Shein is a Chinese-owned fast-fashion online store catering to teens like you and me. In fact, Shein receives about 320 million orders a year, according to Astha Rajvanshi in the Nov. 24 issue of Time magazine. Their biggest selling point is the extremely low prices.
So what exactly is fast fashion? Fast fashion is a newer industry of clothing that rapidly produces trends from unsustainable fabric. Fast fashion often doesn’t follow pollution rules put in place by the UN and uses slave and child labor according to Amaya McDonald, writer of What is fast fashion, and why is it so controversial.
Because the demographic of Shein is teenage girls, they reach their audience through social media by giving out discount codes, using hashtags, and having influencers, including Khloe Kardashian among others, promote their product. Shein owns and operates around 6,000 clothing factories in China according to Rajvanshi. With certain items gaining rapid popularity through this social media marketing, the factories begin to mass produce the item.
“Clothes from fast fashion companies are produced with low-quality material which then causes consumers to throw them out where they sit in landfills and release carbon emission,” Emma Stephens, a fashion and sustainability student at Lipscomb University said.
This production of items uses so much polyester and oil that one Shein factory will put out the same Co2 admissions as 180 coal-fired power plants.
Shein is undergoing an investigation by multiple countries for the way the company treats its workers. They violate many Chinese labor laws including not having a safe workplace and having laborers work with no contract according to Rajvanshi.
According to some reports, Shein’s factories lack safety protocols including having no windows or emergency exits. Workers are often forced into 17-hour shifts making only $20 a day. If one of the hundreds of garments they make per day is damaged, then their wages will decrease by $6.
They have also been accused of forced labor, which is when laborers are forced to work against their will with the threat of violence, and even death if they don’t comply. Another allegation of the investigation is having workers make products with hazardous materials and providing them with no safety equipment to protect them. Both of these things are not uncommon in the fast fashion world, according to Daysia Tolentino NBC News.
“Fast fashion companies are hurting our planet, and are known for extremely poor labor conditions in other countries,” Stephens said “I think that it is important to consider the companies we support when they are using sweatshops, child labor, and intensely inhumane and dangerous working conditions to make the clothes going on our bodies”.
After learning the truth about Shein, I challenge you to realize the harm it is causing. Go to your local thrift store, and shop sustainably!
