In a world where many people wish they could reach into their screens and pinch fashion pieces that way – retail giant Shein has made it their mission to emulate this wish through their social media-driven fast fashion – paying the price of a lot of controversies.
It seems that Shein can afford the controversy after all following the announcement that the Chinese retailer is valued at $100 billion or R1.4 trillion as per the Wall Street Journal.
To put this into perspective, that makes Shein worth the same as Elon Musk’s SpaceX as well as H&M and Zara if these two were combined.
How did Shein do it?
Back before it had a serious chokehold capitalising off of trends, 2008 saw the newly launched Shein as something different – a wedding dress retailer. Today, we’ve seen Shein everywhere – from Instagram models overshared closets to those matching pastel sets parading in Camps Bay.
The retailer’s success can largely be attributed to its sometimes in-your-face social media tactics. The company extended rapidly thanks to its focus on social media marketing. The pandemic also allowed its profits to soar when online shopping became more popular than ever.
Techniques included banking on influencers, paid partnerships and clothing hauls – bait for the GenZ and millennial generations. With Gen-Z kept at the centre of its endeavours, Shein tapped into the younger trend lovers’ desires, from its ‘instant’ appeal to its fast-paced change in styles (2000 new styles a day according to BusinessInsider) and also stood as the most-mentioned brand on TikTok halfway through 2021, which only reaffirmed its marketing predictions.
The other two elements that set Shein apart from other online retailers are its affordability appeal – something else younger people greatly appreciate, and its inclusivity for all body types.
At what cost did Shein do it?
However, the very thing that dresses Shein in money, is the same thing that it is criticised for – fast fashion and the cost that this is ‘achieved’.
Dime a dozen people and experts have critiqued the retailer. Reuters questioned its transparency and ethics regarding the materials used and the factory conditions, and Medium published a piece titled ‘Here’s Why You Should Never Shop at Shein No Matter What’ which shares one of many activists’ negative perspectives of the brand.
Shein uses a business model that shrinks clothing’s lifespan (this also allows for more buying). Unlike some of its competitors, Shein chops its design process rapidly, churning out more items in an endless cycle. As Marthe de Ferrer puts it, if a product on a small scape is still contributing to carbon emissions and waste, then think about 700- 1000 new items a day (taking into account their production rates in November last year). Some of the materials reportedly don’t decay – and since there are so many of them, it’s a problem.
The company has thus been targeted as the opposite of what fashion should be looking at right now in terms of the environment.
Regarding working conditions, Shein has been accused of making use of child labour. When Shein was questioned on the Social AccountabilityInternational standard, Shein said as per Reuters that it had not been certified through its programme. When asked questions about it by Reuters, Shein removed the page last year.
The BBC also reported that workers were doing excessive overtime according to Public Eye whose researchers visited 17 factories supplying Shein and its parent company, Zoetop. Workers for Shein supplies were interviewed and it was found that the hours alone violated local labour laws.
Notwithstanding criticism from creatives, Shein has also been judged for allegedly using artworks for print without permission. One of the biggest stories surrounding this was Vanessa Bowman, an oil painter, who accused the company of stealing ‘her world’.
So, how chic is Shein, really?
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Picture: Shein