To think Shein has upped it’s game

WC Mumsnetter: "I have a terminally I'll husband, 5 children of various ages and being made redundant next week"
MC Mumsnetter: "not the Chinese factory workers problem is it ? So you're willing to let millions of Chinese workers be paid £1 a day to kit you out in tat because you can't be arsed to retrain and get a degree and have an actual proper job ?

You are beginning to sound a bit unhinged. You are the only person who has mentioned "class". You are the one going off on rants about terminally ill people, redundancy, rapists and murderers, none of which has been mentioned at all.

A lot of things bother me in life if I allow it to. Problem is , there's very little I can do about most of them. Therefore I pick my battles and hills to die on. I cannot take on all the problems of the world I'm afraid and I won't virtue signal to appear to say what I think I should say.

If Shein is that bad then the govt needs to block its sale in the UK.

I pretty much disagree with everything Trump is doing but the government need to stick a massive import duty on Shein and Temu crap. France do this already and are also banning advertisements for these brands and promotions by "influencers"

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250610-french-senate-to-vote-on-regulating-fast-fashion

It's always the working classes being bullied on here (and in general) it's soft targeting:
"We live in Dover and my 13yr old daughter is being leered at by immigrants from the hotel"

Middle class Mumsnetter: "racist racist racist. Ignorant. Do you not realise White men do this too ? Abhorrent! Disgusting! " (The only immigrants the middle class Mumsnetter has ever encountered are legal middle class ones : GPs, solicitors)

Working class person admits they buy of SHEIN because it's cost effective.

Middle class Mumsnetter: "you do realise you are colluding in child slave labour and the endorsement of sweat shops. People are dying because of your ignorance and lack of giving a shit !"

WC Mumsnetter: "I have a terminally I'll husband, 5 children of various ages and being made redundant next week"

MC Mumsnetter: "not the Chinese factory workers problem is it ? So you're willing to let millions of Chinese workers be paid £1 a day to kit you out in tat because you can't be arsed to retrain and get a degree and have an actual proper job ? "

You get the point.

DH is proudly sporting a new pair of shorts he just got in the sale at Asda for £2. I have to go out later to pick up a Vinted parcel, a BNWT dress originally from Dorothy Perkins which I paid £13.69 including postage for - the tag says £60. OK it may have been in the sale, but still.

Asda currently has multiple pairs of trousers in their sale for £5. So does TU at Sainsburys. There is just NO excuse for buying at Shein.

I tried to buy dd some clothes for college yesterday - all the jeans and trousers in places like H&M and River Island were miles too long. But she can get jeans that fit her on Shein. All the tops I looked at were not brilliant quality/material but were quite expensive for what they were. DD won't shop in M&S where I could get short length jeans.

If retailers appealing to teens want to compete with Shein, they have to change and offer something better. It's often mums paying the bill so I'd like clothes that look like they'll last a while, not look like rags as soon as you try them on, decent stitching, t shirts made of non sweaty material. Then I'd feel happier paying what high street shops (that appeal to teens) are asking!
We aren't all buying 10 dresses from Shein and binning them after one wear - dd has butter soft jeans that she's been wearing for months and will wear until they fall apart. So far, there's no sign of them doing so.
I honestly try to buy in real shops first - I do Vinted a lot but retailers have to make some effort too - I can't be spending £15 on one (recycled plastic) top.

If Shein is that bad then the govt needs to block its sale in the UK.

The average shein customer spends over 100 US dollars a month and earns over 65,000USD/year. I’d guess there are very few people buying from Shein purely because it’s the only place they can afford to buy from.

Besides a quick look on the Sainsbury’s website shows kids t-shirts for less than £1.50, 3 packs of leggings from £3 - these seem to be the same price, if not cheaper than shein. There are plenty of affordable options out there that (ethical/environmental issues aside) don’t mean exposing your kids to harmful chemicals.

Also do you honestly think that previous posters can only have an opinion on one thing? That if they don’t like Shein therefore they do like rapists?! For what it’s worth I try and avoid nestle for their part in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of babies, does that mean that I’m pro or anti rapists?

I mean, I didn't buy from Shein during my period in my lowest paid job to date, minimum wage in the UK warehouse of a well known high street retailer.

In fact, that job made me more fierce about boycotting Shein etc, because it was an awful job. The only thing that made it bearable was UK employment legislation, and the efforts of the local union. It's harrowing to think of what it would have been like there without either, and I will not knowingly support companies that make their money by abusing their workers.

Good grief. I am indubitably working class in a working class job, and I take care where I buy clothes. I can't afford new River Island trousers, either, but I can afford those trousers on Vinted when someone lists them as barely worn.

It isn't compulsory to buy new clothes every five minutes, so why would I spend any money on Shein or Temu?

@SquishedMallow You sound like someone desperately trying to justify the unjustifiable and finding that you actually don’t have any proper arguments.

What has class got to do with anything? I’m not middle class or wealthy and can’t afford expensive clothes but I won’t buy from Shein so I find a middle ground. The easiest way to reduce the impact of our consumption is to reduce our consumption. Have you tried buying fewer clothes?

You say that you buy from Shein because you don’t have the money or time to do otherwise. What does time have to do with it? Does placing an online order with Shein take less time than placing an order with a different retailer?

Weird to bring up rape and murder- are they the only two issues people are allowed to care about? I imagine everyone on this thread is outraged by rape and murder. Many of us are also outraged by rampant consumerism and environmental destruction, as we have the ability to be concerned about lots of different things all at once.

You have convinced yourself that the world’s problems are all someone else’s problems and nothing to do with you. It’s understandable cognitive dissonance. It’s very easy to point over there and blame China and billionaires because it means you never have to examine your own behaviour to see whether you might be part of the problem.

Yes, people do talk about the ethics because we know that SHEIN etc have none. It's not true to say that all clothes shops are as bad as each other. They aren't and it's not true to say that people on lower incomes have no choice but to shop at places like Shein.

Like I said earlier, this is forum principally for parents. Does the fact that the cheap clothes you are wearing have likely been made by child labour being paid absolutely nothing not bother you, at all?

Actually most of my wardrobe is second hand. The hyperbole about rapists and murderers is just ridiculous - the lengths people go to in order to justify their spending.

Every single UK retailer - even Primark and the supermarkets - is a more ethical choice than Shein. Sales on currently, bargains out there. Or BNWT from Vinted.

I do not accept that “poor people” have to shop at Shein or go naked.

You yourself are the awfully ignorant judgemental one.

Ever mixed with anyone that isn't middle class ?

You do realise some people do not have the ability to take on big world ethical problems?

And some people that have little in the way of excessive cash would rather dress their children in new clothes than charity shop second hand stuff. I think they deserve that choice.

It's lovely that you have that much free time (and cash ) to treat buying from SHEIN as akin to genocide. But there are people in this country that do not have that time and cash.

I personally think it's one of those "easy target" things to bully lesser well off people with.

Do you reserve the same indignant vitriol for child murderers ? Rapists? Or is it just the working class people buying off SHEIN that you feel comfortable bullying and judging ?

Why can only middle class people try and shop more responsibly? I shop almost exclusively second hand, so River Island jeans (your example) would cost me less than a fiver. There's an enormous middle ground between £65 and £4.79 of entirely unknown provenance. You don't have to be a perfect environmentalist to make a bit of effort.

It's a no brainer

Quite literally.

Only those with limited thought processing abilities can see no issue with a pair of trousers shipped half way across the planet for less than a fiver.

I also disagree that consumer shows would make any difference in people's consumption habits. They just don't care that stuff may be made badly, made by slaves or children, potentially dangerous or ripped off from other designers. As long as it';s "cute" and cheap. Preferably both.

You know that movie Wall-E? That.

That's all very well (and predictable that it'd be bought up ) but not everyone is middle class on here and has the ability to take on big world problems.

The material is rank. Shiny, thin, crap polyester. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of it is insanely flammable either. I got passed on a Shein blouse a while back. Thought I’d try it. I have never sweated quite like it in my life!

I love SHEIN (in fact everything I'm wearing as we speak is from SHEIN )

Prices are literally unbeatable. Great quality (stuff I've purchased anyway) and looks good. Takes a week approximately to arrive , never had to return anything.

I only ever buy from other shops in a sale now. It's the big giants fault why people are turning to SHEIN. You can pay £65 for a pair of trousers from River Island (a more middle tiered priced shop) or you can pay £4.79 from SHEIN. It's a no brainer. Retailers here have gotten greedy and used to upping the profiteering. Now they're being pushed out of business. Some of that is their own fault .

People talk of the ethics. But all clothes shops are at it to various degrees. And I'm not ultra wealthy or terribly middle class and I have to pick my 'save the world' battles. Most everyday people aren't in that privileged position to take a stand of big problems outside of their control.

Pretty sure I had my card details given out after shopping with them. So it’s a no from me. Plus the stuff I’d bought was awful quality.

If we still had watchdog I swear no one would buy this shit.
there’s some brilliant documentary’s on temu and shein where they test clothes, baby clothes, jewellery and homewares and show how it’s full of toxic banned shit. Baby clothes not made to safety regs like hairbands which could strangle your child.
it’s partly why it’s so cheap. It doesn’t have to conform to our regulations

It’s not the Chinese manufacturing that’s the issue. It’s that the retailer doesn’t have to comply.

IIRC dressing up costumes don't, because they are classed as toys rather than clothing. There was a news thing about it a few years ago because the combination of Hallowe'en pumpkins and costumes can cause a problem if unaware. However perhaps some of the items were from these sites.

I think any clothing will burn - e.g. bonfire Guys, or the advice to "stop, drop and roll" to extinguish clothing fires. But it shouldn't be burning with black smoke or at a rate which would be overly dangerous.

Everything which is sold in the UK, including cheap shit from China, is supposed to conform to the same standards. The problem is this business model which is now very easy for people to set up - you get a line in a factory for example producing clothing for some high street brand or a part for a major electronics manufacturer, and the owner of the factory can cheaply rent it out on the off-hours to produce essentially identical items but with lower grade materials. Some of those materials won't meet safety standards, but when the focus is price and nothing else, they don't care about that. This is how you get several identical items on Amazon with incomprehensible names. When an item gets reported for being dangerous, that company gets blocked but they just pop up again with a new name. Nobody can trace them and nobody tries.

Lots of goods are produced in China, it's not being produced there that makes them dangerous, it's whether the company commissioning the item cares enough about their reputation to ensure they are following standards from the relevant country they are importing to.

I still remember the public service adverts from the 80s about the importance of wearing only compliant nightwear and fancy dress costumes (which under U.K. law are all required to be flame retardant)

Not good enough is an interesting app for getting insight into ethics of clothing companies.

it ranks shein as 1/5 (“we avoid”) and Primark as 3/5 (“it’s a start”) Zara, M&S, Cos, Massimo Dutti, Mango, John Lewis,

baukjen rates as 4/5 (“good”) as does Joanie, Nobodies Child, Iro, Uniqlo and Reformation

here are plenty of children's wear items including pyjamas etc sold in UK based high street stores and supermarkets that would also set alight if a naked flame were held to them.

This is just not true. Children's nightwear sold in proper UK shops like Asda, Next, M&S all have to conform to strict standards, as do dressing up costumes.

Cheap shite from China does not have to conform to any standards.

Slave/indentured labour

Toxic chemicals harming the worker the wearer and the environment of both

poor quality, throw away fashion that is an ethical nightmare

it’s grim - my DDs but from there occasionally (much to my irritation) and the quality is always dreadful.