France announce a levy on SHEIN, TEMU and similar imports. AIBU to want the UK to do the same?

[AsMuchIn]

AIBU to want the UK to do the same as France, who are imposing a levy on products bought from SHEIN, TEMU, etc.

The impact on our high street (or now lack of) is massive, shops gone or as people choose cheap, poor quality, sometimes dangerous products. Less jobs in retail, empty shops, units filled with nail bars and vape shops.

The impact on the environment is also detrimental.

We are not making good choices ourselves, so bring in a levy.

France targets Shein and Temu with fast fashion fees https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm2792pendro

I hope the French include Amazon too, as most of the stuff on Temu is also available on Amazon. Yet plenty of Shein/Temu haters seem fine with Amazon.

Ok but a large market ie the US have decided that cheap Chinese goods aren’t an overall positive.

China have now switched to the EU market and they too think the same.

It’s a hike in prices, which sometimes threads overall say great to and others say no way that was a tax on consumers.

France has a levy on Fashion bought in France - it's used to support the French Fashion Industry - so imposing it on imported goods seems fair enough to me.

But it wouldn't be you on your own. Everyone would pay 50% extra. Quite rightly too. And if that means fewer can afford fripperies, so much the better.

Not sure what the difference is in price change, is the good to the consumer more expensive with the levy?

It's not snobbery, it's a question mark over how can they make the products so cheaply. Moral disengagement is not a plan if action in my mind.

I use SHEIN.

I work as a support worker and clothes can easily become stained or torn through various activities so I don’t want to spend £££ on clothes.

Next, Primark, M&S and supermarkets are no better quality than SHEIN and I hate most of the ‘styles’ available.

I buy things and use them and I’ve had stuff from SHEIN for about 5+ years. Sometimes I get holes in seams or similar - I sew them up.

I keep tarantulas, crabs and other invertebrates and SHEIN is shit hot for things like tanks, hideaways and reptile dishes. Our cat has a huge cat tree from SHEIN which would have been double the cost in Pets At Home and I’ve also ordered dog and rat toys on there.

It’s also brilliant for stationery and stickers.

Yes, the high street is dying but taking it out on SHEIN isn’t the answer. It’s an excellent shop.

Problem is those items you might buy from other places at a higher mark up are very often made in the very same factories. You are just paying more for the shop to buy it first.

Lots of shops have been caught out doing this historically despite their original claims of fair pay fair labour good quality products. But the unbranded one was made on the very same bench for the same few pennies per item.

I have been paying attention somewhat, and it is worrying. Do you get your information from anywhere in particular? Reddit is my main source but some of the websites shared seem dubious.

They make them the same as a lot of other retailers do, but do not have to pay the same overheads so can charge less. I am not saying it is all snobbery, but for some it is, while paying no attention to the retailers they do give their money to.

The large US market has parts that have been screaming about layoff and price rises and uncertainty meaning they can't get parts their manufactoring needs.

The wider public has largely learnt they they pay the tariffs and I though their court system decided Trump didn't have the power to impose at least one lot he had.

US isn't just deciding China imports are bad - they've imposed tariffs with many countires all at once.

Trump clearly doesn't get international trade. Plus republican love to blame China for loss of jobs but when charted up China had no impact on manufactoring jobs - what has is automation. China is just the convienet boggy man there.

China going big on solar pannel manufactoring meant price of solar pannels world wide has dropped - something Trump and his supporters do not like though rest of world trying to decarbonise may welcome.

But the answer is not then to shrug and not give a crap is it?

I work in supply chain for a British manufacturer.

Our goods have "Manufactured in the UK" on them.
Guess where the majority of the components come from?

Guess how much duty we pay?

Some components are not made ANYWHERE else in the world.

Ok so the tariffs are a negative for Chinese goods to the US, and how about levies the op talks about?

When the EU hike prices on Chinese goods is it a positive thing?

'Problem is those items you might buy from other places at a higher mark up are very often made in the very same factories. You are just paying more for the shop to buy it first'

This. If people want to pay for goods direct from China so what?

High streets are struggling because stupid councils impose car parking fees. Go to any retail park with free parking and the places are rammed.

I am not a prolific Shein shopper, I would say at least 80% of my clothes (and other things!) are second-hand. It isn't all about being skint or frugal, but I live alone in an expensive area and (like many other people, including my post-grad educated self!) have been made redundant and had to take a low-paid crap job.

I also like second-hand goods generally, I am environmentally conscious and they make life more interesting.

Having said this, I do agree with you. Shein do some styles that are very different, and the quality isn't going to be brilliant, but it is comparable to a lot of the high street stores. And the quality of some expensive brands isn't great either, for example I have a Burberry coat that I've had around three years but only wear for going out, and only in winter. The lining had gone within the year and its buttons come off regularly! I also have some designer trainers that began showing signs of wear and tear within the year that my £10 (second-hand) Nike ones have not.

Out of interest, I tried to find a duvet cover with a similar design to one of my 'Shein' ones. Jewel coloured with a beautiful bird pattern on it. Nada. Nothing like it from generic shops to high street shops to designer. I was actually willing to spend a lot more on a good one, as I love the one from Shein and it has been discontinued and won't last forever.

It's the same with clothes. I like quirky things, clothes that are a bit different and stand out. Shein is fantastic for this. I am hardly going to traipse around every independent boutique in england looking for a top similar to one I can only find on Shein, I do not have the time for that and I doubt most others do.

And again, as for price v quality with Shein I ordered a gym romper from eBay, £15.99 (the price listed was £6!) and quickly cancelled once I realised they'd misled me with the advertisement. It's a gym romper, it will become covered in oil quickly and the fabric does not need to be fantastic quality for such garments. Almost identical one on Shein, £3.99. I am sorry but, no brainer unless you're very comfortably off.

They distrubute cheaply because they cut out the grabby retail middle men. Many of items and clothes on the high street are made in China anyway.

Sadly high street shops are far too expensive for a lot of us.

All the clothes you buy on the high street are made in the same factories as the ones you get from
SHEIN - the difference is that SHEIN don’t have to worry about paying all the rent, insurance, building costs, staffing costs and taxes that high street shops have to pay.

The answer would be to expect better from our shops.

But the end of the line factory worker is getting the same pay and conditions if you buy it direct from their boss or from the approved U.K. store.

It's the same stuff made in China but 10 times the price anyway as a pp has just said due to rent costs etc in this country.

If the op wants to buy home made clothes from independent UK businesses where everything is made on site at extortionate prices, lovely. Once you buy on a high street Next, M&S wherever it's all coming from the same places be it China or India.

Shein do not have to comply with Laws on what they can and can not use during their manufacturing process, therefore they use chemical etc that are not allowed for the likes of Primark etc who mass import their clothes to sell in retail stores. Kids clothes from shein have been found to have 3,300 times the limit of chemicals these toxins are doing so much damage to your bodies when you wear them
High street retailers like Marks and spencer are audited alot and have to make sure they comply with all the legislation or risk being fined.
People really need to open their eyes on the damage the likes of Shein and Temu are doing. They are not a necessity, nothing on it is a need and they are not there to provide clothing for the poor

Trade agreements take years to sort because there are competeing interests in both sides signing up.

With in each side there may be sectors governments may want to protect - for national security or poltical reasons - but too much protection can also cause issue - for manufactoring lines stuck with higher priced inputs or even consumers who may end up paying more for less technolcical advance products.

Between the side of any agreement there also competing interests both side wanting access to other markets and protect their own.

US tariffs were dumb under Trump because they took account of nothing - no existing agreements no reponses from other countries and no supply chains.

Previous US tarrifs have also been problematic - when previous adminstraions taxed chinese steel US manfauctors who used the cheaper steal complained bacause their costs went up meaning the took less profit or raised the prices to consumers - affecting those manufactoring jobs while trying to protect steel manfautoring ones. The main goal was in end to bring China to table to talk through issues and to be seen to be doing something to US electorate.

The EU is a massive trading block - I image they've looked at their trade agreement with China very carefully - and how effective or impactful this levy will be will depend if and/or how China reponds to it.

I'm honestly not sure what point you are trying to make - levey and tariffs are tools that do some things and not others - they are never all good or bad - because the world is a complex place.

Objecting to Shein and Temu is nothing to do with "snobbishness". Although when you start to question just how they can produce items so quickly it opens up a whole murky world of slave labour, child labour and lack of concern over safety standards.

It;s more that Shein and Temu are the pinnacle of fast fashion which is all about buy buy buy the latest trends and discard very quickly when the next thing comes around.

https://earth.org/fast-fashions-detrimental-effect-on-the-environment/ 85% of all textiles go into landfill each year. Microplastics from polyester. Water use in processing. Toxic dyes.

Shein releases 10,000 new lines - not new individual products - PER DAY. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2022/apr/10/shein-the-unacceptable-face-of-throwaway-fast-fashion

Hazardous chemical regularly found in a high percentage of Shein clothing, and people are buying these for their kids??? https://chemtrust.org/news/report_finds_hazardous_chemicals_in_shein_clothing_above_eu_limits/

Most people shopping on Shein and Temu are not making a carefully considered purchase of a single item with a view to keeping it for years. They are impulse buying multiple items to get additional discounts or offers. This whole attitude that you "need" 15 pairs of pyjamas, 10 different bikinis for a 7 day holiday, new outfit for each night out, decorative items for every single occasion through the year - that's what needs to change.

'Kids clothes from shein have been found to have 3,300 times the limit of chemicals these toxins are doing so much damage to your bodies when you wear them'

Oh please. What possible damage can clothes do to you. People consume all kids of crap I highly doubt a 5quid tshirt will have everyone dropping like flies.

Councils need to make it easier for businesses here to fourish. So, cheaper business rates and free parking for starters. Common sense stuff.