Josh Thepsouvanh

SALE, SALE, SALE! Everything is 40% off, 50% off, even 60% off! SHEIN is the #1 place to go when looking for a good deal, but at what cost?
SHEIN became the most popular online shopping website during the Covid lockdown, gaining 74.7 million active shoppers and becoming valued at over 68 billion dollars according to Businessofapps.com.
Although this may seem quite impressive, the inside of their company is where things start to get disastrous.
They steal styles from designers to make a bigger profit according to eco-stylist.com. Think about it, who would rather spend 500 dollars for the real thing when they could spend 5 dollars on something that looks pretty dang close to it?
This causes them to gain major revenue from their ever-changing selection of clothing. According to eco-stylist.com, they add 6,000 new styles daily.
However, the people who are responsible for making these new styles every day may have it even worse.
According to goodonyou.eco, employees work as much as 75 hours a week. To make matters worse, their paychecks depend on how many pieces of clothing they produce, not how many hours they work.
Finally, let’s take a look at the global impact of fast fashion, like the toxic chemicals in the clothing and the damage to the environment.
Dangerous levels of lead and other toxic chemicals have been found inside the clothing, according to eco-stylist.com.
The CBC placed a recall on a children’s SHEIN jacket in Canada due to this problem. It contained 20 times the allowable amount of lead.
Health effects of lead exposure include neurological effects, liver and kidney issues, and a negative impact on heart and immune systems.
This clothing doesn’t just harm people, it can harm the planet as well. Fast fashion ends up being thrown away within a year after it was purchased, creating massive problems.
It leads to overflowing landfills and dumping of used clothes in Africa. It wastes an enormous amount of water and energy to create the clothing, not even to mention the CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
Everyone says to shop till you drop, but you don’t want to actually drop, do you? Well with the damaging effects of this online shopping extravaganza, it looks like it’s just speeding up the destruction of the Earth and those on it.