Shein’s Fast Fashion Domination Comes at a High Cost

what is shein

The fast fashion business model was pioneered in the 1990s by the founder of Inditex, the parent company of Spanish retailer Zara. Zara notoriously abandoned the concept of fashion seasons for a year-long cycle of production, which introduced customers to novel items every few weeks. Its success prompted other Western designers and retailers — H&M and Forever 21, to name two — to follow its lead into the next decade. Retailers migrated most of their manufacturing process overseas to countries with lax labor laws, where wages can be low and working overtime (without additional pay) is common. This, of course, made fashion companies more profitable, as shoppers became hooked on a cycle of novelty. Toward the tail end of the 2010s, “ultra-fast” fashion brands — Asos, Boohoo, Fashion Nova, and now Shein — emerged as viable competitors to the dominant fashion empires of the previous decade.

Shein has been accused of cultural insensitivity and cultural appropriation

Business of Fashion reported that the company’s sales declined for five months before slightly increasing in December, based on online spending data from Earnest Analytics. It’s come under fire for producing extremely high volumes of garments, which reports say contribute to overcrowded landfills and 6.3 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year. Shein is the second most-downloaded shopping app in the US, according to UBS Evidence Lab data. Shein has more followers on TikTok than any other apparel retail brand and is the most Google-searched apparel retailer in the US, according to UBS data. Shein gave fast fashion a whole new meaning by using AI technology to identify trends and an online-only model to churn out thousands of garments in record time.

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The little-known founders of Sheinside got together in 2008, led by entrepreneur Xu Yangtian, who started out in digital marketing and selling wedding dresses online. But it’s also drawn criticism over its environmental impact, a lack of transparency and allegations it copies small designers, which Shein denies and says it takes seriously. Shein is partnering with fellow fast-fashion retailer Forever 21, furthering the retailer’s efforts to expand its product offering beyond Shein-produced items. Forever 21 items will be sold on Shein’s site and Shein is hosting pop-ups in Forever 21 stores.

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  1. “This helped the online retailer grow its presence and reach a wider audience more quickly.”
  2. Shein had also previously falsely stated on its website that its factories were certified by international labor standard bodies, according to Reuters.
  3. It became apparent to us that fashion labels were ensnared in a paradox – a tug of war between extending diverse options and curbing inventory overload alongside wastage.
  4. It wasn’t until 2014 that Shein began to acquire its own supply chain system, transforming itself into a fully integrated retailer.

Along with this, Whinston has shared that Shein plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by sending more products by ship than by air. He also said that the brand wishes to make its supply sites more energy efficient and incorporate recycled fibers into its products more often. Social media users, various media outlets, and even the Mexican government have criticized some of the products that Shein has carried on its website due to cultural appropriation and cultural insensitivity.

The most notable hire is Adam Whinston, the brand’s new global head of ESG, who is largely in charge of positively changing Shein’s image and introducing a more sustainable model to the company. Mélo is one of the thousands of influencers on TikTok and Instagram who works with Shein to post “haul” videos, where she tries on piles of clothes, invites followers to visit Shein’s pop-ups, and promotes their sale events. It’s a social media strategy that has been wildly successful for the company, pushing Shein to the top of the fashion ladder—and making it the world’s most popular fashion brand in 2022. Shein was first launched in 2008 under the domain SheInside, as a site that sold wedding dresses and women’s fashion geared toward US and English-language shoppers. The retailer was started in Nanjing, a province in China, by entrepreneur Chris Xu, who specialized in search engine optimization marketing.

Is Shein simply “fast fashion,” or is it the future?

what is shein

According to the NYAG, SHEIN knew that customer credit card information was stolen but told website visitors that the company saw “no evidence” that customer credit card information was compromised. In addition to the fine imposed by the NYAG, SHEIN must implement a comprehensive information security program, as well as safeguards and controls for handling, storing, and processing personal information. The NYAG also mandated the company to submit third-party assessments of these systems, networks, and policies annually until 2027. Shein told Global News that it takes “all claims of infringement seriously” and addresses issues of intellectual property (IP) with artists when they arise.

It’s not uncommon for clothing collections making their debut on the runways one day to be listed in Shein’s online stores just a week later, he tells Global News. The company is well-known on apps such as TikTok and Instagram, where generation Z shoppers will show off their #SheinHaul — a collection of clothes ordered from the online-only retailer at deeply discounted prices. CBC reported that lead exposure can damage the heart, brain, kidneys, and reproductive system; and contamination can be especially harmful to infants and children, making the levels found in the children’s jacket that much more dangerous. Miriam Diamond, environmental chemist and University of Toronto professor, pointed out to CBC that this contamination is not only unsafe for shoppers but also for the individuals actually producing these items. CBC reports that since being alerted of the contaminations, Shein has removed the flagged products from their website and stopped working with the suppliers of these products until they’ve completed their own investigation and taken any necessary action(s).

Yet Shein’s emergence as a fast fashion juggernaut can’t solely be attributed to the price of its clothing or its ubiquitous internet presence. The retailer is also nowhere to be found in the physical world — at least not in brick-and-mortar stores, although it has previously hosted in-person pop-up events. Shein appeared to have sprung out of thin air into the mainstream, unlike fast fashion’s old guards, whose spacious, brightly lit stores were proof of their dominance. Yet, Shein is so far ahead of competitors like H&M, Zara, and Asos, according to an analysis by Apptopia, that it’s difficult to compare them. Even established players in the fast-fashion industry have been paying closer attention to their carbon footprints, Winder says, as consumers grapple with the environmental impact of rapidly cycling through clothes. Leconte says the nature of Shein’s business model means its clothing production cannot possibly be done entirely in-house, which means leaning on third-party factories to take on work, which can in turn outsource production to other contractors.

It was an early adopter of social media marketing, partnering with fashion bloggers for giveaways and promoting products on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest as far back as 2012. Yet much remains unknown about Shein’s business practices, and timely payment alone should not be cause for praise or relief from consumers. What are the ethics of producing and selling thousands of garments a day at a breakneck https://www.1investing.in/ pace, even if workers are reportedly paid on time? Some of the most popular Shein-related TikToks feature young women buying hundreds of dollars’ worth of clothes to try on for every season or fashion TikTok trend. Sure, not every consumer can afford ethically made goods or have easy access to a thrift store, but it’s not low-income shoppers who are keeping Shein and the fast fashion industry alive.

Out of 38 samples of children’s, adults’, and maternity-wear clothing and accessories, CBC Marketplace found that one in every five items had “concerning” levels of chemicals like lead, PFAS, and/or phthalates. The move is seen as part of the company’s attempt to move its supply chain away from China, where it has largely been rooted with over 3,000 suppliers in southern China’s Guangdong 1 bucks in dollar province. With its headquarters now based in Singapore, Shein also began manufacturing in Turkey and is leasing and operating warehouses in Poland to ship to customers in Europe. As a result, the company leaves about 6.3 million tons of carbon dioxide a year in its trail—a number that falls well below the 45% target to reduce global carbon emissions by 2030, which the U.N.