Ultra-fast fashion site Shein has captured the wallets of young shoppers. But at what cost?
CBC
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If you haven't come across Shein by now, it's probably because you were never meant to.
The Chinese fashion site has grown exponentially in recent years with a hyper-targeted social media strategy that's captured the attention — and wallets — of gen-Z and millennial shoppers.
For younger consumers with a desire to be fashionable and often less disposable income, Shein feels almost irresistible.
"I don't think there are many players in the world that target younger consumers like Shein does," said Charles de Brabant, the executive director of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management at McGill University in Montreal.
Toronto resident Jai Elanko says she shops at Shein when she's looking for an affordable basic or a one-time wear for an occasion.
"I'm like, 'okay, I'm going to wear it one or two times or a few times, but I don't really care too much about the quality itself,'" said Elanko.
And although the material isn't on-par with other brands, the 27-year-old says the price makes up for it.
Shein is now said to be valued at a whopping $100 billion, overtaking large players in the industry like Zara and H&M as it proves itself to be a leader in e-commerce. However, the company has faced criticism over sustainability concerns from, among other practices, the staggering pace of production.
While Zara has some 600 products labelled "new" on their site, Shein pumps out upwards of 6,000 new products in a day at significantly lower price points than its competitors.
A CBC Marketplace investigation last fall also found Shein was one of several online retailers selling products with elevated levels of toxic chemicals, which were then removed from its site.
Despite much attention over the years to the unsustainable practices of the fashion industry — and a youth demographic who claims to care about the environment — the site's rise is evidence that fast fashion is getting even faster.
Shein was founded in 2012 by current CEO Chris Xu as a business-to-consumer retailer that acquires products from manufacturers domestically and sells them globally.
According to their U.S. site, their "digitally empowered agile supply chain" enables them to arrange small-batch orders from manufacturers that can be delivered quickly to consumers, to see what's hot.
