To receive the Vogue Business newsletter, sign up here.
Ultra-fast fashion giant Shein is launching resale, despite criticism that circularity can’t fix a business model reliant upon exploitation and overproduction.
Shein Exchange launched on Monday, 17 October, in the US, with plans to expand to other global markets next year. The platform was created in partnership with branded resale technology platform Treet. The app pre-populates customers’ previous purchases to streamline the resale process.
Shein is upfront about its motivations to get into resale — its goal is to bring any secondhand Shein sales that may happen on other platforms back into its ecosystem. In an announcement, Shein said it will not be making any profits from the platform but “acknowledges that resale threatens to cannibalise the sale of new items” and “wants to provide a destination for Shein customers to become active participants in circularity and find new closets for their pre-loved products”.
Shein also said the resale platform will offer a blueprint for customers looking to extend the life of their clothes “while promoting the environmental benefits of purchasing secondhand clothing”. However, experts say the real sustainability promise of resale is its potential to reduce the industry's total production volumes, something Shein has given no indication it is trying to do.
On the same day that the resale platform launched, a documentary exposé on Shein’s factory working conditions was released. Untold: Inside the Shein Machine, available on UK TV network Channel 4, alleges that workers in Guangzhou factories have no defined working hours, working up to 18 hours a day with only one day off per month. Instead, they’re paid by garment, the documentary claims, having to reach the 500 garment per day target and being paid 3p per garment, with deductions taken for mistakes made. The investigated factory was unnamed to protect the identity of the undercover garment worker.
Shein has aligned itself with projects related to sustainability in recent months: it introduced a five-year, $50 million climate fund with $15 million going to The OR Foundation in June and published an ESG report, which outlined its supply chain network among other aspects of the business (which critics thought lacked accountability over overproduction and worker rights). Video journalist Iman Amrani, the host of the documentary, said that the investigation followed a November 2021 report that outlined the pay and conditions for 10 garment workers across six of Shein’s suppliers. The brand said it would investigate the allegations and found in its 2021 ESG report that 83 per cent of its 700 suppliers required corrective action.
Amrani says it was apparent in this latest investigation that working conditions have not improved sufficiently. “The shocking point is that there doesn’t actually seem to be a way that this business model can work [sustainably],” Amrani tells Vogue Business.
“We are extremely concerned by the claims presented by Channel 4, which would violate the code of conduct agreed to by every Shein supplier. Any non-compliance with this code is dealt with swiftly, and we will terminate partnerships that do not meet our standards,” the company said in a statement in response to the allegations. Sustainability experts have noted that cutting ties with “bad actor” suppliers does not typically solve problems and can in fact raise new ones. “Shein's responsible sourcing standards hold our manufacturing suppliers to a code of conduct based on International Labour Organization conventions and local laws and regulations governing labour practices and working conditions. We work with leading independent agencies like TUV, SGS, OpenView and Intertek to conduct unannounced audits at supplier facilities. We have requested specific information from Channel 4 so that we can investigate.”
Sustainability experts say that resale platforms aren’t enough to overhaul the exploitation and overproduction inherent in the fast fashion business model. Fast fashion products themselves are also likely to have a significantly shorter shelf life than a garment of a higher quality and price tag, making them a worse fit for a circular model that relies upon longevity. In the documentary, Amrani spoke to the CEO of recycling bank Traid who said that the clothing they receive from fast fashion brands isn’t made to last. Fast fashion brand PrettyLittleThing, which launched a secondhand market in the UK at the end of August, was accused of greenwashing.
Circular platforms don’t necessarily curb overconsumption habits either: consumers can continue cycling through new purchases, dumping them on resale sites after a few uses. “I think launching a resale platform does still encourage people to continue consuming,” Amrani says.
Reports from The RealReal and Thredup suggest even when buying used, customers crave constant newness and still overconsume.
A recent survey of Shein customers found that nearly half had sold their Shein items on resale platforms and more than half have purchased a preowned Shein item, the company said in an email. It’s no wonder fast fashion brands want a slice of the pie to keep customers on their own platform. Shein is also reportedly preparing for an IPO — analysts say ESG concerns are important to investors.
“Fast fashion brands like Shein are not built to be worn multiple times as the quality is too poor — who can make 500 items a day in a way that is built to last?” says fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna, who was featured in the Channel 4 documentary. “Without a commitment to producing fewer garments, we have an ever increasing amount of fossil fuel derived clothing, made by people who aren't earning a fair living wage, leaving more citizens feeling deflated after the dopamine hit of a new purchase has worn off, with the garments shedding microfibres into our oceans and waterways, heading to landfill and polluting communities in the Global South, all so the greedy CEOs and top executives can make a quick buck.”
Resale isn’t the first step Shein should be taking to be considered more sustainable, experts say. “Paying the people who make their clothes a fair living wage. That is the priority,” says La Manna. “Based on this week’s undercover investigation, that should be the only priority.”
Comments, questions or feedback? Email us at feedback@voguebusiness.com.
More from this author:
New UK chancellor reverses decision to reinstate tax-free shopping
Will China relax its zero-Covid policy?
Brands are casting ‘diverse’ models. But they’re still not challenging Eurocentric beauty norms