Italy Targets Shein With Import Levy Plans and Tougher Fashion Oversight

Rome moves against cheap imports and misleading green claims

Italy is preparing tougher oversight of Shein and other ultra fast fashion platforms after France approved restrictions on a business model built around bargain prices and thousands of new items each day. The plans combine support for a domestic industry of small workshops and luxury houses with closer scrutiny of environmental claims, working conditions and the cost of discarded clothing.

As of November 9, 2025, Rome is considering two main measures: making fashion producers contribute to the collection and recycling of garments, and imposing a separate levy on low cost imports sold through online platforms. The proposed charges would address different problems, one concerning textile waste and the other concerning competition from cheap imports.

Italy has already taken action against Shein's advertising. In August 2025, the Italian Competition Authority, known as AGCM, fined the company 1 million euro for misleading environmental messaging. The authority challenged claims about recyclability, circularity and lower emissions, saying some promises were vague or confusing and that emissions had increased in 2023 and 2024.

France imposed a larger penalty, 40 million euro, a month earlier over fake discounts and misleading green claims. Its wider restrictions on ultra fast fashion include environmental surcharges per item, advertising limits and stricter disclosure of sustainability claims.

Shein's Italian app user base has reached about 23 million, according to recent figures. Its popularity has intensified pressure on local manufacturers, which say they cannot match prices offered by suppliers outside the European Union while meeting Italy's labor, safety and tax standards. Unions and sustainability groups also question the environmental cost of encouraging constant purchases and quick disposal.

What Italy wants producers and platforms to pay

Italian officials are drawing up measures that would require fashion producers to help finance the collection, sorting and recycling of clothing once it becomes waste. The program is tied to a European Union directive on producer responsibility and would apply to foreign sellers as well as Italian brands.

Extended Producer Responsibility, usually shortened to EPR, means that companies placing products on the market help pay for dealing with those products after consumers discard them. Instead of leaving the waste bill entirely to taxpayers, a textile scheme would collect fees from brands and sellers to support municipal systems that take back garments and sort them for reuse or recycling.

Packaging and electronics already operate under EPR schemes in several EU countries. Applying the approach to textiles is intended to reduce the volume of clothing heading to landfills and incinerators. Part of the money would support efforts to recycle fibers that are difficult to process.

Rome is also weighing an additional levy on low cost fashion imports sold by platforms such as Shein and Temu. Officials describe this as a response to unfair competition and a way to help cover the growing cost of textile waste. It would sit alongside the broader producer responsibility program.

Millions of parcels arrive from outside the EU each day, often declared at very low values. Italian officials argue that this trade allows merchants to undercut local prices while environmental and labor costs fall elsewhere. The proposed levy is intended to narrow the price gap, encourage compliance with EU product rules and support workers in Italy's supply chain.

The Italian measures remain under consideration. No adoption date or amount for the proposed import levy has been given, leaving businesses and shoppers without a settled timetable or a figure they can use to calculate future costs.

Why the environmental claims drew a fine

AGCM's case examined how Shein described its environmental work, including the evoluSHEIN project and claims about recyclable products and lower emissions. Investigators focused on language in website sections such as social responsibility and #SHEINTHEKNOW, finding that statements were often vague or overstated.

Recyclability concerns whether a product can be processed into usable material after disposal. Circularity describes an effort to keep materials in use, rather than making products that are quickly thrown away. For shoppers, these claims can influence whether a purchase appears to be a less wasteful choice.

AGCM also challenged Shein's pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2030. The authority pointed to data showing that emissions rose in both 2023 and 2024, creating a conflict between the company's stated direction and its recent performance.

The Italian Competition Authority, the national body responsible for the 1 million euro penalty, described its findings in these words:

Shein used environmental claims that were vague, generic, or overly emphatic, and its emissions pledges were contradicted by an actual increase in 2023 and 2024.

Shein said it cooperated with the inquiry and changed its website so that environmental claims were clearer and verifiable. The company's response addresses the information presented to consumers, while Italy's proposed waste rules concern who pays when the garments themselves reach the end of their useful life.

France and the EU widen the pressure

France's action combines restrictions on ultra fast fashion with penalties over the way products are promoted. Its new rules aim to curb extreme production and textile waste through environmental surcharges, advertising limits and tighter disclosure requirements for sustainability claims.

The French penalty of 40 million euro in July 2025 was 40 times Italy's 1 million euro fine in August. The French action covered fake discounts as well as misleading environmental claims, while AGCM's case focused on environmental messaging.

European consumer protection authorities and the European Commission have also opened probes into platform practices. Their work includes discount claims and the sale of illegal products online, alongside checks on compliance with the Digital Services Act.

The Digital Services Act requires faster removal of illegal listings and stronger product safety controls. For a shopper, the practical issue is whether an online platform has effective checks on the goods it sells and responds when a listing breaks the rules.

The EU is also considering a flat fee for each parcel sent across borders directly to consumers. That proposal forms part of a wider response to the flood of small packages entering the bloc and sits alongside Italy's discussion of a separate levy on cheap fashion imports.

The main developments span several dates:

• 2023 and 2024: Shein's greenhouse gas emissions increased, according to the data cited by AGCM.
• July 2025: France fined Shein 40 million euro over fake discounts and misleading green claims.
• August 2025: AGCM fined Shein 1 million euro over misleading environmental messaging.
• November 9, 2025: Italy was considering textile producer responsibility measures and an additional levy on low cost imports.
• 2030: Shein's challenged emissions pledge targets a reduction of 25 percent by this year.

Made in Italy faces pressure from both sides

Italian industry groups have urged Rome to act faster, arguing that cheap imports are weakening standards on transparency and traceability. Traceability means being able to follow a garment through its supply chain, including the businesses and workshops involved in making it.

Carlo Capasa, who leads Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, has called on Italy and the European Commission to match France's action. He warned that untaxed parcels were flooding the market and that companies following the rules could not match prices offered by platforms operating with minimal oversight.

Small workshops and luxury houses occupy different parts of Italy's fashion industry, but both depend on supply chains whose costs include wages, taxes and compliance with safety rules. Manufacturers argue that these obligations make competition with very cheap imports especially difficult.

Italian ministers have also connected the proposed measures to efforts to improve conditions within the country's own fashion supply chain. Prosecutors have investigated abusive working conditions at some subcontractors serving luxury brands. Several firms have been placed under judicial administration to improve compliance.

Lawmakers are considering a voluntary certification system under which companies meeting strict monitoring standards could use a "Certified Fashion Supply Chain" label supervised by government bodies. The proposal would give qualifying companies a way to identify their compliance efforts, alongside action against abuses at subcontractors.

Chemical tests add a product safety concern

Greenpeace Germany commissioned independent laboratory tests on dozens of Shein items purchased in several European countries. The group reported hazardous chemicals in some products, including formaldehyde in a baby dress and very high levels of phthalates in footwear.

Greenpeace said 15 percent of the tested items breached EU limits for chemicals in textiles, while 32 percent contained chemicals at levels of concern. The figures describe the tested products and add a product safety dimension to the debate over prices, advertising and waste.

REACH, the EU's chemicals rulebook, sets strict limits on substances in clothing, accessories and shoes. The test findings have reinforced calls for tighter checks on goods entering EU markets and stronger enforcement of rules already in place.

Hazardous residues also make recycling more difficult. Fibers contaminated with restricted substances cannot easily be turned back into new fabric safely. A garment's chemical content therefore matters both while it is being used and when a recycling system tries to recover its materials.

Mixed fibers and certain finishes create further difficulties because current recycling technologies cannot safely process every combination. Claims about a circular clothing system depend on whether discarded garments can actually be collected, separated and made into usable material.

Cheap clothing leaves an expensive waste bill

Only a tiny fraction of textiles are recycled into new textiles. Vast quantities of used clothing instead end up in landfills or are shipped abroad, making the fate of discarded garments central to Italy's producer responsibility plans.

Ultra fast fashion platforms release thousands of styles each day and keep prices low enough that many items are worn only a handful of times. Campaigners argue that this pace of production and purchasing accelerates the cycle from sale to disposal.

Municipal collection systems must then take back garments, sort them and find a destination for the material. Recycling is particularly difficult when clothing contains mixed fibers, finishes or hazardous residues that prevent safe processing into new fabric.

Italy's proposed EPR program would direct money from producers and sellers toward those tasks. The separate import levy would address the competitive pressure from cheap goods while also helping finance textile waste costs. Together, the proposals connect the price paid at checkout with some of the costs that arise later.

France's environmental surcharges take another route toward the same concern by adding a charge per item. Advertising limits address the selling practices that encourage frequent purchases, while stricter sustainability disclosures aim to give shoppers clearer information about the products they choose.

Shein points to website changes and recycling investment

Shein says it follows the law in the markets where it operates and is strengthening internal controls. After AGCM contacted the company, Shein said it took immediate steps to improve the clarity and verification of environmental claims on its European websites.

The company has also publicized investments worth around 200 million euro in European projects that recycle textiles into textiles. These projects concern turning old textile material into material for new products, addressing an area where the proportion currently recycled remains very small.

Shein says its supplier code bans forced labor. It also says it does not source cotton from Xinjiang for products headed to the United States. Those statements form part of its response to concerns about the conditions and materials behind its supply chain.

Europe has become more important to Shein's growth as the company has sought to offset some of the pressure from tariffs in the United States. Its expansion in European markets has brought it into closer contact with regulators examining environmental claims, consumer protection and product safety.

Regulatory questions have also complicated plans to list the company's shares. Efforts to launch an initial public offering in London stalled, and Shein prepared a confidential filing in Hong Kong, according to people familiar with the process. An initial public offering is the process through which a company first offers shares to public investors.

What could change for shoppers and brands

Shoppers could face higher prices on some items if Italy adopts textile EPR fees and a separate levy on ultra fast imports. Clearer information about sustainability claims is another expected result of tighter oversight, especially after AGCM's findings on Shein's website messaging.

Advertising limits modeled on France's approach could reduce the push notifications and waves of discounts that encourage impulse buying. Platforms may also change their logistics, routing more stock through European warehouses to simplify compliance. Such changes could lengthen delivery times or alter return policies.

Italian brands and workshops could gain some breathing room if prices at mass market platforms rise and enforcement narrows gaps in taxation, product safety and labor oversight. They would still face pressure to compete on speed and design.

Companies already investing in traceability and worker protections could benefit from rules that reward those practices. At the same time, Italy's investigations into subcontractors show that closer oversight would reach domestic supply chains as well as foreign platforms.

For brands and marketplaces selling in Europe, the combined direction is toward clearer consumer claims, stronger control over suppliers and a greater contribution to the cost of textile waste. The immediate Italian decisions concern how those responsibilities would be organized and whether cheap imports would face an additional charge.

Key Points

• As of November 9, 2025, Italy was preparing tighter oversight of Shein and considering a levy on low cost imports sold through platforms such as Shein and Temu.
• A proposed textile EPR scheme would make foreign sellers and Italian brands help fund garment collection, sorting and recycling.
• AGCM fined Shein 1 million euro in August 2025 for misleading environmental claims, including messaging around a pledge to cut emissions by 25 percent by 2030.
• France fined Shein 40 million euro in July 2025 over fake discounts and misleading green claims, and approved wider ultra fast fashion restrictions.
• Shein's Italian app user base stood at about 23 million, increasing competitive pressure on local manufacturers.
• Greenpeace Germany said 15 percent of the Shein items it tested breached EU chemical limits and 32 percent contained chemicals at levels of concern.
• Shein says it improved website claims, publicized around 200 million euro in European textile recycling investments and bans forced labor in its supplier code.
• Higher prices, clearer sustainability information and changes to advertising or delivery practices are possible if the proposed measures take effect.