SHEIN

Reasons to avoid

1. Shein adds between 2,000 and 10,000 new clothing styles to its platform every single day, a model that retail analysts say drives an enormous amount of disposable consumption and textile waste. Most items are designed to be trendy for a fleeting moment and worn only a handful of times before being discarded, with Shein's annual carbon emissions estimated at around 6.3 million tons of CO2.cbsnews.com2023-08-30
2. A CNN investigation found that as of 2024, workers at Shein's Chinese supplier factories were still working 75-hour weeks in violation of Chinese labor law, despite Shein's repeated pledges to address the problem after earlier investigations. Workers told CNN they worked from 8am to 10:30pm with one day off per month, earning piecework wages so low that taking additional days off was financially out of reach.cnn.com2024-05-13
3. Three independent designers filed a federal racketeering lawsuit against Shein in July 2023 alleging the company sold exact copies of their original artwork without permission and does so systematically as part of its business model. A federal judge denied Shein's motion to dismiss the case in November 2024, finding the RICO claims had sufficient merit to proceed to trial.fashiondive.com2024-11-13
4. A Greenpeace Germany investigation published in November 2025 found that 18 of 56 Shein garments tested still contained hazardous chemicals exceeding EU regulatory limits, including children's clothing and items with PFAS "forever chemicals" linked to cancer and reproductive disorders. The findings came three years after a 2022 Greenpeace investigation found identical violations and Shein pledged to improve its chemical compliance.greenpeace.org2025-11-20