The scandals of Shein's fast-fashion empire
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 July 2023
⏱️ 22 minutes
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Summary
Beyond Shein’s uber cheap clothes, the fast-fashion retailer from China has been involved in numerous scandals, including claims of human rights abuses. Even if you’ve never done a Shein haul, it’s time to get to know the massive company.
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A few weeks ago, a handful of influencers went on a paid brand trip for the fast-fashion company Shein. Known for its persistent TikTok ads and clothing haul videos, Shein showed off a factory where some of its clothes are made. Most influencers created videos about how much they love Shein and how well the workers were treated.
When these creators and social media stars got back from their trip, they faced an enormous amount of backlash, given allegations that Shein perpetuates human rights abuses, steals products from designers and inappropriately collects user data. Shein denies any wrongdoing.
Rachel Tashjian is a fashion reporter with The Post, and she says the multibillion-dollar company is more than just cheap sundresses and knickknacks. It’s now even drawing attention from U.S. lawmakers who oppose China’s alleged hand in Shein’s business dealing.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | If you've never heard of Xi'en, the Chinese clothing company, first, congrats on not |
| 0:07.2 | being a TikTok addict, but second, it's probably time to learn. |
| 0:12.4 | Today, we are at the Xi'en warehouse where the products come directly from this facility |
| 0:17.8 | to your home. |
| 0:19.4 | This is a video that was posted to Xi'en's Instagram. |
| 0:22.4 | The company invited a group of six online influencers to come to China and visit a factory |
| 0:27.6 | where some of its clothes are produced. |
| 0:29.9 | The trip was all expenses paid. |
| 0:32.5 | Now I can go home, feeling reassured, feeling confident in my partnership with Xi'en, working |
| 0:39.2 | for Xi'en and being a consumer of Xi'en, and I feel the comfortable spreading that message |
| 0:43.3 | to my community and to my family and friends. |
| 0:47.2 | But once the trip was over, the good vibes disappeared. |
| 0:50.7 | So listen, just in the last couple of minutes, we are getting some new reaction from Xi'en. |
| 0:54.9 | After a group of influencers faced backlash for going on a brand trip with the company, |
| 0:59.4 | which, as you probably know, has been under fire for a while now over alleged human rights |
| 1:03.1 | abuses. |
| 1:04.3 | This PR campaign and the online backlash took place last month, but it reignited a growing |
| 1:09.3 | debate over a company that has rapidly become a juggernaut in the retail and fashion world. |
| 1:17.7 | It was valued in 2022 at over $100 billion, which makes it one of the three biggest |
| 1:24.3 | unicorn companies in the world. |
| 1:26.0 | Now that valuation has been reduced over the past year. |
| 1:29.4 | It's now around $60 billion, but that's still really, really huge and dwarfs really any |
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