Review summary
Shein is a Chinese online fast fashion retailer that sells extremely cheap clothing made in China.
If you’re looking for products made ethically, sustainably and to be long-lasting – shop elsewhere, if you can.
The fast fashion business model they use overlooks, enables and/or incentivizes instances of harsh labour conditions, dangerous materials in clothes, theft of intellectual property and environmental damage.
However, they are not alone in this, as their closest competitors including Zara, H&M, Gap and Uniqlo have also been the target of similar reports and lawsuits.
Choosing ethically and sustainably made goods is a privilege, and need not apply to those who require the affordability these companies provide. If you need affordable clothing or want a unique statement pieces for a special occasion, then Shein is worth considering.
Buying only what you need and looking after your clothes puts you way ahead of the Shein haulers who are promoting overconsumption and waste.
Pros
- Very low prices
- Free shipping on orders over $39
- Massive selection
- Trendy designs
- Plus sizes
Cons
- Long delivery times
- Low quality
- Poor labour practices
- Environmental concerns
- Many instances of IP theft
Before ordering from Shein:
- Read customer reviews and look at photos of the product posted by customers. Filter for local reviews and for 2, 3 and 4 star reviews as those are less likely to be fake.
- Check the sizing charts that are on every listing. Sizing is not consistent since the clothing comes from hundreds of different suppliers.
- Avoid everyday basics as the low quality will not last through frequent wear. Shein is better for finding unique statement pieces worn infrequently or for a special occasion.
Shein Coupon Code
Sign up to get 15% off your first order (no minimum) and other Shein coupon codes
If you shop for clothing online you’ve probably come across the name Shein and you may have even ordered an outfit or two from them, but might not know much about the company behind the clothing.
Shein’s low prices, trendy designs and social media savvy have led to its popularity with Gen Z shoppers (ages 9 to 24), and has quickly grown to become a fashion giant on par with the more well-known H&M and Zara.
However, there are “dark sides” to the fast fashion brand’s business that have also aided in its success.
Here is what I found out about the company – good and bad – after doing a deep dive into how Shein works:
What is Shein?
Shein (pronounced “she-in”) is a Chinese fast fashion B2C retailer that sells trendy clothes made in China by a network of thousands of designer-suppliers, shipping them from China directly to consumers in Canada and more than 220 other countries. It became largest fast fashion company in the world in April 2022, more than competitors Zara and H&M combined. Their closest alternatives are Zaful, boohoo and Fashion Nova.
Shein launched in the US in September 2022 by opening a warehouse in Whitestown, Indiana and in Canada in November 2022 by opening a 170,000 sq. ft. warehouse and Canadian head office located at 10 Canfield Dr. in Markham, Ontario.
Their popularity has been driven by savvy ads and influencer posts on social media: Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, where teens and influencers share their #SheinHaul – what came in their latest bulk order.
They have over 29 million followers on Instagram, 30 million on Facebook and 7.9 million on TikTok and ranking 17th on the App Store in Canada and 4th on Google Play in Canada, where it has more than 100 million total downloads.
Shein’s rapid growth comes at a time when consumers are feeling squeezed financially – first facing the highest inflation in decades, and now rising interest rates, making low prices more appealing.
How does Shein work?
Shein has around 250 in-house designers and 10,000 employees, but mostly sources designs from outside designers and those submitted by its own suppliers, which find pictures online and send them to Shein for review.
Approved designs are ordered in small test batches of 100 to 200 pieces, with orders automatically distributed across its several hundred main suppliers, and a vast, opaque network of thousands of sub-contractors that mostly run small, informal production sites densely concentrated in Guangzhou, China.
The whole production process, from design to packaging supposedly takes one week, compared to competitors’ 2 to 3 weeks.
Shein adds 2,000 to 6,000 new products a day, 10x more than its closest competitors and sells them for considerably less.
The company uses algorithms based on customer’s viewing and buying behaviour, to determine popularity and make additional orders as needed in almost real time – usually from the supplier that manufactured the initial order – and if not, the item is discontinued. Only 6% of their inventory is still in stock after 90 days.
The finished items are then sent to Shein’s warehouse in Foshan, owned by American logistics company Prologis where they are shipped out directly to consumers across Canada, taking 9 to 25 days to arrive.
Shein vs Temu
Shein and Temu are both Chinese-founded companies that sell low-cost products made in China to consumers in Canada and other countries. Temu’s launch aims to replicate Shein’s success in selling to consumers in North America.
While Shein initially focused primarily on apparel and Temu on household products, both are expanding their product categories to become Amazon-like marketplaces that sell everything. The two rivals are competing with each other more directly for Gen-Zs attention and have to go after the same suppliers.
- In December 2022, Shein filed a lawsuit against Temu, alleging that told social media influencers to make disparaging remarks about them such as “Shein is not the only cheap option for clothing! Check Temu.com out, cheaper and way better quality” and “Looking for clothes better than Shein but cheaper than Revolve? Check Temu.com out” and tricked customers into downloading the Temu app using “imposter” social media accounts.
- In July 2023, Temu sued Shein for asking it’s 8,000+ manufacturers to sign exclusivity agreements and loyalty oaths preventing them from selling on Temu. They also claim that Shein is filing false copyright infringement claims, forcing Temu to remove more than 10,000 products that they sell at cheaper prices than Shein does.
TikTok is launching its own a Shopping Center in 2023 to compete with Temu and Shein and replicate their success in the US and Canada.
Shein vs Zara
Both companies are fast fashion retailers.
Both companies use frequent new additions, limited quantities and the short window of opportunity for purchasing items motivate people to visit Shein’s app and Zara’s shops more frequently than they might other retailers.
Shein can be up to 50% cheaper than other fast fashion companies like H&M and Zara, but is typically lower quality.
Zara takes a design from concept to production in 15 days, creating add 10,000 to 24,000 new designs annually, while Shein’s production timeline is 7 days and adds 2,000 to 6,000 new items per day.
Shein has a larger selection of products. In 2022 the Gap listed roughly 12,000 different items on its website, H&M about 25,000, and Zara 35,000 while Shein had 1.3 million over a 12-month period, according to University of Delaware professor Sheng Lu.
Zara’s unsold items account for less than 10% of stock, compared with the industry average of 17% to 20%, while Shein claims their unsold items are in the low single digits.
Is Shein legitimate?
Yes, Shein is a legitimate online retailer.
They have received funding from big-name investors, raising $1.5 billion at a peak valuation of $100 billion in April 2022 – more than Zara and H&M combined – making it the 3rd most valuable private company in the world after TikTok and SpaceX. It also raised $2 billion at a valuation of $64 billion in May 2023. The company’s revenue was estimated to be US$24 billion in 2022 and is planning to IPO in the US in 2024.
The products are real and you will receive them – eventually – as it takes 9 to 25 days for them to arrive at Canadian addresses.
The company has done pop-ups in:
Who owns Shein?
Shein is a privately-owned Chinese company founded by now-billionaire Chris Xu (Xu Yangtian), a US-born entrepreneur and SEO specialist.
The company is part-owned by the following investment groups: JAFCO Asia, IDG Capital, Sequoia Capital China, General Atlantic, Mubadala (United Arab Emirates’ sovereign wealth fund) and Tiger Global Management.
It was founded as “ZZKKO” under Nanjing Dianwei Information Technology, a cross-border e-commerce business, in 2008 in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
The companies name was changed to SheInside in 2011 and primarily sold wedding dresses and womenswear. The name was changed again to Shein in 2015 after it acquired Romwe, a Chinese fast fashion company with warehouses and offices in California.
It is headquartered in Singapore under parent company Roadget Business Pte Ltd after being moved from Nanjing in 2022 to circumvent China’s new rules on overseas IPOs.
How is Shein so cheap?
Many of the prices on Shein Canada’s website seem unbelievable and too good to be true:
… plus free international shipping on orders over $39.
So, what’s the catch?
According to Shein, they “use on-demand manufacturing technology to connect suppliers to our agile supply chain, reducing inventory waste and enabling us to deliver a variety of affordable products to customers around the world.”
Here is why Shein can sell at such low prices:
Labour practices
Shein’s Our People page states that they do not engage in child or forced labor and that if their suppliers do, they terminate their relationship and report them immediately. They also say they proactively campaign against unethical practices and support organizations that fight to end them.
An investigation by a Swiss NGO found that Shein’s suppliers’ and suppliers’ sub-contractors factory workers work in mostly small, informal production sites set up in former residential buildings in Nancun Town, Guangzhou, China that lack basic safety standards for upwards of 11 to 13 hours a day and 75 hours a week.
They are paid per piece of clothing made, which ends up being around 4,000 to 10,000 yuan ($750 to $1,900) per month, with no basic wage or overtime premium in most instances without an employment contract, breaking multiple Chinese labour laws.
However, the employees feel that they don’t really have an alternative.
De minimis loophole and US-China trade war
In the US, Shein and other China-to-consumer companies benefit from two tax advantages that allow them to avoid paying export and import taxes:
- Import: Orders valued at less than the de minimis threshold of $800 don’t have to pay import duties or be inspected by US Customs when entering the US. The threshold was increased from $200 to $800 in 2016 to reduce costs to the private sector and facilitate trade, as advocated for by large online retailers and delivery services.
- Export: China waived up to 13% in export taxes for direct-to-consumer companies in 2018 as part of their response to the trade war.
For example, a typical cotton T-shirt doesn’t have to pay up 13% in import taxes, a 16.5% import duty or a 7.5% tariff specific to China, resulting in savings of 37%. In 2022, Gap and H&M paid $700 million and $205 million in import duties, respectively, compared to $0 by Temu or Shein.
Temu and Shein alone are likely responsible for more than 30% of all packages shipped to the United States daily under the de minimis provision according to Fast Fashion and the Uyghur Genocide by the US House Select Committee on China.
In Canada, the de minimis threshold is much lower at $20, so goods imported from any country (including China) valued above amount are subject to duties and taxes.
Cutting out the middleman
Chinese-based companies like Shein, Temu and AliExpress allow the manufacturing base in China to sell directly to Canadian consumers and cut out higher margin US- and Canada-based middlemen: wholesalers, distributors, retailers, private label and dropshipping brands that add their own margin at each step, a process known as “disintermediation“.
Lower quality
There is a lot of variability in quality since the items come from hundreds of different suppliers, but in general you get what you pay for – there are $6 dresses and $150 dresses. Some are absolutely terrible while others great for the price, but are generally not high quality – falling apart after a few wears.
The workers who make them are paid per piece, so they are assembled quickly and the quality expectations are “not particularly high”, according to a factory worker.
That isn’t to say all clothes made in China are low quality. Higher-end Kit & Ace and sustainable Patagonia also make apparel in China, but with different specification and quality control requirements and greater transparency.
Benefits of Shein
Shein offers a lot of great shopping features that I wish other platforms would add:
Free shipping and low order minimum
Shein has free shipping on orders over $39, which takes 1 to 3 days for processing, then 10 to 13 days to arrive at a Canadian address and free express shipping on orders over $129, which arrives in 8 to 10 days. For orders below these thresholds, standard shipping is $3.95 and express shipping is $26.
Sizing information
They include the sizing of the model in the images, as well as the item’s exact size in cm or inches so you can confirm a near-exact fit:
Sales data and reviews
Product listings include:
- Customer reviews of the product with photos
- Reviews of the seller
- Filter reviews by rating, keywords, location and product colour and size
Free returns for 45 days
Shein’s Return Policy in Canada states that you can return items that are unused, undamaged and in its original packaging for a full refund within 45 days from the date of purchase (not the date you received the items). Return shipping is free, but only on the first return processed on every order.
This means that if you return one of the items from an order, it will be free. If you later decide to return another item from that same order, a $9 return shipping fee will be deducted from your refund.
They do not accept returns of:
- Bodysuits, lingerie, underwear, jewelry, accessories, cosmetics pet products, and any other items for which return or exchange is noted as not being supported.
- Items that are labeled as non-refundable
- Free gifts
Designer dupes
You can get designer dupes (look-alikes) on Shein for a fraction of the price. However, on the flip side Shein has been caught copying and ripping off talented independent designers’ creations.
Downsides of Shein
Companies like Shein and Temu face growing concerns and reports of their connections to the use of slave labor, selling clothes contaminated with lead and other dangerous chemicals, and the unsustainable approach of producing cheap, low-quality products that end up in giant landfills.
Shein’s Code of Ethics and Supplier Code of Conduct requires its sellers to meet bare-minimum requirements, including: following the law, prohibiting involuntary employment, child labour, discrimination, wage theft and slave labour.
The company reserves the right to inspect and supervise their suppliers by interviewing employees, entering their workplace and accessing documents upon request – with or without notice. If in violation, they negotiate a remediation plan to resolve it and if that doesn’t work, terminate its business relationship with the supplier.
However, 10 employees interviewed were not aware of any such audits having taken place.
To counter these reports, Shein invited a collection of influencers on a sponsored trip to visit the “Shein Innovation Centre” in Guangzhou, China in June 2023:
Many of their followers on social media responded negatively, pointing out that the tour did not include the companies warehouses or other factories and describing the trip as propaganda for the company:
Shein publishes Sustainability and Social Impact Reports. Their 2021 report that found out of 700 suppliers audited, 83% had “major risks” and 12% had zero tolerance violations which could include underage or forced labor, or severe health and safety issues.
Questionable labour practices
In addition to the exploited workers in clothing factories in China, tests by Agroisolab GmbH in Germany linked the cotton in Shein’s clothing to cotton from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), where the Uyghur people and other minorities have been subject to numerous human rights violations including mass imprisonment, forced labour (picking cotton), forced sterilization, torture and other forms of mistreatment.
The region accounts for about 20% of the world’s cotton production and 80% of China’s domestic cotton production.
Canada amended the Customs Tariff Act on July 1, 2020 to prohibit importing goods produced, in whole or in part, by forced or compulsory labour for any country. This is enforced by the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA).
The US banned the import of many products from the region in 2021 with the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), but Shein’s use of the de minimis exemption means that the products cannot practically be subjected to UFLPA enforcement in the US.
Shein is of course not alone in this, the Select Committee sent warning letters to Nike, Adidas and Temu as well.
Selling clothes containing dangerous materials
Out of 38 samples of children’s, adult’s and maternity clothes and accessories from Zaful, AliExpress, and Shein, one in five items had elevated levels of chemicals including lead, PFAS and phthalates according to a CBC Marketplace investigation in 2021. A Shein jacket meant for toddlers had almost 20x the amount of lead that is deemed safe for children in Canada (90 mg/kg).
Lead in clothes can’t cause immediate, drastic harm, but ongoing exposure to lead may be harmful, particularly for children and toddlers who absorb lead more easily. Low-level exposure can harm children’s development according to Health Canada.
Shein responded by removing the products in question and saying that in 2022 they had laboratories conduct over 160,000 chemical safety tests on raw materials and found that more than 99% of the products were determined to be safe, along with additional tests for cosmetics, children’s wear, and other products:
111 Shein children’s sleepwear sets were recalled after failing to meet flammability requirements, posing a risk of burn injuries to children.
Poor environmental sustainability
Shein says they’re committed to environmental sustainability by digitalizing the economy, cutting supply chain waste, and offsetting carbon emissions. They also have set the following sustainability goals:
- 25% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
- 100% forest safe viscose by 2025
- 50% of traditional screen printing transitioned to zero-water-use digital transfer
Their Sustainable Practices page passes off existing business practices as intentional sustainability programs. They sound great, but are actually empty statements:
Only producing 50-100 pieces of each new product, before going into large-scale production.
According to Shein, their unsold inventory is in the low single digits, compared to the industry average of 17% to 20%.
This says nothing of the quality of the purchased products that are worn once or twice and then discarded, ending up in landfills.
Shifting towards more sustainable materials such as recycled polyester, increasing recycled materials in packaging are important components of our sustainability strategy.
Only about 0.2% of the 12,000 Shein items made from plastics checked included any reference to recycled materials. And sustainable fabrics are simply less harmful due to their reduced environmental impact, fabric takes a lot of energy and resources to produce.
Shein’s Good On You rating is “We Avoid” and states that they use hazardous chemicals and makes no effort to lower its carbon footprint. Eco-Stylist gave them a 4/100 rating.
Selling counterfeits and knockoffs
Since 2021, Shein has been the subject of at least 40 US lawsuits alleging that it infringed on intellectual property.
Shein has frequently been accused of stealing designs from independent designers, who typically do not have the resources to go after the company for damages, but have instead tried to raise awareness on social media:
A lawsuit alleges that Shein violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by selling exact copies of copyrightable graphic design:
Leafh Flores filed a copyright lawsuit against the company in 2021 for selling a tapestry with a photo of her’s on it and received a settlement for $40,000. A couple of days after receiving the settlement cheque, 4 more of her photos were found on the site, so another lawsuit was filed and Shein settled again, this time for a “substantial” amount.
Data collection and privacy
Shein’s Privacy Policy is pretty standard and similar to those of major North American retailers. Your data is simply within arms reach of the Chinese government, rather than that of the US. However the Chinese ownership of the company raises cybersecurity, data privacy, and supply chain concerns according to a report by the U.S.-China Economics and Security Revision Commission (USCC).
The company was hacked in 2018, compromising of 39 million accounts including personal information and credit cards, and later fined $1.9 million for covering it up.
Shipping is slow
Products ship directly from China, so they typically take taking 9 to 25 days to cross the ocean and arrive at your door – much slower than the 1 to 3 days that you’d get with Canada-based retailers.
No price adjustments
Shein does not offer price adjustments, and customers have complained about prices fluctuating frequently, including shortly after making their purchase.
Shopping gamification and social proof
Shein uses “behavioural economics and gaming principles” that get customers to spend an average of 8.5 minutes on the website, longer than every other US fashion site.
Legitimacy of reviews
Shein has been repeatedly accused of manipulating online reviews, with multiple Redditors reporting their reviews getting “adjusted” up to 5 stars.
Shein’s marketing strategy centers around offering microinfluencers free clothing in exchange for required content production and posting.
Their Free Trial Center sends users free clothes to keep in exchange for a detailed review about the overall experience with the item. Reviews rated as a “Quality Review” get an additional 100 points, which can be used towards future purchases. To have your review approved, it “should not just contain negative remarks about the item but should have some positive aspects as well.” They use an automated system to decide which users continue to receive the next batch of free clothes.
Their Bonus Point Policy rewards customers with up to 17 points per item they review, depending on if they include a photo or size information. The review must be approved to get the points. While it is not uncommon for a product to have over 1,000 reviews, most are very short and some seem copy-pasted.
Reviews.io warns that they had to remove some positive reviews as they didn’t seem legit:
Fast fashion statistics
Only 1% of used clothing is recycled and made into new clothes. For comparison, 9% of plastic and about 70% of cardboard are recycled. 87% of the total fiber input used for clothing ends up being incinerated or sent to a landfill.
The fashion industry accounts for:
- 5% to 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions
- 1/5th of the 300 million tons of plastic produced globally each year
- The average consumer purchased 60% more pieces of clothing in 2014 than in 2000.
What are alternatives to fast fashion?
Here are a few alternatives to shopping fast fashion:
- Buy from sustainable clothing brands or clothing made in Canada
- Buy second-hand at thrift stores and apps like Poshmark, Vinted and ThreadUp
- Follow laundering directions and repair clothes – each time a piece is worn keeps it from filling up a landfill.
- Buy quality over quantity whenever possible to save money in the long run.
- Prioritize buying natural fibres (cotton, wool, tencel, linen, leather) over synthetics (polyester, rayon/viscose, nylon, polyamide) to minimize the environmental impact.
Shein reviews
Shein has generally poor reviews:
Of the negative reviews, most people complain about:
- Long delivery times or products never arriving
- Unresponsive customer service (no phone support)
- Low quality items
- Thin fabric
- Stitching mistakes
- Bad smells
- Doesn’t look like the images
- Delays in receiving refunds
Frequently asked questions
Does Shein charge sales tax in Canada?
Yes, Shein does charge sales taxes (eg. GST, HST, PST, QST) in Canada.
Do I have to pay customs duties on Shein orders?
No, you do not have to pay customs duties on orders as they are covered by Shein, as long as you choose standard shipping. Express shipping may lead to additional fees being charged.
Sources
Contact Shein
- Website: ca.shein.com
- Phone number: 1 (888) 851-9181
- Customer support: Chat bot and live chat 9:00am to 3:00am
- Canadian headquarters address: 10 Canfield Dr. in Markham, Ontario
- Legal address: Shein Distribution Canada Limited 40 King Street West, Suite 5800, Scotia Plaza, Toronto, CA, ON, M5H 3S1
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