“In a world where the average consumer throws away 60 percent of new clothes the year they are bought, Shein seeks to raise that number to 70-80 percent.”
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The fast-fashion brand Shein is huge in the likes of Brazil: Moda feminina | Roupas, Sapatos e Acessórios | SHEIN Brasil
Having only opened their first non online operation earlier this year: Shein, Chinese fast-fashion giant, opens its first physical store in Brazil | World Stock Market
It’s also huge everywhere else – and it’s a brand nobody’s heard of:
Almost like a fashion space rocket, China-based Shein [pronounced she-in, not shine] now owns almost a third (28 per cent) of America’s fast fashion market. Few sustainability warriors saw it coming. And for all the convos about young people being passionate eco-conscious caretakers of our planet, at least in America, they have given a big hug to Shein. In a world where the average consumer throws away 60 percent of new clothes the year they are bought, Shein seeks to raise that number to 70-80 percent. Is SHEIN the Biggest Polluter Fast Fashion Brand In Fashion? Stats Don’t Lie — Anne of Carversville
Last year, the Guardian ran a piece asking the same questions about how “The company’s cheap clothes and accusations of design plagiarism seem to conflict with the purported values of its Gen Z fans”: ‘Worst of the worst’: why is fast fashion retailer Shein launching a reality show? | Fashion | The Guardian
Deutsche Welle put together a video on the company and how it’s so successful:
If you think fast fashion is bad, check out SHEIN – YouTube
And more critical pieces have appeared in the last couple of weeks: An inside look at Shein: The $100 billion fast fashion brand where factory staff work 75-hour weeks | Euronews and SHEIN: What You Need to Know About the Brand’s Social and Environmental Impact — MAKE FASHION BETTER
Including this from Rob Hastings in the weekend i-newspaper:
It is the biggest fast-fashion company in the world, making billions of pounds by unveiling thousands of new designs on its addictive website every day and selling them cheaper than anyone else. Now the first undercover investigation into factories supplying Shein, the Chinese retailer loved by millions of young women in the UK and around the globe, has exposed the disturbing experiences of workers making its clothes. Shein: Fast-fashion workers paid 3p per garment for 18-hour days, undercover filming in China reveals
With further access here at MSN: Shein: Fast-fashion workers paid 3p per garment for 18-hour days, undercover filming in China reveals
Here’s Rob Hastings Twitter feed, with lots of comment: (15) Shein: Fast-fashion workers paid 3p per garment for 18-hour days, undercover filming reveals / Twitter
There’s been a huge response on the ResetEra forum used by ‘GenZ’: Shein: Fast-fashion workers paid 3p per garment for 18-hour days, undercover filming in China reveals | ResetEra
And more from Reddit: Shein: Fast-fashion workers paid 3p per garment for 18-hour days, undercover filming reveals : news
So, what can we do about it?
Well, there are apps which rate the clothes you buy: Good On You – Sustainable and Ethical Fashion Brand Ratings
And you can look after your clothes a little better:
We should also focus on wearing our clothes for as long as possible in order to have a long-term and therefore sustainable benefit. Save Your Wardrobe not only brings back to life your ‘old’ clothes, it also helps you take proper care of them. Best sustainable fashion apps for 2022 | Carbon footprint apps
And you can learn a little more about ‘fast fashion’: Up in smoke? How green is the fashion industry? – Vision Group for Sidmouth and Fast fashion – and the mindsets of consumers – Vision Group for Sidmouth
‘Slow fashion’ is very SolarPunk: slow fashion apps – Sidmouth Solarpunk and Can fast fashion go green? Or are the most eco-friendly clothes the ones already in your wardrobe? – Sidmouth Solarpunk and Rescuing fast-fashion from being binned – Sidmouth Solarpunk