Why You Need to Stop Shopping at Shein
Before diving into the issues with Shein, it is important to acknowledge the privilege it takes to be able to care about where your clothes come from. Not everyone has the money to shop sustainably, and many fall victim to supporting fast fashion since it's so affordable and accessible. Being fortunate enough to choose where you shop is really powerful, and you could choose to make more ethical and sustainable purchasing decisions.
In October of 2018, Shein founded itself as a “an international business-to-consumer (B2C) fast fashion e-commerce platform” with a goal to “offer on-trend styles catering to both young women and teens, that won’t break the bank.” While it may sound appealing, Shein is ultimately harming our environment, stealing designs and creating insensitive pieces, and implementing unethical labor practices.
Fast fashion has detrimental effects on the environment, and the industry itself is responsible for 10% of annual global carbon emissions, more than all international flights and maritime shipping combined. According to the World Economic Forum, the fashion industry makes up 10% of humanity’s carbon emissions, severely damaging water sources, and polluting rivers and streams. By shopping at Shein, you are single handedly contributing to the environmental crisis our world is facing. Different from Zara and H&M, which both typically function using a three week trend cycle, Shein produces new pieces every day. In an Forbes interview with Shein’s Chief Marketing Officer Molly Miao, she revealed that Shein drops “700-1,000 new styles daily.” Shein garments are primarily made from synthetic, bad quality fabrics such as polyester and nylon, which ultimately never decay. The inadequate quality of these garments is on purpose. Shein clothes are not meant to stay in your wardrobe forever. These pieces aren’t meant to last past the short amount of time they are considered trendy. By the time the garments become damaged and unwearable, there are new trends and new styles that you’ll want to follow, causing you to buy more from Shein.
Aside from environmental impacts, Shein produces culturally insensitive pieces and repeatedly steals clothing designs from artists. Last year, Shein sold Muslim prayer mats marketed as “frilled Greek carpets.” These mats had designs of the Kabaa, which is the most sacred building of the Muslim religion. After receiving intense backlash, Shein released an apology statement on Instagram stating they “made a serious mistake recently by selling prayer mats as decorative rugs on our site,” and “since it was brought to our attention, we immediately removed the products from our site.” Shein continued getting backlash about this, but that didn’t stop them from doing it again. Just four days after the brand was called out for selling Muslim prayer mats, Shein realeased a “swastika pendant necklace.” Shein’s marketing and selling of this antisemitic symbol severely threatened the Jewish community. After receiving enormous amounts of backlash, Shein released a statement claiming that the necklace was not a Nazi swastika, and it was actually a Buddhist swastika, which symbolizes good fortune. Despite their claimed intentions, Shein’s decision to market such a product was extremely tone-deaf and inconsiderate to the Jewish community.
Shein has been accused a number of times by small businesses and independent creators for stealing their designs and pieces. Accusations towards Shein were made by designer Mariama Diallo for copying designs from her brand, Sincerely Ria. Last summer, Diallo posted a string of tweets calling out Shein for copying both her designs and her brand aesthetic. A brown, strappy dress designed by Diallo was stolen and marketed on Shein, and quickly became one of their highest selling items. This is not the only time Shein has stolen designs and made a profit. Independent designer Masa Toro hand knitted a cropped green and pink sweater vest, just to have an identical vest appear on Shein’s website. It took weeks of Toro posting on social media to finally get Shein to remove the stolen vest from their website. Every time Shein steals a design, they are severely harming these independent creators and small businesses. As consumers, we have the choice to use our purchasing power to support small, independent businesses rather than the huge fast fashion companies copying them.
While it’s not realistic to thrift the entirety of your wardrobe, shopping second hand is a way you can individually make a difference. By shopping at local thrift and second hand stores, you are eliminating the amount of clothes that end up in landfills. By shopping at Shein, you are buying clothes designed to not last past 10 wears. As a consumer, you have a huge purchasing power, which comes with a huge responsibility. Putting your money towards a company like Shein is ultimately harming our planet, as well as small businesses and independent creators. Although the $5 tops are tempting, the low cost is not worth the detrimental long term effects.