Shein’s $100 Billion Value Now Rules The Fast Fashion Empire
What does this mean for the future of fast fashion?
Shein’s $100 billion valuation has become a startling reality for the fast fashion industry. If you have scrolled through social media over the past few months, specifically Tik Tok – it has highlighted the issue of excessive clothing hauls, reviews and promoting the consumption of fast fashion.
The brand has created a thriving corporation off of presumed child labor, underpaid wages, stolen artists' designs and using unsustainable materials. Capitalism at its finest.
Since its launch in 2012, Shein has created an extensive network with low-cost suppliers in southern China. The founder and CEO Chris Xu, abandoned his wedding dress business to acquire the domain name Sheinside.com. In 2015, he renamed the brand Shein and intended on continuing to sell women’s clothing to overseas markets and began dominating fast-fashion rivals.
At the early start of the pandemic, Shein benefited from the changes in consumer behavior. As consumers grew bored at home and began developing habits of online shopping through phones and computers, the brand’s sales more than tripled in 2020 marking in at $10 billion. This report had placed Shein as the largest web-only fashion retailer worldwide.
Shein is able to create an excessive amount of garments in an unrealistic amount of time due to the use of sweatshop labor. They are estimated to release around 500 and 2,000 new products per day. Meanwhile, the brand’s competitors such as Missguided are reportedly managing around 1,000 products per week.
The way that SheIn is making three of the most polluting fashion brands look insignificant is utterly terrifying. pic.twitter.com/OSAU8imqtm
— Venetia La Manna (@venetialamanna) April 7, 2022
Shein generates massive amounts of wasted garments that typically end up in landfills or in thrift stores. With the corporate factories, international shipping and cheap textiles – the environmental damage this brand has created is astronomical. In a 2017 report, it was found that the math works out to a garbage truck’s worth of textiles being sent to a dump every second. This company hasn’t commented on its impactful carbon footprint and it is often blamed for its heavy reliance on petrochemicals derived from oil.
Fashion accounts for a fifth of the 300 million tons of plastic produced globally each year — it is a product that is the backbone of polyester, which has overtaken cotton as the primary material in textile production.
All of this environmental damage is done to normalize selling $5 t-shirts, $10 dresses and $15 sweaters. The cheaper garments are being sold for, the closer we should be paying attention to how obscure it is.
The company has failed to be transparent about its supply chain and manufacturing process and has minimal traceability on ethical production.
Speaking of unethical production, underage labor is present in Shein’s manufacturing process. There is no guarantee of whether or not the company is fulfilling the basic paid wages of these overworked laborers.
1: fast fashion factories do not pay their workers a living wage and often use child labor. workers are usually paid 1/4 of the BARE MINIMUM it would cost them to live. the reason your fashion nova jeans are so cheap is because the person sewing them isnt paid enough to eat. pic.twitter.com/xp4WfJIuyU
— monica (@sourvinyl) June 30, 2020
Let us not forget the individual designers and artists who have had their work stolen from them. From taking garment designs to home furniture, this fast fashion giant will take anything it keeps its eyes on.
Hey @SHEIN_official
— Nathan W. Pyle (@nathanwpyle) January 8, 2022
This is not your design pic.twitter.com/hMs8sgF7jN
Why does Shein hold a higher value than compared to its sister companies H&M and Zara? Consumers cannot get enough of the unrealistic cheap prices. The conversation becomes “I can find something cheaper and faster on Shein.”
Shein hauls have become a trend for influencers to participate in. These “ambassadors” will unbox massive amounts of clothing sent from Shein for free in exchange for promotion. The Shein hashtag on Tik Tok alone has over 25 billion views.
Fast fashion consumption has become a normalized idea. As consumers, we are trying our best to be conscious of our clothing consumption and have taken measures to press big companies on taking responsibility for their actions and making a change toward more sustainable efforts. The process of changing fast fashion will be a hard and long haul as long as it exists under capitalism.
However, Shein still has secured its $100 billion valuation and it leaves an unsettling image of what fast fashion has become and its permanent impact on the environment. Take the time to appreciate the environment today, and learn more ways to be a sustainable consumer for a better future.
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