Online Retailer Is Trying to Improve Its Image
In its decade of doing business, Shein has grown rapidly by winning over shoppers with its low prices and kaleidoscope of new merchandise. The e-commerce retailer has also gained critics who have questioned, among other things, its connection to China, accused it of stealing designers’ works and pointed to how its cheap merchandise contributes to environmental waste.
Shein has been quiet through it all. Now, it is looking to change its perception ahead of its expected filing for an initial public offering.
Shein has poured millions of dollars into initiatives that seek to address the longstanding criticisms as a way to earn good will. “We’re an emerging brand, and we’ve done a lot of things well,” said Peter Day, a Shein executive. “There are some things that we still need to learn how to do.”
Shein has one of the most downloaded mobile apps, has an active hashtag on TikTok (#Sheinhaul), and is right behind Amazon and Nike when it comes to Generation Z’s favorite e-commerce sites. It sells items like mesh dresses, glitter T-shirts and two-piece lime green swimsuits for under $9.
Shein, which is accused of copying designs, recently held a meeting in Los Angeles with hundreds of designers in an attempt to show that it wanted to work with and not against them. The event was part of a $55 million initiative that Shein began in 2021 to hire and fund artisans to make clothing lines.
This program was started months after the designer Justin Romero, a co-founder of the fashion brand Freak City, joined the chorus of designers criticizing Shein for selling clothes that looked like copies of their products.
“After seeing how many items they sold of our items already, it was like, we’re already doing business without agreeing to,” Mr. Romero said.
He and Shein started a collaboration under a program called Shein X, in which the company provides independent designers with a budget, pays production costs and markets their wares. The designers receive a sales commission or a share in the profits. Its roughly 3,000 participants have together received $5 million in commissions, George Chiao, a Shein U.S. official, said in Los Angeles.
Shein is trying to win over a diverse group of designers, creating a pipeline of potential industry ambassadors.
“They are now seeing that having a more diverse roster will generate them millions and billions of more gross margin profits,” said Shawn Grain Carter, a professor of management at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “This is not an altruistic endeavor. This is a financial business endeavor.”
Critics say Shein’s ultralow prices contribute to overconsumption and environmental waste; Shein says it is focusing more on sustainable solutions.
The company was founded in Nanjing, China, but it is now based in Singapore. Most of its clothing comes from China.
Critics like the group Shut Down Shein say that Shein avoids customs scrutiny and billions in tariffs by shipping directly to its customers. Shut Down Shein also says the company commits rights abuses.
Shein said it did business “lawfully and with full respect for the communities we serve.”
Attendees at the Los Angeles event did not dwell much on wider concerns about Shein.
Kenya Freeman, whose line Sylvia Mollie has been sold on Shein since January 2021, said, “If you look at the amount of people who gravitate to the Shein brand, it’s millions of folks, and the exciting part is even if you reach just a third of those people you’re winning.”
While Shein X allows designers to expand their businesses, working with the retailer still comes with baggage. After Casey
Critics say there is a cost behind Shein’s cheap merchandise.
Russell, 33, announced in 2022 that he had been accepted into the program, he said he received “the traditional hate mail whenever you do something with a brand that’s seen as bad.” Some claimed he was ruining the environment by making fast-fashion clothes.
“When you work in the industry,” he said, “you also realize that a lot of stuff that people talk about, it’s actually not as bad as it looks on the outside.”