Shein and its Role in Sustainable Fashion

Can fast fashion ever be sustainable? One may argue that companies making what people want when they want it is a form of sustainability, but it disregards the scale, environmental impact, and ethical shortcomings that make fast fashion possible.​

Let’s talk sustainability for a moment, because it is having a much-needed moment. The fashion industry is one of the world's biggest industrial polluters, accounting for 8-10% of greenhouse gas emissions from human activity. A Vouge survey showed that the identification of sustainability as an important factor when making a fashion purchase rose from 65% in October 2020 to 69% in May 2021. Though on the surface this is great, Changing Market’s Foundation’s 2021 report found that as many as 59% of all sustainability claims from European and UK fashion brands are misleading and could be greenwashing. Consumers want to trust that the companies they are buying from are doing the right thing, but right now no one is really holding those brands accountable at a high level.
Fast fashion is about scale. It’s about producing clothing quick, capitalizing on trends, and making customers feel like the need to keep coming back and buying more to stay in style. Shein, an online fast-fashion retailer founded in 2008 by Chris Xu in China, has taken this retail category and completely blown it out of the water. Last year, it overtook Amazon to become the most downloaded shopping app in the US. According to a report by Earnest Research, it also became the largest fast-fashion retailer in the US by sales in June 2021, surpassing the likes of H&M, Zara, and Forever 21. Furthermore, Shein was valued at $100 billion following a recent funding round, which makes the online retailer worth more than H&M and Zara combined.

If H&M and Zara are great white sharks, Shein is a megaloden. Why is Shein growing so fast? Because they use a “test and repeat” business model and a flexible supply chain. The Guardian reported in April that only 6% of Shein’s inventory remains in stock for more than three months. Shein does production runs of only 50-100 items per style to test concepts, commissioning more from their suppliers if an item does well, or discontinuing the garment if it doesn’t. In contrast, ZARA suppliers require a minimum order of 500 pieces of clothing. With the same initial investment of 3,000 pieces, ZARA can only launch five or six new models or even less, while Shein can launch 30 new products for testing.

With the average price of a Shein product being $7.90, workers’ rights and salaries are likely marginalized to ensure skyrocketing revenues. There’s no other way to make the math make sense.

As a consumer, look at the pricetag and do some basic math. The industry standard for a profit margin is between a 2.2 and 2.5x markup, so let's apply that to a garment that Shein retails for $10. With a 2.2x markup, it would mean the product costs $4.50 to make. That cost includes fabric, pattern-making, trims, sewing, packaging, transportation, and more. Most of those costs are static, they don’t change much and can’t really be negotiated. Factories, however, are coerced into negotiating sewing and labor costs with brands. They want the business from the big brands, but negotiating labor costs means that those on the sewing lines, the humans that make your clothes, only make mere pennies in unsafe working conditions. According to the BBC, Shein suppliers are doing 75-hour work weeks with only 1 day off each month. Since Shein has such a quick turnaround of items, the pressure is intense and factories are willing to violate local labor laws because they want to maintain relations with the fast-fashion mega-giant.

The fact that Shein produces small batches can be considered positive; since it will decrease the chance of having unnecessary deadstock. However, the low cost of these products, and fast-fashion in general, encourages consumers to overconsume without seeing the consequences of overconsumption. Returns aren’t even processed and re-stocked, they’re just put into landfills because it costs more to put them back into circulation. Gen Z, Shein’s main clientele, are able to buy more clothing for less money than ever before. But the product they’re buying is made of the cheapest fabrics, with costs cut everywhere possible, so the quality is compromised. Maybe the straps break, maybe the fabric rips, maybe the sewing left the garment warped so it doesn’t sit correctly. These fast-fashion pieces do not have long lives in closets, they have no longevity, except as plastic waste in our landfills and microplastics in our water systems. Instead of buying a multitude of low-quality items from Shein, consider spending the same amount on a better quality piece that won’t be out of style in a month, something that will live in your closet for years and be cherished. Think quality over quantity, think relationship over fling.
You may be wondering, has Shein made any sustainability commitments? In Shein’s 2021 Sustainability Report, they claim to be committed to lowering emissions and reducing waste at every stage…which sounds great! But any consumer should agree that actions speak louder than words, so Changing Room dove in to see if this is actually the case or if Shein is just guilty of greenwashing. Adam Whinston, global head of environmental, social and governance (ESG) at Shein, recently shared that “[Shein is] committed to building a more responsible fashion ecosystem,” by launching their EvoluShein line in April 2022. He continued, “EvoluShein is one important step in our sustainability commitments this year, which touches on each of our key focus areas – protecting the environment, supporting communities, and empowering entrepreneurs.” EvoluShein utilizes recycled polyester, which sounds much better than it is. Recycled polyester still emits microplastics, relies on plastic production, and cannot be efficiently recycled back into clothing at the end of its life. Fast-fashion is built off the backs of underpaid laborers in unsafe working conditions, there’s no other way for prices to be as cheap as they are. Empowering entrepreneurs? Shein is notorious for stealing designs of smaller designers. 
There hasn’t been any proof of Shein reducing its hazardous chemicals, carbon emissions, and microplastic output. Moreover, fast fashion companies like Shein are the reason we are living in “a throwaway fashion culture”. Any sustainability claims without proof or substantial change in business practices must be thought of as nothing more than greenwashing. If you think about the true cost of fashion, given Shein’s pricing models it would be impossible for them to operate sustainably and ethically. Following fast fashion trends and buying cheap clothes might seem attractive for the short term, but ultimately in the long term, we all have to pay for the consequences of unsustainable consumption and production of cheap clothing.

This blog post was originally written for Changing Room.