SHEIN has once again made headlines for the wrong reasons after organising a brand trip that went wrong for both the company and the influencers involved. The fast fashion brand has been criticized for things like forced labour and their negative impact on the environment. To rehabilitate their image and try to show the reports written about the working conditions in their factories are not true, Shein organised a sponsored trip with 6 American social media influencers. And not to an exotic island, but to some of their manufacturing facilities in South China. The influencers shared their experience to their audience and the result is content full of classic greenwashing.
SHEIN has been facing criticism the past few years about their business practices, including from me. In a separate post, I did a deep dive into this brand and listed the most problematic things about the company. Click here to read it (opens in new tab).
An Overview of the Brand Trip
Six influencers from the US were selected and invited on a brand trip to Guangzhou, China, where they would be able to visit a few manufacturing facilities to see how Shein’s garments are designed, manufactured, and shipped. The trip was fully paid for by Shein. Videos posted by the influencers show how luxurious the trip was. In an Instagram video, influencer Destene Sudduth shares with her audience that she flew business class and was able to wait in the private airport lounge. (links to the content in the next paragraph). Once arrived, they were welcomed with flowers by the company. SHEIN X Designer Fernanda Stephany Campuzano shows in her video that they received welcome gifts like a suitcase and pyjamas with their name on both. They stayed at the Four Seasons hotel and were also able to bring a plus-one. Then they had a welcome dinner with a ten course meal.
On the first day, they visited the factory of their leading manufacturer. On day two, they went to a facility they called the ‘innovation center’. According to Kenya Freeman, one of the six invited influencers, the innovation center is “the think tank behind the machine”. It includes quality control, dying, testing of samples, fabric library, and more. Lastly, they visited a warehouse.
After the trip, the influencers, as well as Shein, posted content about the trip on their widely followed platforms. As expected and intended, the influencers were gushing in their videos about clean and modern factories and happy workers. People then started calling out the creators and saying the content is propaganda made to mislead consumers. After receiving backlash for her involvement and trying to first defend her decision multiple times, one of the influencers, Dani DMC eventually announced she ended her relationship with Shein. In an Instagram video, she states she will no longer be aligned with them or work with them.
The Content That Resulted From The Trip
In the rest of the post, I will be referring to all the videos I was able to find about the trip. This includes content shared by the six influencers, and Shein themselves on TikTok and Instagram. You can watch the videos in your own time if you want but I am also putting quotes in this post, so you can get a good idea of what was said in the videos. Dani Carbonari, known as Dani DMC, deleted all her content related to the trip, but since I got a lot of information from her videos, I will still link to some reposted videos on Twitter and TikTok.
You can click the links to open the videos in a new tab. It’s possible some content will be removed by the influencers, so I apologise if the links don’t work anymore at some point.
Destene Sudduth – Lifestyle Influencer
Visit to one of Shein’s leading factories
Visit to the Innovation Center
Kenya Freeman – SHEIN X Designer
Visit to one of Shein’s leading factories
Visit to the Innovation Center
Visit to the Innovation Center – Part 2
Live on Instagram to address the situation
Dani Carbonari / Dani DMC – Confidence Activist
Explaining why she started working with Shein and how sustainable they are
Live on Instagram to address the situation
Announcing the end of her relationship with Shein
Fernanda Stephany Campuzano – SHEIN X Designer
AuJené – Wellness Advocate (or sustainability advocate?)
In Shein’s first video, they introduce AuJené as a ‘Sustainability Advocate’. But in their second video, they give her the title ‘Wellness Advocate’. Did Shein try to make a bigger impact by naming one of the influencers a sustainability advocate, but then they backtracked when they realised they were lying too much but forgot to change the title in the first video?
Shein’s own content
Visit to one of Shein’s leading factories
Visit to one of Shein’s leading factories narrated by AuJené
Why SHEIN Didn’t Improve Their Image With This Trip
Now let’s look at all the reasons why this trip didn’t have the outcome Shein was aiming for.
#1. The trip was planned by SHEIN
The main reason we can’t learn anything new about Shein’s labour practices from this brand trip, is because of the simple fact that it was organised by Shein themselves. It is clear the intent of this trip was to prove their factories are nothing like what everyone has been saying. In a video posted in May, Dani DMC explains she met with the company a few months ago and discussed how she can bring information from the brand to the consumer and help them debunk the ‘rumours’ that have been spreading about Shein. She then signed a contract with them. Kenya Freeman also said she was invited on the trip a few months ago after she attended an event hosted by Shein. Later in a live video on Instagram, Kenya confirms she knew the goal of the brand trip. This proves the trip had an agenda, the influencers were aware of their role, and the factories knew they were coming.
In more technical terms, we call this announced versus unannounced audits. Audits are done to evaluate and inspect factories, and if the auditors show up unannounced, you would get a more objective and reliable picture of what is really going on in the factories because they didn’t have time to prepare. If you know someone is coming to visit you, do you quickly check your house and clean up a bit? I sure do. Shein is showing the influencers what they want and the influencers are showing us what Shein has showed them.
One of the things mentioned in the content, is that the factories they visited looked good and were mostly run by technology and automation. Lifestyle Influencer Destene Sudduth says in one of her videos that the average working age of the people in the factory is 40+, and she said she was expecting it to look really dark and dingy, like in the movies, but she “was surprised to see each piece handled with care.” In Shein’s own TikTok content, you hear Destene once again saying she was not expecting the best conditions for the workers, but she was pleasantly surprised how clean it was. Shein was in full control, which means they could choose which factories they would show. They consciously chose to take the influencers to their most presentable factories. Surely if they are going to spend a lot of money on this luxurious trip for a bunch of influencers, they wouldn’t take them to one of their labour-intensive factories that would confirm the evidence and reports written about the exploitation of their workers. This was an advertising campaign.
#2. They only visited 3 facilities while insinuating that’s the entire company
Shein’s clothes are manufactured in thousands of factories in China. Some sources say this number is around 6000. The brand trip only included a visit to 3 facilities. It’s understandable that not all 6000 can be shown, but the problem is that the influencers made it seem in their content that they have now seen all there is to see. They spoke about the experience as if they saw the whole company. If Shein was a small business that only produced at these 3 facilities, then sure, you got a pretty good picture of the brand, even if it was planned ahead of time. But it’s not. They showed maybe 1% of the company.
In Dani DMC’s deleted Instagram Reel, she refers to the trip as an opportunity to see the whole process of Shein clothing from beginning to end with her ‘own two eyes’. Designer Kenya Freeman said in her video that the goal of the trip was to meet the people behind the scenes and go into the factories to see how it’s all done. In one of Shein’s TikTok videos, Dani once again says: “The most fascinating thing is that I’ve seen the exact process of Shein clothing.” As a response to the backlash, she said in another video: “I have so much more awareness of what’s going on behind the scenes than any of you ever could, because you don’t see what’s going on.” The truth is, the influencers also didn’t see what’s going on. Their trip to the selected facilities doesn’t show anything because their clothes are made in thousands of factories and not just those 3. They didn’t see the entire process and didn’t meet all the people behind the scenes. They only saw a small picture of what’s going on behind the scenes, and a distorted picture because it was planned.
So, we’ve seen 3 facilities. Now where are the other 5997?
#3. They used influencers they were already affiliated with
If Shein really wants to prove their clothes are made ethically, the best way to do that would be to have a third-party visit their factories (a lot more than just 3), who have no connection to Shein. Instead, they used influencers who already have a relationship with them and are not even qualified to evaluate factories. If you ask me, it’s a pretty weak decision to use these content creators for this because they don’t know what to look for during factory visits and will easily believe anything the brand says. When the influencers bring this information to their audience, it won’t be received well because it’s not coming from a credible source. It’s clear from all the content that the influencers just took everything the brand said at face value. The influencers were flown out to China for a trip with a brand that is a big source of income for them, they were constantly surrounded by a team from Shein and being filmed. Of course their judgements will be clouded.
Several of the influencers made videos or went live on Instagram to respond to the criticism they were receiving. One of the things Dani DMC said is that she was “not paid for any trip or to say anything.” But she says this after she was able to fly business class and take a +1 to the other side of the world, stay at a luxurious hotel and eat fancy dinners. The free trip was the payment. SHEIN X Designer Kenya eventually admits in a live video she doesn’t know what is really going on behind the scenes. She’s just going off of what she saw at the factories they visited, which goes against the whole message Shein was trying to convey in all the content. She also says it’s not her job as a fashion designer to know if the company who produces her products is committing labour violations. I don’t even know how to respond to that.
Influencer marketing is very effective, but not for something like this. The violation of labour laws is a serious issue that can’t just be explained away through a fun trip and a polished ad campaign. Content creators should be more mindful of the collaborations they participate in and admit from the start that they only have limited knowledge on a subject. Young people increasingly get their news from social media platforms, so content creators have some responsibility to ensure they don’t share misleading information.
#4. They tried to make an advertising campaign seem like an investigation
If they had presented the brand trip differently, it might not even have been that bad. They tried to make it seem the influencers went to China to conduct an investigation and independently came to the conclusion that everything being said about Shein is false. Dani DMC called herself an “investigative journalist” and said she “interviewed” a woman who worked in the fabric-cutting department at the innovation center. According to her, the worker answered the questions “honestly and authentically” and was surprised about all the rumours spread in the US. Destene also mentioned she interviewed the workers and that they were really confused about the child labour questions because “our kids want to be on social media just like y’all. They’re not working in factories.” She also says: “I expected the facility to be filled with people slaving away, but I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of these things were robotic. They weren’t even sweating. We were the ones sweating.”
In Shein’s own content, you can hear influencer AuJené say she “spent time at the factory observing the working conditions and asking the factory’s manager some questions that many of us have been curious about.” Then she gives some examples of the answers she got. “The manager stood firm on stating there is no child labour involved and they do not support nor participate in it. And the conditions of the factory workers weren’t anything I haven’t seen in any other clothing factory I’ve been to.”
The workers and manager were interviewed on a planned day and time, with a camera in their face and the higher ups of Shein surrounding them. If you know anything about conducting interviews, you would know this is not the right setting to conduct an interview and obtain reliable results and honest answers.
At the end of Dani DMC’s video, she explains what she learned from the trip: “to be an independent thinker, get the facts and see it with your own two eyes. There’s a narrative fed to us in the US and I’m one that always likes to be open minded and seek the truth.” I don’t think an independent thinker would conclude a company has ethical labour practices after visiting 3 of the 6000 factories and asking a woman who knew you were coming a bunch of questions in front of the people that are responsible for her salary. An investigative journalist would also do a lot more preparing and researching before going and try to get a lot more out of it then just ‘it looked nice and the workers seemed happy’.
#5. This trip only touched on one of the many problems with the company
As I wrote in my post ‘6 Reasons You Should Never Shop At Shein‘, there are numerous problems with this fast fashion brand. The working conditions in their factories is one of them. This brand trip mostly focused on that social part. They wanted to prove the workers are not being underpaid and exploited. Even if this trip was a success and they would’ve convinced everyone, that still doesn’t excuse the other harmful things such as overproduction and the excessive use of harmful materials.
They tried to use their influencers to tell us they are ethical on the other aspects as well. In a TikTok video made by Dani, she justifies her relationship with Shein and explains how sustainable they are. She’s using information given to her directly by the company. You always have to take things with a grain of salt if information about a company’s sustainable practices is coming from the company themselves. “From my understanding, Shein is doing everything they possibly can.” The manufacturers have to apply to a code of conduct, and “Shein conducts thousands of audits.” She says Shein did 2800 audits last year. This is really not that much if you remember they produce at around 6000 factories. “They have fabrics that are ethically made. They have a ton of recycled fabrics. They have a very low carbon footprint compared to many fast fashion brands. They want to produce very small amounts, so they only produce what is needed.” You’re telling me between 700 and 2000 new styles every day is the bare minimum of what is needed to keep the world turning? And you have a lower carbon footprint than other fast fashion brands that produce only a fraction of the amount you produce?
#6. Shein unintentionally showcased their overproduction with this trip
One thing the influencers commented a lot on in the content, is the scale of the factories they visited. Dani said in her video that all the facilities were massive. Destene mentions the leading factory they visited produces between 15.000 and 30.000 articles of clothing per day. That’s just 1 factory. The influencers didn’t seem fazed by the size of this company. They’re saying the numbers as if it’s a flex and you might also be impressed by the numbers and are wondering what the issue is. But if we would make a very optimistic calculation and say there are 1000 factories that produce 15.000 articles of clothing every day, that would be 15 million clothing items per day. There are 8 billion people in the world. What would we ever need 15 million new clothing items every single day for? Who is going to wear all of that?
Sheng Lu, a professor at the University of Delaware, analysed the amount of styles added every year from a few fast fashion brands. Over a 12-month period, the Gap listed around 12.000 different items on their website, H&M about 25.000 and Zara 35.000. During the same period, Shein had 1,3 million.
Their overproduction is, in my opinion, one of the biggest problems with Shein. I am at least happy that Shein chose to show really big factories, because I actually think small, homey factories would have been more effective for the image they were trying to portray. When watching the content made by Shein and the content creators, try to imagine that they have thousands of other factories where their clothes are being made day in, day out.
#7. We now know Shein spends more money on influencers than their own workers
Both Dani DMC and Kenya have justified their relationship with Shein by saying the company pays them very fairly and takes good care of them. Dani says plus-size creators are about 60% of the time underpaid, after which she says Shein have definitely not underpaid her. Kenya also talks about this on her Instagram, and says she’s had bad experiences as a designer with other companies but Shein is very supportive of her and treats her well. In her Instagram live, she says Shein paid her entire rent during the pandemic.
This is a pretty ironic thing for the influencers to say because the rumours Shein was hoping to debunk with this trip, revolve around how they treat their factory workers. There are factory workers who are being underpaid and overworked, but hey, at least the influencers can live a lavish lifestyle. They are basically prioritising their own issues they face as a plus-size creator and a fashion designer and sacrificing the workers for their own financial gain.
#8. The trip proves Shein chooses to fight rather than improve
If anything, the trip has shown us how Shein chooses to deal with the criticism and concern from consumers. Instead of listening and reflecting, they made it clear they will fight till the end to keep their current fast fashion system running. Even if they lose influencers after this trip because they increasingly receive backlash for being associated with the brand, Shein will just look for new influencers because there are always people who prioritise money over everything. There will always be influencers who will gladly accept the money and free clothes at the expense of other people and the environment.
An Important Note
After sharing about the trip, all the influencers, some more than others, received backlash. Some of that was constructive criticism, but a lot of that was/is also just plain bullying. Kenya and Dani DMC talked about it on their profiles and said they’ve been receiving death threats and hate mail. Attacking someone personally and harassing them is not productive and won’t help the influencers to learn what the problem is, as they will naturally only focus on the hateful comments. It takes away from the real issue here. So I’m asking everyone reading this to never participate in that. If you want to share your opinion, there are ways to do that without telling someone to jump off a bridge.
Dani also accused those who were leaving negative comments of xenophobia and racism. I have not seen the comments she is referring to because she deleted most of her content about the trip, but race or even a country is completely irrelevant and should not be brought up in this discussion. Poor working conditions can happen in many places in the world, not just China.
Share your thoughts on the trip in the comments below!
Another thing Shein has been accused of is stealing designs from other brands and designers. I made a list of more than 30 businesses this happened to. Check it out here -> 30+ Businesses Shein Stole Designs From: The Complete List
Additional Sources
Vara, V. (2022, May 4). Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control: Inside Shein’s Sudden Rise. Retrieved from www.wired.com: https://www.wired.com/story/fast-cheap-out-of-control-inside-rise-of-shein/
