It seems like every week when I'm scrolling through Twitter I see tweets not only bashing this brand but also the people who choose to buy from it. The brand that is being talked about the most is SHEIN, a Chinese fast-fashion company that sells self-branded products online. The company is known for selling trendy women's clothing at ridiculously affordable prices. Some of the biggest controversies concerning SHEIN include intellectual property theft, human rights violations, and health and safety concerns. The main ethical dilemma is the negative environmental impact of fast fashion companies.
At its core, the fast fashion industry is unethical because of the harmful impact it has on the environment and laborers. Fast fashion contributes to global environmental issues such as land pollution, air pollution, greenhouse gas production, waste of raw materials, and water pollution. The human rights violation in the industry mostly takes place in the manufacturing part of the supply chain.
Environmental Issues
Land Pollution
Synthetic, non-biodegradable materials such as polyester are cheap and used often in the fast-fashion industry. Since they do not decay, disposing of or recycling these materials is really difficult. Once they end up in landfills or oceans they will stay there for a long time. Fast-fashion consumers are pushed to buy lots of cheap and trendy clothing that they end up discarding when it goes out of style or degrades due to cheap quality material. This continues the cycle of unsustainable fashion consumption.
Air Pollution
Fast fashion contributes about 10% of global CO2 emissions annually (earth.org). CO2 is emitted throughout the four phases of the garment's life: production of the garment, transportation to consumers, personal use (washing), and disposal. All types of garments contribute to global emissions but when the garment is high quality it lasts for years and somewhat balances all of the CO2 emissions. When garments cause so much air pollution and only last a few wears due to poor quality it's not worth the negative environmental impact.
Water Pollution
The production phase of the fast-fashion industry is so environmentally destructive because of the water and energy use. Water scarcity in manufacturing regions of Asia has been attributed to fast fashion production practices. Fast fashion manufacturing plants have also been linked to the contamination of local groundwater as a result of the use of harmful chemicals that keep production costs low.
This is an example of market failure in that the "market failed to achieve optimal results since part of the cost of the transaction was handed on to people who were not part of the original exchange between seller and buyer" (class notes).
Human Rights Violations
The pressure to produce clothing more quickly falls on Chinese garment workers who often work long shifts in poorly regulated workshops. One factory worker from the city of Zhejiang stated that, in China's garment sector, working overtime is a "certainty." In an investigation by a Swiss advocacy group, it was found that staff across six sites in Guangzhou were working 75-hour weeks which is in breach of Chinese labor laws. Local labor laws set out a maximum of 8 hours per workday and a 40-hour workweek.
Sources
Really fascinating post about fast fashion. I've noticed a trend about boycotting Shein on my socials lately. I totally understand why now.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it often pops up on my YouTube recommended page as well.
DeleteI've actually never heard of this company, but it was super interesting learning how the industry is destroying the environment on basically all fronts.
ReplyDeleteYes! The fashion industry is generally very wasteful and harmful to the environment. I try my best to shop from second-hand clothing stores. I rarely buy new clothing in an effort to not contribute to it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am a regular Shein client, and when I read this post, I was horrified to see how much damage they are causing to the environment.
ReplyDeleteNo judgement from me, I understand that they are really affordable (my mom is also a Shein client). I still believe it's good to know the type of company you're buying from and explore all your options.
DeleteWhile bad publicity is surely an issue, do you think that the company is still somewhat benefiting from the controversy? I say this as the more people here or see the brand they may still feel enticed as it becomes more familiar. The demand for cheap products also likely encourages the brand to support these violations as they can defuse blame. "We have to keep products cheap somehow.".
ReplyDelete