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’m asking if you think customers paying more for Chinese goods is a positive or not

It’s pretty much the only way to change consumer behaviour. Which sometimes posters applaud and other times they state ‘it’s a tax on consumers’. It’s inconsistent.

'Hazardous chemical regularly found in a high percentage of Shein clothing, and people are buying these for their kids???'

Some people feed their kids junk food. Some people smoke and drink. Alleged 'chemicals' in affordable clothing will be of no interest to many.

You are okay with their exploitative and dangerous practices then?

Must admit I’ve never really purchased many clothing items on Temu.

The odd rug, a cushion cover but it’s mainly garden stuff. Most of it I’ve had for years. Oh a big Woollen cardi people always ask where it’s from as it’s so big and warm.

Personally I really value my local shops. They provide a hub for people to get together, local employment, and they bring people to the town. They're a vital part of the local community.
Amazon has its place, sure, but there are plenty of alternatives for the bulk of our shopping needs. It's really not martyrdom to put your money where your mouth is.

I went into our local town centre last week to buy school shoes etc for the kids. £9 to park for 3 hours! It’s ridiculous. I could have got the same things with free delivery. I won’t make that mistake again.

Have you ever tried shopping for secondhand clothes - Vinted or charity shops etc? Don't assume it's crap.

I've been buying all secondhand for years, great quality stuff at a knock down price. I trust it more than buying clothes from Amazon or Shein.

Obviously I cannot speak for everyone but I most definitely do not do 'fast fashion'. As I've said, Shein is not somewhere I shop often but I do have items from there. I swam this morning, Shein bikini (absolutely nothing wrong with it) that I've had for four years and will keep until it wears out. Same for my other items.

Last night I went to the pub in a Shein top that I've had for longer than the bikini, along with second-hand jeans and second-hand boots, jacket from a much more expensive shop that again, the lining has gone in. If I was a different sort of person (perhaps the ones you refer to!) I would've got rid of it, but I just put up with the inconvenience.

"The new testing found that 7 of the 18 products contained concerningly high levels of PFAS. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of 10,000 synthetic chemicals, sometimes called ‘forever chemicals’, as they are highly persistent and take generations to break down in the environment. Exposure to some PFAS has been linked with adverse health impacts, including certain cancers, reduced fertility, and the disruption of the immune system." from https://chemtrust.org/news/report_finds_hazardous_chemicals_in_shein_clothing_above_eu_limits/)

Also your "bargain" dressing up costumes and kids nightwear will go up in flames much more readily than UK bought items which have to meet the standards.

Yes, the clothes waste is horrific - these labels produce far more clothes every day than anyone is ever going to wear and so much goes straight to landfill, it's horrendous. They could probably cut their output by 90% and probably still make a profit, in fact they might make more profit because they won't have to dump so much stuff. The world is dying for this week's Insta aesthetic...

If you're not convinced, watch 'Buy Now' on Netflix. I watched it 2 years ago and immediately stopped buying clothes on the high street - I only buy second hand, Vinted or small labels now. Honestly, if you're into fashion you can find everything you need on Vinted pretty much.

Yeah seriously 😬 just buy secondhand if you don't want to spend much?

I'm assuming most people haven't seen the images of even shops like H&M burning tonnes of perfectly usable new clothes still with tags on.

Consumers never like higher prices unless they get some thing for it like higher quaility (or higher welfare with animals) and even then there will be moans and it will often hit poor people harder.

US consumers have not been happy to pay tariffs and higher prices for many things are a big electoral issue.

Higher prices in UK when cost of living is still hurting many could be political hard to justify but could be spun - though biggest manufactoring issue in UK is enegry prices.

Amazon paying higher taxes would be popular but that rising prices on the site would be moaned at.

Do I think consumer paying more for chinese goods is a good idea - well depends what the good are, cheap solar pannels seems good idea for everyone - how much more and what impact that will have on anything else - if it's part of a supply chain can cause job losses along that.

I personally would only want to pay more for clothes if they had old lasting quality - but actual shops or on-line they do not tend to.

Making own clothes is not a cheap option either - charity shops are often now fairly expensive option as well. I personally am not buying clothes every week or even every month - have some items over 20 year old - older than my first child but most modern purchases do not have that lasting quality but are not cheap either.

I susepct it's inconsistant partly becuase it is complex and partly becuase everyone wants others to pay but not themselves - like most taxes.

Not ‘cute’ at all, how condescending.

Many, many people across all walks of life are concerned about the high street or lack of. Empty shells, scruffy, tacky shops, being over run with nail bars, vape shops and as a cover for money laundering for organised crime. The centre of many towns and some cities, decimated.

Stop the cheap online Chinese imports and we would have to buy from the high street. Even the retail park is better than that.
Less Chinese imports, more customers, lower prices, more competition, more choice, more businesses, more jobs.

Jobs, social contact, improved quality, shops in use, so much less waste.

So far away from ‘cute’ as could be.

I simply don’t understand why we’re allowing companies that don’t contribute to the UK economy to undercut those that do. Yes Primark etc might buy their stock from China, but they will pay millions in business rates on their shops, employ thousands of people and will pay millions in tax (including payroll taxes like employers NICs). Directly or indirectly they will employ warehouse and delivery staff as well.

Temu and Shein contribute none of that, and are not conforming to the same safety standards.

it is self harm on a national level.

I dont buy fripperies on amazon. i buy essential goods which I cant get locally.

Sorry but you keep saying if we didnt have cheap Chinese imports we’d have to use the high street …not if the shops aren’t there they cant. People will still but online from M and S for example if that what they do know. Stopping the likes of Shein make no difference to my shopping habits because I dont buy from them anyway.

My the way, I would love to see clean thriving high streets everywhere but I think the problem is too complex to be solvable as you suggest.

Local shops, independent shops are all very well if they sell things that people really need.
Our high street is full of jewellery, hairdressers, cafes, and the odd boutique clothes shop, utterly useless, I can't do but things i want or need from there, so it's online all the way, groceries are delivered, as is 90% of everything else I want.
And still local people bleat on about supporting our high street! There's only so many haircuts and coffee one can take.

I don't buy from Shein but I do order online. If I go to my local high street I have to battle to find super expensive parking. Run the gauntlet of drunk or drug addled homeless in the car park stair well and then the shops don't stock anything in my fairly ordinary size and offer to order it in for me. I might as well bypass the whole disapointing experience and just buy online.

Not to mention it costing about £60 for a couple of coffees and toasties these days in town.

Yes a bit of that last line. Although there does seem to be the idea higher US prices are bad, the French or EU higher prices are good.

It’s all the same. The price has been increased to reduce demand. And consumers will feel it here, US or France etc

My problem with these things is that shops sell the same shite as shein, temu etc. So you want me to pay more for the same item so a shop owner can make the profit off me?

I'm in Ireland and we already have a €3 per item levy on out of EU retailers, which once the delivery crowd have taken their cut ends up being the guts of a tenner.

I'm not a massive consumer anyway whether that is online or in person so it has minimal effects on me but I do question why it's OK to buy mountains of plastic rubbish wholesale to sell to people but it isn't OK for someone to buy 1 thing for themselves.

Please do you research before you come out with comments like this
"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."

Stop the cheap online Chinese imports and we would have to buy from the high street. Even the retail park is better than that.
Less Chinese imports, more customers, lower prices, more competition, more choice, more businesses, more jobs.

We wouldn't have to use high streets - because many UK retailers as well as other countrees are on-line.

In fact as I said earlier many UK retailer have been pushing their on-line sites in preference to people asking for goods in actual shops.

Many actual phycial shops are selling goods manufactored in china.

The textile industry used to be huge in UK - MIL worked in it biigest empoyer when she started in it gone before she retired - but they rely on imports and did decades before she retired. Maufactoring cloth in this country is expensive partly due to high energy costs. My friend also worked clothes sector design - meant a lot of time in chinese factories to produce clothing designed and sold in uk.

Should these companies pay tax here - very possibly - will taxing them bring back the high street probably not.

It is cute, because you think the high street can make a comeback, and it can’t.

Stopping the imports would do nothing. We’d still all be buying online because it’s cheaper, easier and quicker with lots more choice and you can do it whenever you want.

Stop trying to push your rose tinted nostalgia on everyone else. The high street is dead.

Some demand can't be reduced - parts only made in China.

Plus there were a lot of small importers who imported small sometimes designed by them lines - china was apparently best for short runs as US was way to expensive for most if they could even find the service in US - sold usually via on-line shops in US occaionally in actual shops who had to close or reduce stock and reduce business.

The same practices are used everywhere.

All high street shops use the same type of labour. They just put it on a hanger and display it nicely.

Same with pet stuff.

Putting something on a shelf and paying an actual human doesn’t change that.

You can pretend that that the high street is somehow ‘’better’ than SHEIN but it isn’t.

Same factories. Same people. Same problems.