Italy hits Chinese fast-fashion platform Shein with 1 million euro fine over "false" claims on product recyclability, environmental and social responsibility

Italy's competition authority (AGCM) imposed a 1 million euro ($1.16 million) fine on China-founded online fast fashion retailer Shein on Monday for misleading customers about the environmental impact of its products.

It is Shein's second financial sanction by a European competition authority in little more than a month, after France fined the company 40 million euros on July 3 over fake discounts and misleading environmental claims.

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AGCM said the environmental sustainability and social responsibility messages on Shein's website "were sometimes vague, generic, and/or overly emphatic, and in other cases omitted and misleading."

Shein's claims on circular system design and product recyclability "were found to be false or at the very least confusing", and the green credentials of its 'evoluSHEIN by design' collection were overstated, the regulator said.

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AGCM said consumers could be misled to think that the collection was made with materials that are fully recyclable, "a fact that, considering the fibres used and currently existing recycling systems, is untrue".

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The Italian regulator said its overall assessment was influenced by an "increased duty of care" falling on Shein, "because it operates in a highly polluting sector and with highly polluting methods".