Maybe you love Shien, maybe you hate it. Either way, I’m here to tell you of why Shein sucks.
The company is infamous for exploiting its workers, damaging the environment, stealing styles from designers, and not paying tax. Let me ask you this, if your friend was working for a store that didn’t pay them, treated them like sh*t, and also partook in unethical behavior, what would you do? You’d probably encourage them to quit and not support the business moving forward, especially if it was local.
Despite the average cost of items on Shein being around $8, the garment workers themselves are unable to afford them. Garment workers for Shein suppliers work up to 18 hours a day with no weekends and one day off per month, being paid as little as 3% per item. If a single mistake is made, they are fined two thirds of their daily wage. In addition, the cotton used for the clothing is from the Xinjiang region of China, where the Chinese state has been accused of abusing the Uyghur people horrifically.
Shein is able to minimize its costs and maintain low prices not only by not paying their workers, but by circumventing import and export taxes by shipping small packages directly to customers. Their environmental report has noted an increase by more than 50% in 2023 and emits more than some small countries.
By offering 6,000 new pieces daily on the website, Shein’s business model is to target young individuals by offering them not only cheap clothing, but endless cheap clothing. As much as Big Fashion doesn’t care for its workers, it doesn’t care for its customers either. Their goal is to get you to think you can have it all under the guise of excessive overconsumption of cheap clothing.
This is your friendly reminder you are not entitled to new clothing at the expense of human rights and dignity. Sustainable options exist, and they’re not as expensive as you think; but for most, I think it boils down to is the purchase a want or a need?