’s leadership is making a tragic mistake by partnering with a business model built on human exploitation and environmental destruction. Pimkie is unique: it carries with it a history, know-how and a duty to its employees, its customers and society. This decision tramples on all of that,” Rivoallan said.
The organization called on Halassi to halt the partnership. “The company’s leadership still has the power to backtrack — to avoid sacrificing Pimkie on the altar of short-term profits. They can preserve the brand’s integrity by not handing it over to Shein,” it stated.
In a statement to WWD, Quentin Ruffat, Shein director of external relations for France, defended the deal.
“The difficulties faced by traditional retailers predate the rise of platforms like Shein and go back to the arrival of discount chains in the 1990s. Shein fully complies with local regulations in France and pays all required taxes. We remain committed to operating to the highest standards,” he said. “At Shein, we acknowledge the real challenges facing traditional retailers, but we believe the solution does not lie in seeking scapegoats — it lies in collaboration. That’s why we are investing in initiatives such as Shein Xcelerator and partnerships with French brands like Pimkie. We invite more industry leaders to work with us.”
In July, France’s competition authority hit Shein hit with a record 40 million fine in France over “deceptive commercial practices.” Ruffat added that French consumers are willingly buying Shein because of “quality, value and variety.” To insinuate otherwise is “insulting to their judgment,” he said.
Previously, Pimkie was called out on stage Tuesday when 22 European fashion and textile associations signed a declaration calling on the European Union to introduce new rules to curb the influence of ultra-fast-fashion giants including Shein, as well as Temu, citing damage to local industry and unfair competitive practices.
The federations, speaking at the Première Vision trade show in Paris, warned that Shein already accounts for 5 percent of all apparel sales and 20 percent of online sales in Europe, with 4.5 billion parcels shipped into the bloc in 2024 alone.
“The impact is very clear — the direct drop in production and sales in Europe,” said Olivier Ducatillion, president of the Textile Industry Union. The industry groups allege Shein and similar platforms evade taxes, commit customs fraud, violate IP laws and create an uneven playing field.
Fashion and textile industry lobbying group Euratex president Mario Jorge Machado said the company externalizes environmental costs, while European brands will end up footing the bill with imposed eco-fees and recycling mandates.
In the declaration, the groups called for abolishing the EU’s under-150 euro package exemption, similar to the de minimis rule in the U.S., and introducing an additional parcel tax of 20 to 25 euros to fund customs enforcement.
The industry groups also dismissed Shein’s partnership with French retailer Pimkie as a facade to provide legitimacy to the Chinese giant. “It’s a smokescreen,” Ducatillion said.
With the EU unlikely to move on the issue until at least 2028, industry groups are preparing for national-level measures, though such fragmentation could create new regulatory headaches for brands operating across the bloc.
Euratex vowed to intensify lobbying efforts to press EU legislators to move more quickly against the Chinese players.