Since launching in 2008, SHEIN has completely taken over the fast-fashion industry. Especially during the pandemic when many small businesses drowned, SHEIN was thriving and grew into one of the world’s largest fashion retailers. They quickly became the most-mentioned brand on platforms like TikTok. With the ultra-cheap and bad quality clothing, SHEIN is actually one of the most harmful brands I’ve ever come across. The fashion industry is one of the main contributors to global environmental destruction and climate change and SHEIN plays a major part in this, as they control 28% of the fast-fashion market in the US alone. In this post, I’m listing 6 reasons why I personally avoid shopping at SHEIN and why I think you should consider the same. I know the extremely low prices and trendy styles are tempting, but I’m hoping this article will inspire you to learn more about sustainable fashion and how to make more conscious shopping decisions.
Who is SHEIN and who is behind it?
If you’re not familiar with SHEIN yet, here’s a little introduction. SHEIN (pronounced as ‘She-In’) is an ultra-fast-fashion retailer originally founded in China in 2008 and now headquartered in Singapore. The company offers cheap clothes, accessories, shoes, beauty products, and home items for women, men, and children, but also electronics and tech accessories. Their website is filled with thousands of products and you can always find the latest trends, with new styles being added constantly.
The company was founded by Chinese-born Chris Xu (Xu Yangtian), who reportedly has a background in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and e-commerce, rather than fashion design. Personally, I always find it more inspiring when fashion companies are started by talented designers, who have a genuine love and passion for clothing and craftsmanship and just want to pour their heart and creativity into their own company. Many big fast-fashion brands, however, are built primarliy around the objective of scaling trends and maximizing profit as quickly as possible. SHEIN’s products are designed by over 800 in-house designers and thousands of independent creators. This large network of designers and suppliers is the reason why SHEIN is able to offer such an enormous amount of new products every single day.
That’s enough of a backstory for now. Let’s get into some of the biggest issues surrounding the brand.
#1. They use harmful materials
One of the reasons SHEIN is able to sell clothing at incredibly low prices is because they rely heavily on synthetic materials like polyester, nylon, and acrylic. These fabrics are derived from fossil fuels and are very inexpensive to produce. The problem is that these fibers come with significant environmental consequences. Clothing made from polyester, for example, can take 20 to 200 years to fully decompose. So, you can throw away your synthetic fast-fashion pieces after one season, but the material will continue to exist for a long time and might even outlive you. Synthetic textiles also shed microplastics during washing and wearing, which eventually end up in rivers, oceans, ecosystems and our bodies. I have written a three-part series about this issue. Check it out here!
The production of polyester is highly energy-intensive as well, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels. Producing 1000 kg of polyester fibers is estimated to generate between 7,2 and 9,52 kg of CO₂. Making a year’s worth of polyester generates around 700 million tonnes of CO₂ annually. That’s the same amount of CO₂ as 180 coal-fired power plants. If we continue at this speed, these numbers could double by 2030.
At the same time, I will acknowledge that natural materials such as cotton are not perfect either. While the CO₂ emissions of conventional cotton are lower, this material requires large amounts of water (around 9800 liters for 1 kg of cotton fibers) and pesticides. And yes, if they would start using more sustainable materials, the items will become more expensive. But honestly, that’s how it should be. Producing fashion that is safe for people and not damaging to the environment simply costs more money than producing harmful and toxic materials.
#2. Their prices are unrealistically low
SHEIN’s success is mainly attributable to the low prices. You can easily fill an entire shopping cart for the price of a single item from many other brands. And I know that can be super exciting if you love fashion, but prices this low are actually unrealistic and unethical. These prices are achieved through bad quality materials, low wages, poor working conditions, intense production pressure, and environmental pollution.
Fast-fashion brands like SHEIN are making you believe clothes don’t have a lot of value and that it doesn’t take that much to produce a clothing item. That’s not true. Clothing is far more labour- and resource-intensive than many people realize. Every garment requires materials, pattern making, cutting, sewing, quality control, packaging, transport, marketing, and more. If SHEIN sells you a dress for €5, it doesn’t necessarily mean the value is lower than a €50 dress from a sustainable brand. It just means someone else is paying for your dress. Environmental and human costs are pushed onto others instead. If you don’t pay the full price for an item, the people in the production chain have to. And eventually, we will all pay the ultimate price through climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution caused by all this overproduction.
Low prices imply that clothes are disposable and only made to be worn a few times. It also encourages consumers to splurge and buy a lot more than they need. ‘If a top is the same price as a coffee, why not just get a few of them?’ ‘Maybe in different colours…’ ‘Shipping might take a few weeks, so placing a bigger order makes it worth the wait.’ The delivery fee often costs the same or more than one garment, so it wouldn’t even be beneficial to only buy one item. And speaking of shipping, SHEIN offers free returns in many countries, but this is not even financially worthwhile for the company, because the items are so cheap. There are cases where customers have reportedly been refunded without having to send the item back at all, simply because the shipping costs more than the garment itself. SHEIN is handing out clothes like candy.
Check out this post to learn how clothes are made and how much it takes
#3. Their production speed is more than the planet can handle
SHEIN is a classic example of an ultra-fast-fashion brand, as they are able to produce an item of clothing within a week. The finished and packaged product is often ready after just 10 days. To give a comparison: fast-fashion brands like H&M and Zara need 2-3 weeks for this process. The reason for this is SHEIN’s highly data-driven system. Their AI technology and algorithms are constantly monitoring social media trends, influencer content, search behavior, and customer engagement to identify emerging trends. They respond as quickly as possible by turning those trends into products.
Reports estimate that SHEIN uploads between 700 and 2000 new styles to its website every day [UPDATE: just kidding, the numbers are currently 6000 to 10.000]. They start by producing small batches of 100-200 pieces. The items that are popular and selling fast are then mass-produced on a larger scale. Even if we take the smallest batch of 100 pieces for 6000 styles, that’s 600.000 pieces (!) of clothing made every single day. That’s an enormous volume. You can do the math for the bigger batch…
The constant addition of new styles every single day, and the bad quality of the clothes encourages consumers to keep coming back and buy new stuff. There is always something new to buy, another micro-trend to follow that replaces the previous one from a few days ago. They handle over 1 million orders daily and the average consumer throws away 60% of their new clothes within 1 year. A research done by Swiss-based independent NGO Public Eye in 2021 showed that one of SHEIN’s many suppliers in China, was producing 1,2 million articles of clothing a day. SHEIN’s clothes are made in thousands of factories. Just think about these numbers for a second. Think about the amount of materials that are brought into the world daily. Many materials that take hundreds of years to decay. The problem is that the planet simply cannot sustain this level of production and consumption. Clothing requires resources: raw materials, energy, water, chemicals, transport, packaging, and labour.
#4. They exploit their workers
The ultra-fast-fashion business model, characterised by huge amounts of clothing, low prices and high speed, places pressure on garment workers. As I mentioned before, if you don’t pay the true price for an item, it gets pushed down through the supply chain onto the people making the clothes. The fashion industry is notorious for underpaying workers and having them work in dangerous and uncomfortable conditions, with excessive overtime and a lack of worker protections. This is exacerbated by intense competition between suppliers, as factories are expected to produce new styles incredibly quickly and at the lowest possible cost.
Many of SHEIN’s suppliers are small and informal factories that are often not well regulated. In 2021, Public Eye investigated 17 factories linked to SHEIN in China. They interviewed 10 workers in six cities. Their report described workers doing extremely long shifts, sometimes reportedly working around 75 hours per week with very limited days off. The employees they spoke to worked three shifts per day: 4 hours in the morning, a bit over 4 hours of work in the afternoon, and an evening shift of another 3 to 3,5 hours. In between the shifts, they had a 1,5 hour lunch break and a dinner break of a little over 1 hour. The evening shift is 6 days a week, and they only have one day off per month.
The interviewed employees also said they are not paid overtime, had not signed formal employment contracts and did not receive benefits like social security contributions. Many factories also don’t comply with basic safety standards. Before you start thinking this might just be normal in China, it’s not. According to the Chinese labour laws, a working week should not be more than 40 hours. The conditions and practices at these factories clearly violate local labour laws.
SHEIN’s workers are primarily paid per garment produced rather than receiving a stable hourly wage, but only the ones that are accepted count. So the more items they make, the more they get paid. This system creates enormous pressure. It encourages employees to work long hours, but this also means that if a garment doesn’t pass the quality check, they don’t get paid for it. Moreover, if there is no work available, they don’t have a salary. It is an insecure and unstable job for the workers. They never know how much money they’ll be able to take home each month.
Another troubling aspect of ultra-fast-fashion production is the constant switching between new designs. As SHEIN’s orders are often small batches, workers need to repeatedly adjust to unfamiliar garments and sewing methods at very high speed. When they’re just getting used to sewing a certain garment, they have to switch to another one. It takes longer to sew a garment if you’re not familiar with it yet. This is not really an issue on its own, but remember they are paid per item, so the slowdown is only at the expense of the workers. It directly affects workers’ income rather than the brand itself.
This same research concludes that for a white and blue floral dress made from polyester, the seamstress/seamster is probably paid around 3 yuan (47 US cents). The dress is then sold by SHEIN for around €10/$11 USD.
#5. They repeatedly use plagiarised and insensitive designs
As if exploitation and harming the planet isn’t already controversial enough, there are also concerns about the first step in the production process: designing. You would think this would be the least harmful step in a production chain where not much can go wrong, but SHEIN is facing criticism for copying independent artists, designers, and small businesses. Fashion brands influencing one another is nothing new. Many mainstream brands take inspiration from runway collections from luxury and high-end brands, or popular aesthetics online. Brands like ZARA often have dupes of designer items and they follow whatever is popular on social media. Most brands, however, just use these sources as inspiration and create designs that are still their own. In contrast, numerous independent creators have accused SHEIN of producing near-identical copies of their original designs, often without permission, credit, or compensation. What makes this really frustrating is that many of the people being copied are small brands or independent artists. They spend months developing their work, only to see similar versions or exact copies suddenly appear on SHEIN’s website for a fraction of the price. Large fashion companies have extensive legal teams to fight these cases, but smaller creators often don’t have those resources.
UPDATE
I decided to do some more research on all the businesses and artists that have publicly spoken out about alleged design theft by SHEIN. I created a separate article to document the reported cases in one place: 40+ Businesses Shein Stole Designs From.
Below are a few examples, but there are many more…
Beyond plagiarism, SHEIN has also faced backlash multiple times for selling culturally insensitive or offensive products. In 2020, for example, they had to apologize after selling a Muslim prayer mat mislabeled as a decorative “Greek carpet”, and a week later a necklace featuring a swastika symbol. It’s clear SHEIN prioritises speed and endless product turnover, while ethical considerations of their designs are an afterthought.
#6. They lack transparency about their supply chain
Another major issue is that it’s very difficult to find information about SHEIN’s supply chain. Surprisingly little detailed information is publicly available about where exactly all their products are made, where materials are sourced from, where the clothes are distributed from, etc. SHEIN states on their website that the products are sourced from different regions around the world, including China and the US. They also mention they work with a large global network of material suppliers, manufacturing partners and finished product vendors. This last one is interesting, because it means they don’t only produce their own designs, but also buy finished products. This might explain the design theft as they don’t seem to have full control over their supply chain.
Investigations over the years also suggest that SHEIN relies heavily on subcontracting rather than producing all their garments in their own factories or suppliers. According to Public Eye, production opportunities for new garments are posted on Chinese platforms such as WeChat, allowing factories to apply for orders. After receiving an application from a factory, SHEIN refers them to the fabric supplier so they can purchase the fabric and start production. This kind of fragmented and decentralized production model can make oversight and accountability much more complicated. It allows SHEIN to distance themselves from the working conditions in all these different factories. If something goes wrong in one of the factories or if there are illegal working conditions, SHEIN doesn’t view this as their problem to solve. Spreading production makes it harder to monitor labour conditions or ensure environmental standards are being followed. It is unclear whether SHEIN monitors any of these companies and performs audits. According to Chinese media reports, SHEIN works with more subcontractors than main suppliers, which would mean most clothes are produced through this subcontracting system.
Like many fashion brands, SHEIN has a Code of Conduct on their website which is full of promises. Some of the things they claim are that workers receive fair living wages and benefits, and that they try their best to source ethical fabrics like recycled materials. This does not align with the information I found, and policies and claims like these are not sufficient on their own. No solid information is provided about independent verification, detailed supplier disclosure, and strong enforcement mechanisms. This makes it difficult for consumers, journalists, researchers, or labor organizations to confirm these claims are true and to know how consistently these standards are actually implemented in practice.
SHEIN discloses far less information than many other major fashion brands. Personally, I think transparency should be the bare minimum. As consumers, we deserve to know where our clothes come from, who made them, and under what conditions they were produced. We should be able to hold brands accountable and demand transparency.
Conclusion
Ultra-fast-fashion completely distorts the way we value clothing. Brands like SHEIN have normalized prices so low that many people believe clothes are worth the same as disposable food packaging that should be tossed away after a few uses – either because it’s not trendy anymore, or because the quality is so bad that it doesn’t last longer than that. But in reality, an enormous amount of labour, resources, energy, and materials go into the production of a garment. There are many steps involved, from designing to the manufacturing of the raw material, making the fabric, sewing the garment, transportation… And many people who carry real environmental and human costs: designers, textile workers, seamstresses, factory employees… When prices are pushed lower and lower, those true costs don’t magically disappear.
I also think ultra-fast fashion has changed consumer expectations. Many small brands and independent designers now constantly hear that their products are “too expensive,” simply because people have become used to seeing dresses sold for the price of a coffee. Everything is now compared to SHEIN’s prices and anything above that is considered expensive. But realistically, prices that low are only possible because corners are being cut somewhere in the supply chain.
Of course, SHEIN is not solely responsible for all the problems within the fashion industry. Many brands contribute to polluted ecosystems, overflowing landfills and exploitative labour systems. But SHEIN has become one of the clearest examples of how extreme the fast-fashion model can become.
I know these websites can be incredibly tempting. They’re designed to be. And as someone who loves fashion, I can uderstand this kind of shopping experience can feel almost addictive. But personally, the more I learned about the environmental and social impact behind ultra-fast fashion, the less appealing it became.
The good news is that there are alternatives: shopping secondhand, supporting smaller brands, buying fewer but better-quality pieces, repairing clothes, or simply becoming more intentional with what you buy. These things can already make a meaningful difference over time. Do you want to stop wearing fast-fashion, but don’t know any brands who do a better job at protecting their workers and the planet? You can find sustainable brands all over the world on this brand list!
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Sources
Banerjee, A., & Dutta, P. (2022, July 19). hein – How the Company Brings Trendsetting Fashion that Stands Out? Retrieved from StartupTalky: https://startuptalky.com/shein-success-story/
de Ferrer, M. (2021, September 9). How are Shein hauls making our planet unlivable? Retrieved from Euronews: https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/09/08/how-are-shein-hauls-making-our-planet-unlivable
Rani, M. (2021, January 24). Chris Xu: Founder & CEO Of Shein. Retrieved from StartupTalky: https://startuptalky.com/chris-xu-founder-shein/
Fressynet, I. (2022, April 5). An inside look at Shein: The $100 billion fast fashion brand where factory staff work 75-hour weeks. Retrieved from Euronews: https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/04/05/welcome-to-the-dark-side-shein-is-the-biggest-rip-off-since-fast-fashion-was-born
Cherrett, N., Barrett, J., Clemett, A., Chadwick, M., & Chadwick, M. J. (2005). Ecological Footprint and Water Analysis of Cotton, Hemp and Polyester. Stockholm Environment Istitute, BioRegional Development Group and WWF Cymru. Stockholm: Stockholm Environment Istitute.
Kollbrunner, T. (2021, November). Toiling away for Shein. Retrieved from Public Eye: https://stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein/
Gan, J. (2021, July 14). Here’s Why You Should Never Shop at Shein No Matter What. Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/heres-why-you-should-never-shop-at-shein-no-matter-what-8140d285cf4b
Kim, I. A., & Kupelian, K. (2021, July 26). Chinese e-commerce giant Shein has become a $15 billion company. Here’s how it gets consumers to keep spending. Retrieved from Insider: https://www.insider.com/how-shein-gets-consumers-spend-fast-fashion-ecommerce-chinese-company-2021-6
Lal, K. (2021, December 29). How Shein got away with daylight robbery in 2021. Retrieved from Dazed: https://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/55146/1/shein-fast-fashion-exploitation-plagiarism-independent-designers-copy-aliexpress
Ahmed, T. (2025, January 1). How many new styles does Shein have? Sylvan Apparel. https://sylvanapparel.com/how-many-new-styles-does-shein-have/
51 thoughts on “6 Reasons to Avoid Shopping at SHEIN”
Was just about to do a haul from Shein and decided to google if I should buy from them. thanks
So glad you found the post just in time haha 😉 thanks for leaving a comment!
Was bout to get new stuff from SheIn when I remembered hearing something about it being bad and researched found this thank god I just feel bad cause i know even if I stop bying it won’t make that much of a difference but even if it isn’t that much I still won’t cause if everyone said well I’m only one person I won’t make a difference then no one will ever realize the danger of fast fashion and we won’t ever make a change.
Yes, I love this mindset! Change starts with yourself. Everything we do individually, impacts the rest of the world in some way. Even making small changes in your own life can already help, and then we can also inspire others around us
WTF “haul”??? Bchitez like you are worthless! And for the idiot blogger: turn anything around in your house, and read: MADE IN CHINA! EVERYTHING is made in China. You do know SHEIN sells EVERYTHING, not just clothes, right? Only dumb idiot bchitez buy clothes there! HELLO EVERYTHING I need is there! Computer needs, cleaning, repair supplies, it’s all available. So quit buying crap you don’t need and make a list of things that broke or you have to have. From school backpacks to eyeglasses, kitchen utensils, containers to organize your crap, they have EVERYTHING. None of the things I buy are clothes. Quit copying each other, quit being a brainless tool and BUY what you need, what broke and needs replacing, THAT will save you money! My orders are just a few dollars. Anyone who spends close or over $100 deserves to be scammed.
I m seriously cancel my shein account, not buying anything from them anymore. They ripped me off on an order, that I never received, ! After all the complaints,bad reviews, 0 stars , some how I found out after all it was very late, no points, refund , nothing, a5 stars with bad. Review, included, very misleading advertisement statements and deceiving emails! I’m passing out now the bad business shein is! No customer service support, nothing!I lost money on my orders
I was ordering a skirt set and a brown pant set the top was long . I never received the skirt and never received the the top to wearing my pants. SHEIN robbed me
Yes, I’ve been hearing this a lot too! I guess I could also add this issue to the list..
I’m currently writing an investigative report for one of my college classes on this topic and your article has given me so much good information thank you. Although I am guilty of buying things from their website in the past lol
Such an interesting and important topic to write a report about! Would love to hear about the results. And I get it haha, it’s hard to resist such affordable fashion
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I was about to order from Shein, but felt that something was wrong with them. So, i decided to invèstigate them. I AM SO-O GLAD I DID!!!!! Yes I would love to pay the prices they charge (I don’t have a lot of money) but, I WILL NOT TAKE MONEY FROM OTHERS POCKETS to suit myself! Also, I will not knowingly harm the earth in any way!!! So THANKS for opening my eyes and waking me up to what is REALLY gonig on!!!!
Hi! Wow, thanks for sharing! It’s really admirable that you choose to make a conscious decision, rather than simply give in to the low prices
I have never and shall never buy from them. I worked for a specialty store and everything came from China, Korea, Vietnam, etc. It is so sad that greed has taken over the world and that sweat shops are still existing and others are robbed of their work. I had no idea how this affected the weather and many hard working people. Keep fighting this and forget the 5.
I was doing a discussion post about Shein and I saw this blog. Totally agree with every single point here. It is so powerful and I really really love it. Thank you so much!
Glad you enjoyed reading it! Thanks for leaving a comment 🙂
hi! thank you for this informative post!
do you know if there are any websites where it’s possible to find the source of their products? (as in find the shops/small businesses they stole the designs from, as to purchase items from the actual designer)
Hi, thanks for reading. That’s an interesting question and it would be nice to support those smaller designers and businesses! As far as I know, there isn’t any website like that, so you’ll just have to find the original designs by searching online. Maybe I can make a separate post with a list of all the designers and businesses and keep it updated every time it happens again
Hi. I agree with some of what you’re saying, with the general outline. However, you do tend to carry it a tad overboard. To say that one polyester dress has the same value as the next polyester dress is a bit ridiculous!! Thats obviously not the case! Also, while I agree in theory it would be ideal if we could all shop at eco-friendly stores & wear eco-sustainable clothing…help & give back to our world instead of just take from her right? But we aren’t there yet & I, myself at least, am not living in the clouds! There are people that live WAY below the poverty level & can’t afford 1 shirt, much less the several in every color you mention! So who are you to be so high & mighty & tell people that they don’t deserve that 1 shirt because they can afford the $5?? And the shipping is only $3-4. Some don’t have the money to shop at these eco-friendly stores where you so blithely said “well yeah, it costs more”. Yes, it does. Not everyone has that “more”!! So jump down off your moral high ground & roll around in the mud with us lowly beasts for a minute & maybe get see others perspective before you speak so condescendingly. Thank you.
Hi Heather, I’m sorry to see you didn’t enjoy reading this post. I’ll give my point of view on the topics you mentioned, but it’s okay if you still disagree because you can’t possibly agree with everyone in the world. Okay so: 1. With the polyester dress example, I just meant to say that Shein sells products for lower than the real value. Polyester has a market price and a certain value but Shein cuts down hugely on things like workers’ wages to get to their low prices. So their prices don’t reflect the actual value of the materials used (and also the environmental costs, so the impact on the earth). 2. The people who live below the poverty level and people who can’t afford to switch all their shopping to sustainable brands (myself included, so looks like we are both lowly beasts rolling around in the mud!) are not the problem. Their ecological footprint is not that big because they generally only buy small amounts of new items when it’s necessary and they also shop a lot secondhand and tend to use their clothes for longer. So they don’t have a big impact on the environment. The people who keep the fast fashion industry growing and thriving are the ones that spend hundreds at once and buy a new wardrobe every season. They are the ones that contribute the most to the polluting fashion industry. With this post, I’m hoping to reach those people + the people who do have the financial means to afford more sustainable alternatives every once in a while but just don’t know the harms of fast fashion yet.
I hope this makes more sense. I tried to not make the reply too long haha. Let me know if you want to chat more about this!
I’m wondering what about all the other items sold by them like furniture, stationery, jewelry etc.
The China Malls stock similar items pretty cheap and of poor quality.
That was a bit harsh.
And all those low paid workers if they would rather have no wage at all? There are many facets to the problem.
There are no homeless in China: the government pays their RENT! So, besides food, they don’t need much money. They are communists, so if they don’t have something, they knock on a neighbor’s door, enter and take what they need, like or want; that’s the basis of communism: “what’s yours is mine, but what’s mine I hide very well so you’ll NEVER find it!” 🙂 Chinese people SLEEP on mattresses at Shein and Shein buys their lunch & dinner etc. So yeah ,maybe they’re paid $1 per hour but 1. $1 goes a lot further in China, think 1920s money. Charlie Chaplin’s weekly rent at a hotel was $5 for the WEEK! (And that was expensive!) They can buy everything for pennies at Shein themselves, they get their pick of the litter and they get employee discounts. So quit feeling sorry for them. Besides they are born in China as punishment for being criminals in past lives. That’s why everybody belongs in their birth country: that’s your karma and if you move abroad, you will be punished in the next life, for cheating or escaping your karma! 🙂
Wow…..Did you miss the point or what?
hi! I was about to buy over 20 expensive items from shien… costing over 300 pounds (I live in the UK) but when I read your post, I had second thoughts. This has moved me in a personal way as I have not thought of fast fashion in this way before. I read it over and over and went straight back to SHIEN and deleted my entire shopping cart. Thank you so much, this post was very useful to me. I look forward to be reading about more fast-fashion on this lovely, thoughtful website!
Aw wow! I’m glad you felt inspired by the post. I’m planning to write more about fast fashion in the next few months so I hope you’ll stick around 🙂 Thanks for reading!
I used to be recommended this website by means of my cousin. I am no longer sure whether this post
is written by means of him as nobody else recognize such
distinct approximately my difficulty. You are wonderful! Thank you!
Love SHEIN great cloth and prices
Was thinking about buying from Shein but this convinced me not to. Great article and thank you for including sources 🙂
Glad you enjoyed reading it!
What a load of garbage. There’s going to be issues with buying clothing and products across the spectrum of pricing. Do you share the same level of apparent awareness across all caveats of life like your eating, transport and electrical costs? I’m sure the laptop you’ve written this on has a negative impact on the earth…get off your moral high horse. Unless you go back to living like a cave man a small change to the way you shop for clothes is not going to make an impact on the world
Hi Anita, sorry for not getting back to your comment sooner. I was taking a little break. Anyway, I think one of the most beautiful things about people is that we all have different opinions, norms and values. For me, I value and prioritise the environment and try to implement sustainability in every aspect in my life, so yes, also in food, transport etc. It seems that you have different values and opinions. Sustainability is not at the top of your list and that’s fine. If you still want to continue shopping at Shein after reading this article, then you are free to do so. We can all make our own decisions.
Also, switching from fast fashion to more conscious clothes is not a small change at all. The fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries, so making a change in the way you dress is a really big deal.
The only Shien item I own I bought on a second hand website called threw up and it was in good condition. I buy items second hand often as long as they are in good condition. Often at thrift stores you can even find brand new items. I do this because I have seen the dumps filled with clothing that ends up in places like Africa from the worlds fast fashion clothing that gets discarded. It is an awful impact on the environment. Reduce, recycle and reuse is a good motto for us all. Yes I do buy new things but only from brands that can be trusted to be ethical.
Thank you for adding this comment. That is a good point. Buying items secondhand from fast fashion brands is really good! We need to keep them out of landfill as long as possible.
I just received 2 light jackets and the zippers are broken. I want to return them and receive a refund. I contacted customer service and was referred to a website called Howly. They want me to pay $10.00 to talk to them. All I want is a proper address to return the merchandise. Sounds borderline illegal to me. Shame on them! Live and learn.
Thank goodness I read this; I’ve not ordered but found a piece at the goodwill that I will donate because not sure what to do with it.
Thanks for leaving a comment! Just wanted to add it’s okay to get SHEIN items from Goodwill or other thrift stores, because it’s good to keep secondhand clothes in use for as long as possible, so they don’t end up in the garbage dumps
Ordered from them even though I knew it is cheaply made clothing just wanted to wear for a week vacation. Never received my package it was delivered to wrong address by FedEx who told me Shein would be able to process a delivery problem request with them but that ultimately Shein would either refund me or process a new order and to contact them. There is no way to contact a live person. I started using a consumer complaint service and have only received emails stating that they are working on it!! I placed my order in April and still have not received a refund!! Now I see not only do they have horrible customer service but the company itself is horrible! So sorry I ever ordered from this terrible company
I ordered two orders from shein July 5th and July 28th. I have not received either one of them. The one from July 5th says it was delivered to my address. I emailed them and they cannot give me an answer of how it was shipped or a postal tracking number. They emailed the tracking number that does not match any shipping company. They keep telling me to check with my neighbors. I have done that and nobody has seen the package. If it is a scam to get mine and other people’s money then shame on them. I will not be ordering again.
That’s terrible!
Hi! I just wanted to tell you how I appreciate how you respond to the comments on more of the rude side. Like whenever people say rude things about you and what you have said you do not immediately give them rudeness back, you take a minute to look through their side of the story or their point of view on things and respond from a non-biased opinion. Comming from someone who has dealt with people opposite from this makes me really appreciative of you.
Thank You!
Aw thank you so much! I really appreciate your comment. I do always try to think about those comments for a few days before responding. I also think they actually inspire me for future articles, because it makes me better understand how others view sustainable fashion. I think it helps my writing if I try to relate to them and see where they are coming from.
Received an order of clothing from Shein, ended up taking the lot to the local thrift store. A blouse had one sleeve longer than the other and all the garments had a strange odor. These clothes did not resemble their pictures at all.
Just out of curiosity since I’m kinda broke, but do you have any good alternatives?
Hi, thanks for this question! It’s actually giving me some inspiration for a new article. You won’t find any sustainable brand that has similar prices to fast-fashion brands like SHEIN. I don’t know where in the world you live, but here are some examples of ethical brands -> In America: Kotn, ABLE and CHNGE. In Europe: Armedangels, Honest Basics and Nu-in. Australia & NZ: Afends, Kowtow and Nobody Denim. Again, their prices are much higher than SHEIN’s. But the most important thing is actually your behaviour towards clothes. If you have to occasionally buy things from fast-fashion brands because you really need something and you can’t afford a sustainable option, that’s fine. You can already make a positive impact by changing things like: don’t buy excessive amounts, be aware of what you already own, only go to fast-fashion brands as a last resort, shop from local companies so don’t order from places on the other side of the world, take care of your clothes so they last longer, don’t throw clothes away if you don’t want them anymore but sell or donate instead. You can also organise clothing swaps with friends, and of course thrift. You can find secondhand clothes either in local shops, or on websites like Vinted, thredUP, Poshmark and Depop. Also, a lot of sustainable brands offer sales sometimes, so you can keep an eye on that. I share a lot of sustainable brands on this website, and also (more frequently) on Instagram (@ethicallydressed). Apologies for the long response..
I’ve ordered from Shein once, and I ended in less than a year donating most of the garments to a recycling center. People must be aware that they don’t only produce sub par clothing,but are also misleading on the materials of garments, they advertise in some of them cotton blended with polyester and you might end getting garments made 100% rayon, not to mention the amount of plastic used for packaging.
Thanks for the post. I wish I had read it earlier.
Hey love the post. But I’m a writer and you needed a few counterclaims to be a little bigger and take a walk in another person’s shoes! I love your passion though this is a great ? article it helped a lot and I now know the pros and cons about SHEIN! Sorry if this sounds like I’m judgy not trying to be ?thank you!
Hi Jane, thank you for your comment. I didn’t read it as judgy at all so no worries! I always appreciate feedback and suggestions. I’m definitely not a writer myself, just passionate about the textile industry and sustainable fashion. I think there is still a lot of room for improvement for me when it comes to writing, and maybe it’s time to give this article a little update as it’s been two years since I wrote it
I am concerned about an order I placed back in June- received 2 items and the other 3 were said to be shipped separately. No tracking updates since June 24th- no reassurance that I will receive the items. Contacting customer service- no luck- only automated responses. I will probably never use Stein again
I’m a personal stylist and I CANNOT STAND it when my clients go rogue and shop at SHEIN or the other Uber fast fashion brands. Buy less, purchase investment pieces, keep things longer, and do your research before shopping! The sad news is that the vast majority of brands, including designer brands are not doing what should be done from a sustainability perspective! But SHEIN is the worst of all!
I ordered curtains from shein cost 87 pounds ,they claimed it was delivered to my address but the delivery man wrong address even the photo he took is not of my front door . I told DPD and they said it was delivered to wrong address told us to contact shein we did and they are not excepting it went to wrong address I show them my front door and still they refused to except it. Been 6 weeks and still they haven’t been in contact with DPD. So shein as stolen 83 pounds from me.