Temu, Shein et al

[Cluborange666]

What’s the deal with these companies? The things they sell are clearly impossible to produce and sell at those prices. Do you think it’s a way for the Chinese government to access a massively amount of people’s financial data? Or to undermine western businesses? My teenage kids claim that they will never have TikTok because they see it as an opportunity for their data to be stolen.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist, honestly! But something is off about it all.

Agree with this! Haven't purchased from them in a while but when I have it's been due to lack of funds to shop elsewhere and have worn them far more than once

The Chinese model is economic, not military, power. Securing markets everywhere, buying up huge tranches of land, especially African countries, building infrastructure. Prices go up in due course. It's called cornering the market, a technique learned from extreme capitalism.

You can get perfectly good second hand clothes from Vinted, eBay, and charity shops, often for less than what you pay to a Chinese slave labour company.

You don't need to use Shein. You want to use Shein.

It's only distressing to those who have a choice.

It's distressing to anyone with children who cares about them.

Or anyone who's not completely apathetic

Nobody bits essentials in Temu! And Shein is the same

And the irony is anyone buying from Shein is massively privileged. You think the workers there are the ones doing hauls? Or wearing neon dresses?

People complaining about COL here and yet buying Shein/Temu never ceases to amaze me tbh

All you have to do is buy lessstuff, use it more til it wears out, buy from other companies in their sales, Vinted, charity shops, local reselling apps like olio/nextdoor, fix broken items. Done.

Pre-loved, charity shops, market place, Vinted, car boot sales - all cost effective and ethical. No excuse.

See above. No excuse.

And buy less.

Well the amount of vinted scams I’ve seen, terrible reviews- no thanks.
I need some clothes so I’ll wait for a boot sale?! Probably end up with Shein stuff regardless!

Who has time for any of that.

I agree with the earlier poster who said about blocking the sites. I have done the same on FB and its amazing how similar shops/items keep coming up under different names.

its not just clothing either. I ordered metal signs for our property which apparently were in production for some months and not despatched, no reply to emails. Gave them a serve on one of the review sites, heard back from them almost immediately but in the meanwhile I blocked the original business posts.

While I eventually did receive my signs, so many copy cat social media sites keep coming up on my newsfeed.

Thank you for this thread. I didn't know this about Shein.

My cousin was raving about Shein the other day so I bought a couple of dresses. When they came, the fabric was horrendous, clingy, sweaty and had awful static so I sent them back. There was no way I could wear them!

Glad I did now I know how unethical they are as well. I should really have realised with those prices anyway. I will stay away in future.

I was aware that Shien wasn’t good but not to that degree.

I have made a purchase this week out of desperation to find fussy tween DD some swimwear for a forthcoming holiday. I’d happily pay two, three times as much for the same items ethically made.

They had a large selection of fairly plain and neutral tween swimwear. I used to buy her Boden but now she hates the childishness of the things her size. Ditto pretty much everywhere else I’ve looked.

I'm not shopping there because I want low prices, I want a choice of logo free, neutral style swimwear for an about to turn 13 year old who is tall and skinny. We’ve literally been through every other website and she couldn’t find a single thing to order. Started at Boden, Joules, Fat Face, Mango, Zara, John Lewis, Next… and a dozen more, trawled the supermarkets, Vinted and eBay, and ended up at Shein where she found several things she liked but worried about ordering from them.

I’m now worried about buying from them!

So the wide selection is what took me to buy there, not the price.

I’ll happily send it back if anyone can link me a neutral, no logo bikini that is sporty with thick straps (crop bra top style), not black but not bright, muted blues, with a swimming shorts option, maybe a pattern, but not a childish pattern, no frills or ruffles. For a skinny but self conscious soon to be teenager. Happy to pay £30 for a bikini she likes. It’s impossible as I’ve looked and looked. She is fussy but found about 10 items that matched what she wanted, compared to zero elsewhere. If anyone can, I’ll send back my Shein order!

Anything here @SaltySeaBird

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/browse/c0-kids/c1-swimwear-and-beachwear/c2-bikinis-and-tankinis/_/N-yn4i7c

Also Amazon have loads of swimwear but I suspect its sourced from similar suppliers to Shein etc. But at least you know you can return things that don't fit. Admittedly in similar desperation, I've bought a few swimwear items from Amazon, and the quality has been good.

seafancy.co.uk/product/teal-colorblock-square-neck-wide-straps-sporty-bikini-top-and-high-waist-boy-shorts?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9cCFg4XegAMVwdTtCh3Z2g7oEAQYASABEgKCHPD_BwE

Something like this?

Thank you, we went through Decalthlon and the ones she liked were out of stock in her size. Amazon had quite a lot but I’ve always avoided buying clothing from there for ethical purposes. Genuinely thought Shein were better and I did read the sustainability statements on their website before ordering but suspect they are just greenwashing having read this thread now.

Sea Fancy have exactly the style she likes but is adult swimwear and so doesn’t fit her. She is age 12, 5”4 so tall for her age, but very slender - she does a lot of sport and it’s all cardio so tall and lean (opposite to me). A woman’s size 8 which is what they start at would be massive on her very slim frame, we’ve tried that before.

Sea Fancy have a horrible returns policy and no mention of sustainability or anything. I quite fancy a few of their bits but have been put off by the lack of free and easy returns, and lack of company info.

Sea Fancy are also based in China. I got some swim shorts from Mountain Warehouse and just bought a plain swim t shirt from there.

I think companies like this always existed. They’ve just gone direct to consumer instead of selling to the pound shop, market stalls, etc.
Theyre cutting out the middle man’s markup and so it’s cheaper.
But I don’t buy from there, because I don’t want cheap rubbish.

Also WhatsApp calls are blocked in the UAE. Many websites blocked too.

@SaltySeaBird I was going to say 'check the Sea Fancy reviews' which are awful. They look like a proper UK based company, and are probably trying to confuse people into thinking they are Sea Folly, but sadly, they're another Shein style company.

Talking of Sea Folly, they have a nice one, but only have age 8 left - might be worth a try to see if it would fit?

https://uk.seafolly.com/collections/teen-girls-bikinis/products/essential-girls-multi-strap-bikini-27240-royal

Or might be available elsewhere in larger sizes.

Speedo have some, as do Roxy

https://www.speedo.com/kids/girls-swimwear.list?gclid=Cj0KCQjwoeemBhCfARIsADR2QCv0-AlTuWXgIawjznoI_E7VaBhY_yPc3iYKOU-xlTdyiCPzdKyfduIaAuUhEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&pageNumber=1&facetFilters=en_plg_subType_content:Bikinis

https://www.roxy-uk.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-RX-GB-Site/en_GB/Search-Show?q=girls+bikini

Your problem is that you have a fairly specific item that you're looking for and it's late in the season because, according to the shops, we should now be thinking about buying cosy knitwear and winter coats, not swimwear so there's very little choice left. Add in restrictions about supplier ethics, sizing and style/colour, and you're at risk of not being able to find anything at all. So you have to decide whether to do without or compromise on some of these factors.

It's probably worth making sure your DD is aware of that, to save her from decades of frustration as she scours clothes shops for Things That Do Not Exist (I may be projecting a little here ).

You are lucky you could send them back.

Lots of items are so cheap but the shipping is so expensive it makes no sense to the retailer receive them back, so they tell you to bin them.

This even happens on Amazon, eBay and other retailers.

There is a recent US story where a Chinese seller made sure all his returned stock went to a random house in the US.

I feel like you need to talk to your daughter about how picky she is, rather than giving in and buying from an unethical company.

Shein, Temu and their ilk are atrocious. All people deserve to be treated humanely and companies such as those see no difference between their workers and the piece of machinery they are working on. In fact the machinery has better care as it's more expensive to replace.

There are numerous, good quality, investigative articles available online that I would encourage anyone who even considers using these companies to read.

There are numerous other ways for people to obtain cheaper clothing, which have been outlined at length previously on this thread.

Anyone choosing to shop on these shops is putting their desire for cheap tat above the rights of the workers to live in an humane way. The way people are happy to have others treated so they can benefit is appalling, and I absolutely do judge anyone who uses these sites.

In regards to banning websites, that is a whole different kettle of fish. Yes governments can control access to internet sites, however this is a slippery slope. I would encourage everyone to read about how internet restriction is used in oppressive ways, in many of the countries listed on this thread. This is not a slope o would like to see our country go down.

People need to just take some personal responsibility in the choices they are making.

I think the option here would have been to explain your daughter that these are the options available. Her pickiness doesn't trump another human beings right to a decent life, but obviously explained in an age appropriate way.

The more children are educated about what these cheap sites mean for their workers, the greater the chance of the next generation not being seduced by them.

The surf brands are likely to have something. I just checked Salt Rock and Roxy and they're firmly moved over to snowsport season, but O'Neill has a good selection: https://uk.oneill.com/collections/girls-swimwear?page=4

I use Vinted all of the time. No scams, no rubbish. I buy and sell. Polite messaging, good packaging, quickly posted.

I buy mainly once worn ( coats, jackets) M&S, Hobbs for £5.00 plus postage and fees, and new with labels. Recent purchases are a Next new dress, with all labels for £5.00 plus postage and fees ( so just over £8.00), a Reiss shirt for £9.50, Mango and Zara summer mini dresses between £3.00 and £6.00.

Re-using clothing that is already made and in the system, rather than newly produced.

If Shein is for you, Vinted has masses. Probably because the customer has now seen the poor quality, I'll fitting garment and wants to get rid. Loads for a £1.00. At least, again this isn't newly produced, just a resale of someone else mistake.