As online fast-fashion retailer Shein ramps up its pre-IPO charm offensive in Britain, pushback is growing too from Europe’s retail industry and lawmakers.

As citizens of 27 countries vote in European Union elections, European manufacturers of fabric, clothes, leather goods and shoes this week called on future EU policymakers to protect the 1.5 million jobs in the sector from low-cost products being “dumped” on the market.

With industrial policy a key issue in the election, apparel manufacturers, retailers and e-commerce companies are trying to put cheap clothes, accessories and gadgets from China on the agenda, invoking the same language used by EU officials about Chinese overcapacity in electric vehicles.

The textiles, footwear and leather industries in Europe - home to fast-fashion giants Zara and H&M as well as the world’s biggest luxury brands - have a combined annual turnover of more than 200 billion euros ($220 billion).