Is It Unethical to Shop At Shein?
Since 2020, fast fashion has been an increasingly large theme in the lives of teenagers. Fast fashion online stores, like Shein, sell low quality, inexpensive clothes that happen to be trending at the moment. Since trends come and go so quickly, this allows people to constantly buy more items to keep up with the fast moving trends without spending too much money
Despite Shein’s popularity, the Chinese based company has received lots of negative pushback due to their lack of clarity on their labor practices. For years, rumors have been circulating the internet claiming that Shein uses child labor in the making of their clothes. Shein has denied these allegations but their failure to release statistics on labor practices or the impact of COVID-19 on their workers keeps eyebrows raised. This raises the question: Is it unethical to support Shein?
As a teenager, I understand Shein’s immense popularity. You can get a cute t-shirt for $6 or a pair of jeans for $30. Shein’s financial and aesthetic appeal is undeniable and that’s why it holds such prominence within the teen fashion industry. I know lots of people abstain from buying at Shein because of the child labor rumors, but I know even more people who couldn’t care less. Nearly every person I know owns at least one item from the online retailer.
If you talk to someone who buys from Shein, they may tell you that companies like Apple, H&M, Hersheys and several others have been accused of the same misconduct as Shein. Even though justifying child labor with other child labor isn’t neccesarily the best argument, the point is valid. H&M openly admitted to having fourteen year olds in Myanmar work on their clothing, citing that fourteen is the working age in the country. Despite Shein’s infamous reputation, it has never overtly admitted to working minors like H&M has.
But child labor malpractices aren’t the only thing Shein has been accused of. In 2017, a body image influencer named Felicity Hayward claimed the company stole a design created by Hayward’s best friend. Felicity said that even after contacting the company, they refused to take down the design or give credit to the original artist. Shortly after, Shein reportedly reached out to the influencer asking her to promote their plus sized fashion line for no pay. This incident caused some outrage online and provides another reason not to shop at the retailer. There have also been several other instances of trademark infringement surrounding the company. Recently, they were accused of ripping off the logos and designs of many prominent companies, including Levi’s, a well known jean company.
The company has a large stigma surrounding its ethics, but one of the most recent examples of this was this March, when Shein was caught editing a white model’s skin several shades darker to make the model appear nonwhite. This caused a frenzy online as Shein received backlash for trying to promote “diversity” by darkening a model’s skin instead of just hiring a model of color.
I think that Shopping at Shein is completely immoral. End of conversation. I do believe Shein gets a disproportionately bad reputation compared to other companies accused of the same thing. At the same time, that doesn’t justify Shein’s potential actions and financially supporting child labor is never okay. So next time you go to buy a bathing suit, consider buying it from somewhere other than Shein.
By Sawyer Sugarman