As Halloween is approaching us, Shein sales have skyrocketed as people are looking for trendy but cheap pieces of clothing and accessories that can be used once and discarded. This is magnified look at Shein’s usual, year-long appeal of on-trend but shockingly cheap products. I will admit that I do order from this site from time to time solely because 1) It is incredibly useful for clothes I’ll only use a couple times, like for a holiday, photoshoot, or special event and 2) The prices are insanely low, which is undeniably appealing.
Shein was founded in 2008 and has been in the light of controversy ever since, but continues to grow regardless. In 2020, for example, the site was accused of selling culturally offensive items like Muslim prayer rugs as decoration. This article lays out much of Shein’s problematic history: https://www.34st.com/article/2020/07/shein-swastika-necklace-controversy-boycott-shein-fast-fashion-upenn-ivy-league
Because it is the epitome of fast fashion, Shein has a huge impact on the environment. The mass production of poorly made clothing utilizing not only harmful chemicals and micro plastics, but also promoting obsolescence in its products that are not made to last long. In terms of animal rights, Shein does not use real fur or leather, which is a good sign. However, the question becomes whether they avoid using organic material because its ethical or because fabrics sourced from animals are more costly and does not fit their business model.
Here is one of millions of Shein “hauls”, where social media influencers are able to buy a large amount of clothing in bulk at a low price, meaning hauls are almost always seasonal and done often.
http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M01PqpZpYhQ
Finally, Shein’s slim prices come from low production costs, which unfortunately allude to the use of cheap labor in third world countries. Labor conditions used by the company are in no way just for its employees and definitely do not provide proper pay and benefits, let alone a good working environment and schedule.
Here is an article that goes more into labor practices in Shein, a company that is rather opaque about it: https://www.sixthtone.com/news/1008472/the-shady-labor-practices-underpinning-sheins-global-fashion-empire
Some pros I would highlight are its replicas of higher end fashion trends that make the world of fashion more accessible to everyone. In addition to its immense variety, Shein offers a fair size range that includes plus sized and curvy categories and also recently added a petite section. I actually do appreciate the petite section because I’m short and almost everything I order online runs too big or too long. There are also a lot of coupons and discount codes with a fairly quick shipping time.
I’ve shopped from Shein once before, at the beginning of this past summer to be specific. I bought two bathing suits, where they would usually cost about $20 or more each at any other retailer, such as Target or Old Navy, but they ended up costing me just under $10 for both of them. I was astounded at this price and even though Shein gets a bad reputation for poorly made clothes, these bathing suits lasted all summer long. It is unfortunate that for Shein to sell clothes at such a low price, something has got to give. There are obviously many ethical challenges when it comes to ordering from Shein, but that hasn’t stopped influencers from contributing to the trend. Someone should tell them, I wonder if that would change their minds.