The brand that I chose to talk about is Shein. This is a Chinese online fast fashion retailer founded in 2008. I personally enjoy buying things from this brand because it’s an online clothing company that includes a wide variety of styles for all body types at low prices. Nowadays, this brand has reached incredible recognition and it’s at its peak of success among the new generation. This is not surprising if we take into consideration the fact that it targets young people that, attracted by the fast fashion trends that this brand promotes, plus the low prices, will buy a bunch of clothing articles and make videos to show their audience on social media. Ultimately, helping the brand as a marketing strategy. These are a few of the reasons why it is so lovable and well known, however, in recent years, the company has found itself in the middle of several controversies including trademark disputes, tax evasion, human rights violations, and health and safety concerns.

Just like any other brand, Shein tries to maintain an impeccable image of ethical responsibility with their customers, employees and the environment. “Shein is fully committed to Fair Labor practices, environmental impact mitigation, and charitable cases.” — Shein. Ideally, they would’ve become the world’s largest fashion retailer while making moral decisions, however, not only is this hard to believe for brands that, like this one, are worth billions, but it has been proven that Shein is, indeed, very unethical.

Every time you open Shein’s website you notice how the page portraits the clothing of the season, the things that are on trend and even the micro trends that grow old faster. It’s incredible the amount of new designs and massive quantities of clothes that they are able to stock every week. But, this process has been possible thanks to stealing designs from other designers and forcing their workers to spend an insane amount of hours to get the minimum pay. That’s how they get to sell their clothes at such ridiculously low prices.

Another big negative for Shein it’s the low care they give for the environment. The mass production of clothing that goes out of fashion quickly is making people change their entire wardrobes in a matter of weeks. This impacts the environment because all of this clothing that goes to waste is going to be around on the planet for longer than us.

I believe that this company can make changes to align their goals towards the right direction. They could focus their brand in more durable and good quality pieces of clothing as well as change the benefits and treatment they give for their workers. It would make things a little more expensive, but caring about the ethics of being responsible with society is the key to creating a strong, long lasting company. Their quick reach to success in their shady ways could be their downfall at some point.