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Original poster

Shein clothing

82 replies

Choccymumma · 27/07/2021 07:07

Is this as good as it looks? I've seen so many things I like but wondered if anyone can recommend it? Also the sizing? I'm a 14/16 so looks like an XL, any tips?

OP posts:
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Original poster
Choccymumma · 27/07/2021 08:48

@tootingbeclido

I see so many threads asking about them, I now wonder if it's a marketing strategy. my sil ordered from them.....honestly it was awful shite
No marketing here, I promise!Smile A mixed bag then, thanks all.
OP posts:
Fleetw00d · 27/07/2021 08:52

I've had two orders from there and been pleasantly surprised, I can't imagine it's great for the environment as it's fast fashion etc, but I just needed a few cheap floaty dresses to get me a through a post baby breastfeeding summer. You get what you pay for, the material is cheap but you can't really tell and on the whole everything I've bought has been well made. I've only bought dresses so can't comment on the denim or anything which is usually a better indication of shops I've found. I would order from them again as when you do a big order you get a discount, shipping has taken a week and returns are easy. I also like that people post reviews with pictures (you get money on your account for doing this) so it's handy to see how normal people look in the clothes.

Fleetw00d · 27/07/2021 08:54

Oh should add I was a pre pregnancy 12 and now a 12/14 so ordered a large and it all fitted really well. Have also got a lovely cardi from there which I love. Have received loads of compliments on stuff I've worn from there

CassandraTrotter · 27/07/2021 08:57

My tween dd loves the shop and has had a lot of outfits from there with no issues at all.

I do hope those posters being dramatic and questioning other people morals are vegan and do not have a car or smart phone.

doadeer · 27/07/2021 09:08

It's just like primark stuff from china. I have a few jumpers I like but it's not high quality

UnusuallyUsual · 27/07/2021 09:21

I have just discovered Shein and I'm pleasantly surprised. I always look at the pictures of real people wearing the clothes before I buy. I've ordered 6 items and have not been dissapointed

BlairWaldorfLovesShopping · 27/07/2021 09:22

Yawn, yet another thread where people can't or won't see the problems with Shein and other direct-from-China retailers.

@CassandraTrotter I would argue that a car and a smartphone are more essential for modern life than cheap plastic clothes made by slaves, wouldn't you? There are many other options at every price point. If you need a car or a phone, you need a car or a phone. It's acceptable to buy these second hand, but less so for clothes, why?

Original poster
Choccymumma · 27/07/2021 09:22

@CassandraTrotter

My tween dd loves the shop and has had a lot of outfits from there with no issues at all.

I do hope those posters being dramatic and questioning other people morals are vegan and do not have a car or smart phone.

😁
OP posts:
Wjevtvha · 27/07/2021 09:25

Read the reviews on there and look at the photos they post, I bought 2 dresses and a top, I ended up sending one dress back as didn’t like the material but other dress and top were lovely

CassandraTrotter · 27/07/2021 10:04

@BlairWaldorfLovesShopping who do you think is making your phone?

Blueskytoday06 · 27/07/2021 10:36

I really want to like their stuff....buttt although it's super cheap most of the clothes are made from polyester. Obvs if you like that, then it's def for you but I prefer cotton. It's a shame as the clothes look really lovely in the photos & the prices lure you in. I bought some items for my hol and they're ok but in the heat, the polyester makes me warmer.

BlairWaldorfLovesShopping · 27/07/2021 10:39

@CassandraTrotter I am not claiming to be ethical in all aspects of my life and I know that Apple and other phone manufacturers are involved with some horrible practices. In fact I am pretty selfish. I eat meat, I have a new iPhone every 3 years, and my DH and I both have cars bought second hand. I'll own that. However this is my point:

  • Alternatives to eating meat are (to me) not very nice and I don't want to give up eating meat.
  • I need a car to get to work, there is no public transport.
  • My work buys me a phone; if they didn't I would probably get a refurbished one, I never get the latest model anyway so it would make no difference to me. Having no phone at all is not an alternative in the 21st century.
BUT
  • No one, NO ONE needs to buy clothes from Shein. There are loads and loads of alternatives. It is not a moral dilemma, there is no justification in my view. If you don't have much money to spend on clothes, go to H&M or Primark. These companies are based in Europe and therefore subject to much higher levels of social responsibility and regulation. There may be ethical issues with them but in my opinion it is for individual people to look into and decide if they are happy with it. I don't see how anyone can be happy with buying from Shein if they have looked into the multiple ethical issues.

Also there is a massive difference between "I have no money for clothes and I bought a £10 dress from Primark" and "I like cheap clothes and I bought 15-20 items this summer from Shein" (an actual example - not a quote! - from this thread). Would be happy to hear a justification for that tbh. Or an argument from you about how someone needing 15 items of Shein clothing in 1 season is equivalent to me needing a smartphone.

ShadowsInTheDarkness · 27/07/2021 10:47

I buy a lot from SHEIN. You do need to read carefully on each item, especially the materials list as has been previously mentioned some of the fabrics are not great. I now avoid anything which has spandex or similar mentioned in the list. There are a surprising number of polycotton and cotton items on there and their velvet items are always lovely.

As has been mentioned, read the reviews for sizings. When you make an account you can add all your measurements and lots of the items have specific size ranges on their listings - so it'll say L (up to 72cm) etc I'm a short 10/12 and tend to buy a mix of large and medium. I don't like overly tight clothing and don't mind adjusting straps myself if things are too big in the bust.

I would say if you're prepared to make adjustments as needed and don't mind high street quality then go for it. If you regularly shop in fat face and white stuff then it's probably not for you.

ShadowsInTheDarkness · 27/07/2021 10:56

[quote BlairWaldorfLovesShopping]@CassandraTrotter I am not claiming to be ethical in all aspects of my life and I know that Apple and other phone manufacturers are involved with some horrible practices. In fact I am pretty selfish. I eat meat, I have a new iPhone every 3 years, and my DH and I both have cars bought second hand. I'll own that. However this is my point:

  • Alternatives to eating meat are (to me) not very nice and I don't want to give up eating meat.
  • I need a car to get to work, there is no public transport.
  • My work buys me a phone; if they didn't I would probably get a refurbished one, I never get the latest model anyway so it would make no difference to me. Having no phone at all is not an alternative in the 21st century.
BUT
  • No one, NO ONE needs to buy clothes from Shein. There are loads and loads of alternatives. It is not a moral dilemma, there is no justification in my view. If you don't have much money to spend on clothes, go to H&M or Primark. These companies are based in Europe and therefore subject to much higher levels of social responsibility and regulation. There may be ethical issues with them but in my opinion it is for individual people to look into and decide if they are happy with it. I don't see how anyone can be happy with buying from Shein if they have looked into the multiple ethical issues.

Also there is a massive difference between "I have no money for clothes and I bought a £10 dress from Primark" and "I like cheap clothes and I bought 15-20 items this summer from Shein" (an actual example - not a quote! - from this thread). Would be happy to hear a justification for that tbh. Or an argument from you about how someone needing 15 items of Shein clothing in 1 season is equivalent to me needing a smartphone.[/quote]
I think it's quite hard to think about the ethics of shopping from stores like this when you are actually living poverty. I am luckily no longer in that place of choosing between heating my home and eating but I was a few years ago. When my children suddenly had a growth spurt and needed a load of clothes it was totally and completely about getting the cost down as low as possible. Free delivery for online shopping over a bus fare into a big town with two small screaming children in tow would have been a no brainer. If someone had tried to lecture me on the morals of my choice I would have cried!

Now I'm a full time student with 2 older children in a very rural area. A student income is more comfortable than benefits and we no longer have to worry about heating the house. All bills are paid. I no longer worry about where the next meal is coming from. But we have no savings and certainly don't have much disposable income, especially over the summer months when there is no student finance. So I still fall back on the cheapest option when it comes to clothing my children and myself. I make ethical choices in areas that are easy and low cost for me - we keep hens, raise lambs for meat, grow our own fruit and veg and have our dairy delivered from the farm up the road. But if I start shopping at primark (which is 1.5 hours away) by the time you factor in the slightly higher prices and the fuel/train fare that's a chunk off the food shop for the next few weeks or several pounds short to pay the electric bill that month.

It's easy to lecture on morals from a position of comfort. People making choices to shop at places like this may feel uneasy about it, and may make different choices when they are financially better off, but for lots of people it isn't so much a choice as necessity.

Cantspeakup · 27/07/2021 11:42

I've bought a couple of items, dead cheap, they came up small and didn't wash well.

BlairWaldorfLovesShopping · 27/07/2021 11:43

I take your point @ShadowsInTheDarkness and glad things are better now. Shein didn't exist a few years ago though so presumably you had to buy your children's clothes online from a UK/european retailer then? And I understand not everyone has a local Primark - that was just an example. H&M offer free delivery, I think you might have to join their members club though - but that's free. I don't know how old your children are now, but other cheaper shops that sell online at low prices are Matalan, M&Co, George, Tu, Stradivarius, Pull & Bear, Asos, New Look.

I would be surprised if the majority of the people on this thread who have shopped at Shein felt that they had no other choice. Maybe I am in a position of comfort, but it's the people who buy loads from Shein when they could have shopped elsewhere that get my goat. Posters upthread don't seem uneasy about their choices.

Iamthewombat · 27/07/2021 11:54

How many people forced to choose between heat and food are buying themselves 15-20 new garments for the summer in one go?

CorianderBee · 27/07/2021 11:58

Ah yes, lovely, cheap sweatshop clothing.

magicstar1 · 27/07/2021 12:03

I’m plus size and do find it difficult to get clothes I like for holidays etc. Shein have been great and I also got a lot for DH which he loves. They have styles I haven’t seen anywhere else. My father is very particular in his shirts and I just got him two perfect ones..he can’t believe how good they are.

OhHeyItsSaturday · 27/07/2021 12:24

Lots of 'do as I say, not as I do' lecturing on this thread! The height of arrogance!

senoritarita · 27/07/2021 12:35

I bought a few things and kept 2 dresses. Both are great! Wash well and I keep getting compliments when I wear them. I really like how you can see pictures of 'real women' wearing them. Totally different to just seeing them modelled by 6ft leggy beauties

Iamthewombat · 27/07/2021 14:22

@OhHeyItsSaturday

Lots of 'do as I say, not as I do' lecturing on this thread! The height of arrogance!
So you think that the posters saying that Shein’s ethical record isn’t great are, er, buying 15-20 Shein garments at a time and pretending that they are not?

Or are you just offended that that particular poster doesn’t fully endorse your buying choices?

OhHeyItsSaturday · 27/07/2021 14:53

Nope I think it's a cheek for BlairWaldorf to pointedly say she's not environmentally friendly but lecture people on buying from Shein. All the shops she's quoted as being 'cheap' aren't particularly free of slave labour or sweatshops either.

Iamthewombat · 27/07/2021 14:59

Surely her point was that driving a car and owning a mobile phone are less discretionary than buying a load of stuff to be shipped from China that you’ll wear a couple of times then chuck?

I don’t think that she argued that the supply chains for either of those things were entirely free of dodgy ethical practices or slave labour although she argued, correctly, that fashion businesses based in Europe are subject to higher supply chain standards.

BlairWaldorfLovesShopping · 27/07/2021 15:19

@OhHeyItsSaturday are you saying that no one is allowed an opinion on ethical matters unless they themselves live a completely ethical life? Who even would decide what that entailed?

Or are you saying that you think the decision to own a smartphone is equally ethically dubious as buying 15 items from Shein in 1 season?

Re the "cheap" shops, those were examples of places someone could shop if short on cash, which are not Shein. I didn't say they were perfect. But they are not as bad as Shein.

This is not my own opinion. goodonyou.eco/ gives the following ratings for my previous list:
Matalan - 2/5 (Not good enough)
M&Co - not on the site
George - 2/5
Tu - not on the site
Stradivarius - 2/5
Pull & Bear - 2/5
Asos - 2/5
New Look - 2/5
Shein - 1/5 (We avoid) directory.goodonyou.eco/brand/shein