In 2020, Shein, an online e-shopping website based in China, was launched into the public spotlight. It was all anyone could talk about—its user base tripled in under a year, and Shein’s “clothing hauls” exploded in popularity on TikTok. It almost seemed too good to be true: affordable, trendy clothes available with just a few clicks of the finger. Fashion had never been more accessible to the public, and with Shein sometimes adding about two thousand brand-new clothing items to its store every day, it was always on top of the ever-changing fashion trends.
It’s almost a given that you or someone you know has used Shein; I know I’ve certainly used it before. With its thousands of cheap, up-to-date items, Shein lends itself to regular clothing hauls as old styles go out of fashion and new looks are in. Clothing hauls are one of the clearest examples of the consumerism that fast fashion promotes, and I’ve felt the pressure to keep up as much as anyone else. Seeing new styles trend every few months puts pressure on people to continue to buy new clothes. Shein is the easiest available way to get new clothes fast and feel like you’re still in the loop. However, pumping out clothing at the insane speed and quantity that Shein does calls for a lot of labor and materials. And considering the cheap prices Shein boasts, it is often assumed that its workers aren’t treated well. But until more recently, no one really questioned it. As long as they got their hundreds of cheap, trendy clothes, they didn’t care about the limited information, labor, and materials.
Recently, footage from an undercover investigation from Channel Four showed the ludicrous salary some workers were making: the equivalent of four cents per clothing item. Laborers—who work in factories in China—have a base salary of roughly 556 dollars per month, and that’s not counting the alleged fines workers face, a whopping two-thirds of their already-meager salary, after only one mistake. Workers have even told stories of washing their hair between breaks because they worked such long hours that they had no time to wash after their day ended. Additionally, migrants were the majority of workers employed at the factories, and they worked up to seventy-hour weeks to finish the many, many clothing items they were assigned. This clearly violates China’s labor laws and forces employees to work inhumane hours. However, since the majority of workers don’t stay at the outsourced factories for long, the practice flies under the radar.
The low quality and lead content of the clothes has also been a key point people bring up when criticizing Shein, but let’s be honest: that’s not going to stop most people from buying from the company. The fast fashion industry is at an all-time high, thanks to Shein and its almost-dispensable clothes. Sure, you’re not going to throw away a shirt you got for twenty dollars, but if it cost five bucks, you might just decide to discard it for another, equally-cheap shirt. Fast fashion is a detriment to the environment, and it’s not an issue for people who buy one or two items from Shein. The issue is the people who spend thousands of dollars on clothing hauls only to discard most of the items in a few months.
Instead of throwing out old clothes, consider donating them to thrift stores. We have quite a few in Ithaca and the surrounding areas. Similarly, try checking out one of the thrift stores instead of hopping right onto Shein if you have the time. I’ve stopped going to Shein and started going to local thrift stores like the Reuse Center and Salvation Army. Not only is it more fun than online shopping, but also more sustainable. If you can, I encourage you to make the switch. While saying that, I also want to make it clear that while this article is critical of Shein, I am not trying to shame anyone who uses it, especially if Shein is what is accessible and affordable to you.