To ask you to swerve Shein & Temu

[DoNoTakeNo]

This Christmas?
I know it’s mainly a cost thing but if it’s achievable, can people possibly manage with less stuff?

Nope sorry i have already ordered a few Christmas presents from temu, i get pretty much all my clothes from shein, i bought a coat of shein last year for £48, googled the brand and it was £108 on Amazon, exact same coat, i also get all my kids shoes on temu/shein, and they last just as long as branded- i bought my son some Jordans for his birthday and they lasted 4 months- thats alot of money for 4 months use when i can pay less, they may only last the same amount of time but i don’t care if they are cheaper xx

i wouldn’t put Cider and boohoo in the same category - am I missing something something? It feels really wasteful to just bin those as I see them all the time in our charity shops and have definitely bought some in the past.

genuinely interested in the answer x x

I don't mind where you buy from, but just be aware these products are often finished with different sprays etc that are not chemically safe. They may look the same, but the differences can actually be quite dangerous sometimes.

I swerve them anyway, not because I am loaded I just buy less.

@notthisagain2025
The “wall of text” comment wasn’t me.
You think I was virtue signalling? Nope, just saying what I do and what I think - much like you’re doing only with more of a care for the environment (there, have a free signal
of my vast bank of virtue)

@Excited101have you asked that retailer if the teethers (etc) meet UK safety standards? (see many PP) Now that you know this, do you believe you have a duty of care to other parents & babies?

@TardisDweller Excellent point.

@Orangebadger Perfect.

Obviously it depends on the item - I am thinking about the stuff we have seen recently which is a lot of post-summer clear out stuff. Wee skimpy tops, sequin dresses, beach coverups. Those are a hard sell at the end of October anyway, and the people who generally buy from Boohoo, Cider or similar do not want last year's gear, they want the new stuff. A lot of items from those brands are very poor quality and worth hardly anything second hand.

I did ask them, yes- they assured me that they do have the certificates and it’s all on their original packaging’ that they take them out of to put them on sale… and I don’t know how much responsibility I do feel- I have asked the retailer and it makes me feel very uncomfortable but it’s more their responsibility than mine.

@Excited101 I wish everyone had the same sense of community responsibility as you 💐

You're getting too much stick, I have to say something.

This person has a situation whereby she cannot leave the house to mooch around the shops. Money is tight and there are other factors that stop her from shopping outside the home.

If she has/needs to shop on Shein or Temu then that's ok and she should not be shamed by anyone else who isn't in her situation. You don't know what it's like for her and her family!!

Of course child labour isn't good but it's not going to stop because this person stops buying from these outlets!!!

If she can't shop anywhere else then what.... She just doesn't buy at all??!

We have a company called Jeans West in Australia and they have started selling some of their stuff on Temu now.

I bought a coat from Myers in Perth and that was made in China. And when I bought clothes in Japan, they were also made in China.

I guess some things are ethically made in China and some are not.

Hopefully they're not using Apple or Microsoft to access the internet, as these companies also use slave labour!

I totally agree. And not just for Christmas.
I give both a swerve-permanently.
Mostly they are selling cheap and nasty tat which has been produced with cheap labour and next to no concern for the environment.

I bought a top from M&Co (via Next) which was made in UK. Around £25-£30. I am not convinced that the people working there have brilliant conditions but probably better than China. Doubt all their stuff is made in UK but it’s worth a look. There is also a site called Jumping Ships which does very basic T shirts and Leggings made in UK. Not very exciting and Website not particularly user friendly, but again, items around £30. Which is more than Sainsbury’s but not £££.

I voted you unreasonable - but only because you singled out Temu and SHEIN, to which some people seem to have taken on a stance of fashionable, rabid and vitriolic aversion, without rationalising why.

There are plenty of other purveyors of sub-standard goods: even some stuff from so-called “upmarket” suppliers is cheap tat, just with a higher price, and FWIW, some of the SHEIN items are really good, and at a fraction of the cost of them from other places (E.g. silicone mats, sealing strip for bathrooms) are worth buying if you need to save money.

I agree with the underlying sentiment of buying only what you need, though, just object to the blanket assumption that Temu and SHEIN only sell rubbish…

I don’t use the sites myself as I can afford not to. I do have a friend who does and also could afford not to, and whilst I’m not particularly impressed that she does this, she doesn’t order tons and the things that I’ve seen from there are pretty nice pieces of clothing and no different in quality to a lot of the stuff that I buy in Next, and I don’t imagine that Next (or similar stores) are overly ethical either.

The people I do judge massively though, are middle class people on a ‘MN salary’ who think they have a right to tell those on minimum wage, with rising costs, bills to pay and children to feed and clothe, how they should spend their earnings. For those in that position who manage to live ethically - hats off to you, but if someone wants new clothing and things for their DC on a low wage, I won’t judge you.

And I really judge posters such as @Bagsintheboot , @TheGoddessAthena and @dingdongdoo for continually harassing other posters. That’s really nasty. Say your piece once and move on.

Please report any harassment. Otherwise sturdy debate is just fine on AIBU.

My friend says largely their stuff (from both) are 'Shite' and 'Terruble' quality.

She does very well at the charity shops (lives in Marlow)

My sister is constantly buying clothes from Shein. They are utter tat....cheap fabric which appears to have a rancid odour, badly made and the sizing isn't consistent. I prefer to get vintage well made pieces from charity shops or Vinted.

I once bought a swimsuit from Shein, and was tempted by the gorgeous-looking clothes on the website to buy a few other items. The cost with shipping was more than I expected, but the products were all cheap.

The swimsuit was thin and the other clothes, that looked so good on the screen, had blurry patterns and weird slippery-feeling synthetic fabric. I didn't even try them on, as the fabric felt horrible. Straight to the charity shop, as it turned out the cost of returning them would use up practically all the refund. That was before I knew anything about their ethics, so I wouldn't even bother to look at their ads now.

My (limited) experience is the same. A friend bought a dress for a wedding from there and it was so shiny and flammable that was worried she'd go up in flames if she was too near a candle.

I bought a Shein tee from a jumble sale; it was new with tags on. I usually swerve poor quality, but I liked the print and it was 50p. The print peeled off after two washes.

Also very concerned about the chemicals. I'd never buy my kid clothes from there.

I don't have an MN salary. I am on minimum wage zero hours contract. I have every sympathy with people on the bones of their arse, and if it's people buying coats and shoes for their kids they otherwise wouldn't have, yes, I get that.

But realistically, it mostly isn't. It's people buying tat they don't need, clothes they'll only wear once, etc. Everybody I know who buys from Temu spends more on clothes on n a month than I have in a year. And these aren't even people with dependent children.

I'm not buying the fancy, organic, hand woven version, I'm just not buying stuff. I find it quite sad that the 'joy' in people's lives is so invested in 'stuff'.

For many, these sites are an addiction, not a necessity. It's not the kids warm coats and shoes that bother me. It's the adult need for a new outfit every week/month. It's the 14 different duvet sets for one bed. It's the new stuff because you are bored with the old stuff.

It's wanting to live like a millionaire on a pauper's wages and these weird modern ideas we have got that that is somehow a right. Heaven forfend anyone should have to cut their cloth, the cloth should just be so much cheaper, because the right to have stuff, to be denied nothing, supercedes everything else.

@ObelixtheGaul Fully agree with your every word.

It's wanting to live like a millionaire on a pauper's wages

There is a good reason why the slogan of Temu is "spend like a billionaire".

Maybe some are like that. But I have spent about £60 on clothes all year so please don’t make assumptions we are all like that. We don’t have much “stuff”. We certainly don’t buy because we are bored of what we have and fancy something new.