To ask why SHEIN clothes have increased in price?

[sodoffbeforemycupofcoff]

The whole point of shein is cheaper clothes with poorer quality. If we’re honest?
I have gd a browse this morning at their woman’s winter clothes section and I have noticed the prices have massively increased. Why would that be?

Lots of countries have realised just how toxic and awful the shitey Shein business model is and how fast fashion is killing the planet with its production techniques and waste. The EU and US imposed tariffs on small packages coming from China from companies like Shein and Temu and this has affected profits. https://nltimes.nl/2026/08/10/half-dutch-ordering-shein-temu-less-frequently-since-eus-import-tariff So prices rise.

Unfortunately the UK is not following suit until 2028.

Vinted?

And school staff have all the time in the world 🤔

You have old sheets. You don’t need to buy expensive materials to make things. You look around what you have at home. You can make flowers out of all sorts of things.

People up and down the country do this all the time.

As i said I already scoured vinted for the funeral dress and a 1930s church dress.

Re dirndl. Cut the sleeves off any old tight fitting dark coloured blouse put it over another short sleeved light coloured blouse and tie an apron round it( or make an apron out of an old sheet).Not hard.

And again…how? I am not a dressmaker. I abhorred textiles at school and refused to learn how to sew. I do not know how. It might be ok if you know someone who can. I don’t and I don’t have a sewing machine or a sewing box or anything like that.

Without derailing about drama productions - you do what we did before Shein was a thing. Cobble together as much as you can from what you have. Put a shout out on every single local Facebook group asking for anyone who can donate/lend. Look into renting the few things you can't source other ways. Accept that unless you have a west end budget, the costumes are not going to be perfect, and that's OK.

I’m not a dress maker, you don’t need to be. You can use scissors and make a couple of stitches. I’ve just told you. Look online. It’s not hard ,schools do this all the time.

Drama - you should be able to hire costumes. Plenty of stuff on vinted too.

Shein and temu are utter shit that allow modern slavery.

EBay https://ebay.io/m/dcnTB5
cape - white sheet from charity shop and use sticky hem stuff to hem
You’re lazy.

I'm sure there must be someone in your theatre group who can help you make a costume.

Learning to sew isn't hard and you don't need a sewing machine to start.

A white cloak would be very easy to make out of sheet or blanket.

It's relatively easy to make a dirndl out of an old dress by adding ribbons or buttons to the bodice and making a simple apron which encircles and covers the dress' original skirt.

Flower accessories can be made out of pipe cleaners, paper, and wire. This is primary school level crafting.

You honestly don't need to buy a whole new costume for a few wears.

You don't need to be a dressmaker. All you need is a bit of imagination and a willingness to have a go.

Do you think I magically sprang into being as a dressmaker aged 15? Unless this theatre production is a seriously professional outfit on the west end (in which case why aren't they paying for the costume), something you've cobbled together yourself or with help from someone else in the group is absolutely adequate.

Sewing is a basic skill everyone should have anyway for reattaching buttons at least. If children in school can learn the basics, you can too - I promise it's not impossible.

Getting back to the op. Does the op not realise there is a war on.

The conflict involving Iran increases clothing prices by spiking crude oil and energy costs, which elevates the manufacturing expense of petroleum-based synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, and acrylic. It also disrupts critical shipping lanes like the Strait of Hormuz, driving up global fuel, logistics, and factory operational expenses for major apparel supply chains.

The prices of cheap plastic clothes from abroad are heavily reliant on crude oil prices in addition to diabolical wages, crap materials, crap designs and dreadful working conditions.

There is a huge disincentive now for EU purchasers to buy online from non EU, and that includes from the UK. A duty/tariff was introduced in July of €3 per ITEM, and there will soon be an added €2 to that for handling fees.

That's not explaining why UK online purchasers from non EU are feeling big price rises though. However the likes of Shein and other non Chinese have rolled up the tariff into the final price for EU purchasers, so maybe some of that pricing is filtering into UK purchases. I don't know!

This, also.. prices rise. If wages rise then it impacts the whole supply chain. Delivery costs rise.

They arent a charity, they want to make as much money as possible off you

Unnecessarily mean and judgmental.
Get back to your ironing.

Wages?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4glzzdd88lo

Children and slaves are pretty cheap.

@StillgotmyiPod don't get me wrong - I'm not saying buy from Shein because they're as good as Zara. I'm saying don't buy from Zara because the quality is as bad as Shein for a lot of their stuff. Saying that I have just bought a pair of leather shoes from Zara which seem great quality. So never say never but hte quality of their stitching in their clothes is often awful.

I won't wear man made fibres either which knocks out a lot of clothes for me.

I admit I hadn't appreciated about things like levels of lead in Shein clothes.

Shein operates on modern day slavery, and the price gauge will be profit led.

Try not to get too worked up. All that rage and heat will make your polyester clad body all static!

They don’t even refund the full amount you pay now when you return something.

Not to mention that shein produces well over 1 billion new items every single day to their website. The likes of Zara and other fast fashions brands produce around 450,000 million year. That's why Shein is call ultra fast fashion, that amount of clothing is not sustainable at all.
@ToffeePennie there is enough clothes etc produced for the next 6 generations of people, i am sure if you put your mind to it you will find everything you need for your production, loads of resale platforms like vinted ebay depop etc as well as charity shops etc, put a shout out on your local facebook page looking for x y and z if you have any, people will have them plenty of You tube videos too to show you how to make stuff. Your not he 1st production company to make what ever it is your doing and you wont be the last defo something out there

This reminds me of a skit that Victoria Wood did with Julie Walters.

They were pretending to host a daytime tv programme. Victoria was the presenter and Julie was the money saving expert.

They began by bemoaning how expensive leather bookmarks had become, which was sad as they are such a "boon."

Never mind, says Victoria, Marjorie-aka Julia-has solved the problem.

Yes, say Marjorie, just tale an old leather jacket-cut away the collar and the sleeves, fold the back in half and cut out a nice straight piece of leather-bingo- a bookmark that hasn't cost you anything!

But says Victoria, what if you don't have an old leather jacket?

No problem, says Marjorie, simply buy one!

The skit is on YouTube and much funnier than the way I've written it out.

While I despise Shein Temu etc for so many reasons I don’t think it’s realistic that people can always just make their own clothes. The time to learn the skills, cost to source and buy kit and materials is going to be prohibitive for most people

A lot of it is cheap rip offs of other people's/companies' designs. It's a massive issue, both for big retailers and small.