To Buy Shein??

[GarthElgarsGlasses]

Hi, tempted to make some purchases from Shein and wondering whether anyone who’s bought from them would recommend their clothes or not?! Money’s right but really need some new winter clothes, however as Shein is so cheap I’m sceptical! Any experiences of their clothes welcomed! Thanks!

Actually, no I didn’t know.

I went off to Google after reading further replies on this thread because I genuinely didn’t know the background. I’d never even heard the term ‘fast fashion’!

I’m very much a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl and buy most of my clothes from places like Next, Sainsbury’s, Peacocks, New Look etc. I’m not really into fashion so don’t keep up with what’s happening in the world with fashion brands.

I just happened to see SHEIN one day and looked at their stuff. I genuinely didn’t really think to start Googling their ethics and practices to be honest. If it’s a company I haven’t heard of I’ll go check out reviews on TrustPilot and I don’t recall seeing anything at the time about their ethical (or non ethical it seems) practices. I’d have thought twice if I had.

I think some of us just genuinely don’t automatically think to go looking at that type of stuff. It doesn’t make us bad people.

I bought 3 dresses from them over the summer. They didn't come crumpled in the bag or anything. They were decent quality. Buy less, care more and use more.

I had no idea concentration camps existed in this day and age, thank you to the previous posters for the education and links provided. Horrifying. I recently bought one order of holiday clothes from them, I do usually try to shop mindfully and use eBay and Vinted. I won’t be shopping from Shein again, I’m embarrassed to admit I just never looked into this thoroughly enough before.

If you look at the reviews then there are lots of 5 stars and lots of one star. So - love or hate; or unreliable quality.

What if you can't find fashionable clothes you like ? I've tried vinted and I didn't like most of it. I tried to find a dress on eBay/vinted/depop for a wedding they didn't do the style of fit I wanted so I ended up spending £180 on a dress from another store. I'm not going to wear something that doesn't suit me or look nice because someone on MN says I must. To be fair lots of high street companies make clothes in sweatshops then add on money because it's a popular brand. I recently bought a hoodie that's made in the UK it cost £80 I'm not sure lots of families can afford to shell out £80 for one item of clothing made in the UK.

One of the things I find depressing is how popular it is among teens/tweens/students. We keep hearing that they're the generation that cares more about environmental and human rights issues, they're appalled (rightly) by Britain's role in the slave trade... but at the same time they want their slave-made Shein haul in individual ziplock bags.

I was going to say this myself, but I’m not surprised how easily people suddenly do a U-turn on their morals if it benefits them.

Then don’t wear fashionable clothes! Honestly the fucking privilege and entitlement. You could find clothes which fit, but that’s not good enough, if they aren’t fashionable you’d rather buy things made by slave labour.

As if your right to look nice is somehow more important than the utter destruction of our planet and implications for the next generation.

we all do things because we aren’t aware of the implications, that’s fair enough. Now that you do know, will you still buy from Shein?

I have clothes from Shein, Primark, and New Look that are going strong years later. I don't even have a lot of clothes. I don't feel bad one bit about using these shops.

It's very hit and miss - I've had a couple of things that have lasted very well and others that are utter dross. To be fair though I've never had a problem getting a refund.

I think you're probably better buying second hand on Vinted or such. I very rarely buy new now and I have a wardrobe full of really nice quality items for next to nothing. I bought a brand new silk top from M&S for £15 the other day and I've had cashmere jumpers for less than £10. My DS wears Boden, Joules etc and it's all just a couple of ££ here and there. Honestly it's the best way to go and so much environmentally friendly (although I'm not going to bash people and clutch my pearls like a lot on here do).

@Meili04
Fashionable clothes are not a need, they’re a desire. No one is asking you to wear something that doesn’t suit you or look nice because they’re on MN and saying so, we are asking you to not buy clothes made by slaves. The need to eradicate slavery is much greater than any desire for fashionable clothes that look nice. I mean it’s just odd, we sit on the feminism board and talk about how men who pay for sex are the demand that is literally causing the sex trafficking of women and girls and it’s morally abhorrent… But apparently it’s ok for us to buy clothes made by slaves because they’re fashionable and look nice even though it’s also literally causing human trafficking.

Fast fashion doesn’t simply mean “doesn’t last long”. It means churned out in huge amounts, as quickly as possible, and marketed to encourage regular consumption because that’s how its profit margins work: it’s a business model. Slightly further up the high street than Shein is M&S, which – after staff, transport, premises, marketing and other overheads – makes about 30p for every £35 jumper it sells. So to generate its several billion pounds of profit annually, it has to sell absolutely SHITLOADS of jumpers. Far more than anyone needs. It does that by regularly introducing and marketing new stock, fast.

Shein doesn’t have the retail premises or staffing costs to consider – slaves are free! – but it’s the same model: sell lots and lots and lots of things for a small profit on each thing. And the way to sell lots and lots and lots of things is to produce them quickly – or fast, as in fast fashion – then convince you a month later that lilac swimsuits are over and yellow bikinis are in. It’s the speed of production, turnover and consumption that’s the primary problem, not whether or not it goes through the washing machine OK.

Partly because those things all have a carbon, water and human welfare cost, but also because however well something wears, eventually it will be irreparable. And one 30-year jumper is less energy-consuming to recycle than 300 one-year jumpers.

mo Europe / UK isn't Shein, Zaful etc target market. They supply world-wide and not everyone across the world has the option to buy hardly worn quality 2nd hand items. You do, as that is available to you in being in a first world country.

The developed world did it's bit to ruin that world and it's fair and right that they pack it in now and act more sustainably. We can't control what other countries do, and tbh i have a certain amount of sympathy for countries like India and China saying "we're not going to stop, you did your bit and have your nice lives and now we want ours"

What if you can't find fashionable clothes you like ? I've tried vinted and I didn't like most of it.

I don't even know what to say to this. Buy classics then and spritz them up with accessories? Learn to sew and adapt clothes (there are billions of YouTube videos showing how to do that). Have "swap meets" with friends? Think outside the box? Most people don't really suit fashionable clothes anyway - and the quicker we realise that the better.

I do sometimes buy second hand but being a Smurf makes certain products hard to find that actually fit!

I made a big order at SHEIN form petite range and I've just send most back what I ordered. They were either too long but mainly too short and I'm 5ft1, too small at waist or too big. Sizing all over the place I measured myself and ordered what would fit according to their measurements! I mean an XS in one pair were too big but another pair the small was really tight 🤷🏻‍♀️ I ordered 8 pairs of trousers/jeans and kept 1! Now god knows when I'll get my money bk took about 13 days to get here.

I love their accessories, some make up items, hair bits, fancy socks for the kids, stuff for house etc.

I can wear whatever I want. I don't buy lots of clothes and I take care of them. I've been forced too because my old clothes no longer fit. I do question the high street almost all the labels say made in China or Bangladesh are they really treating their workers amazingly well compared to shein ?

I work 12.5 hour shifts I don't have time to sew.

Value for money, yes. The quality is not terrible (think Primark) and it's actually far quicker delivery these days. It's cheep and cheerful.

Ethically? No. It's bad.

In a concentration camp in China?

My mental health is already shite I'm not gonna make it even worse by wearing clothes I hate because it's all I could find that would fit me on fucking Vinted

Look it up then. Look into it. You're pulling out lots of excuses.

I'm not particularly flush with cash or time. I'm losing weight. I'm not an expert. But I'm prepared to try.

You can buy the £80 hoodies 2nd hand. You just don't want to!

I don't think demonising people who use Shein is the way forward. When I was skint it really grinds you down and there is a world of a difference between wearing second hand because you enjoy a rummage through a charity shop and dressing your kids in second hand clothes because it's all you can afford. Sometimes we make questionable choices because we're sick of our kids always being the one who does without and it's much much easier to be ethical in your consumer choices when you have the income to support that. For many it's not about 15 crop tops to wear on the gram it's about not sending your kid into school on non-uniform day in a second hand top that's not really what they wanted but you're making them wear because it fits.

That said I often wonder how people in 1940s Germany must've felt knowing their good were produced in concentration camps. Did the way feel it was justified because of their financial situation at the time. It's important to consider because that is how we will be judged in the future across the globe. How many Muslim women forcibly sterilised is an acceptable number for us to have affordable clothing. What about the number of Muslim children separated from their families for reeducation is that an acceptable cost? And the posters pointing out that it is not just Shein are completely correct it's a rotten system and instead of holding multinational corporations to account the onus is put on individual people to try to research something very complex.

I'm personally of the opinion that I work very hard for my money and I don't want it going somewhere that I don't support. I've found this impossible to do perfectly because most big companies are a bit shit so I just do the best I can safe in the knowledge that until the system is fixed, 1000 people doing what they can is better than 1 person doing it perfectly. So in a nutshell don't judge, do what you can and leave other people to do what they can too.

I recently bought some stuff. Two crossbody bags, two belts and one dress. I kept one bag and belts. They are h&m/new look quality. Other bag was so afwul that it wouldn't even pass for h&m 😬Dress was nice, but too big. It's hard with the sizing.

Also the point about well it won't change things for enslaved people so what the point.

The point isn't about changing things for them it's about whether you want people to profit from it. Do you want to work hard for your money only to put it in the hand of people who profit prom slavery.

Would you have put your money in Hitler's pocket in the 1940s?
Would you have put your money in a slave trader's pocket in the 1700s?

It's not about changing the world it's about staying true to who you are and who you want to be in this world.

I love Shein. I think its good quality for the money you pay and I've purchased stuff from them I've had for years!

Buy from ethical retailers, charity shops, eBay, vinted, car boot sales, Facebook marketplace, find a dressmaker to alter your existing clothes that are too small. There are so many other option. Obviously people need clothes, but they don't need slave made bargain basement clothes.