Seoul govt finds high levels of toxic chemicals in Shein products

Seoul: Children s products sold by the Chinese founded online shopping giant Shein contained toxic substances in amounts hundreds of times above accep...

Seoul: Children's products sold by the Chinese-founded online shopping giant Shein contained toxic substances in amounts hundreds of times above acceptable levels, the government of South Korea's capital Seoul said Tuesday.

Shein, headquartered in Singapore, has skyrocketed in popularity around the world in recent years, offering a vast selection of trendy clothes and accessories at stunningly low prices.

This explosive growth has also led to increased scrutiny of its business practices and safety standards, including in the European Union and South Korea -- where Seoul authorities have been conducting weekly inspections of items sold by platforms including Shein, Temu and AliExpress.

In the latest round, they selected eight products sold by Shein, including children's shoes, leather bags and a belt and found several to contain high amounts of phthalates -- chemicals used to soften plastics.

One pair of shoes contained 428 times the permitted levels of phthalates -- the highest observed so far during the Seoul inspections -- and three bags had amounts as high as 153 times the limit, the city government said.