Germana Carillo Con una nuova funzionalità integrata negli AirPods con il lancio di iOS 19, tradurranno simultaneamente le conversazioni in lingua straniera.
Donald Tang, the president of Shein, has repeatedly stated, including at Davos 2025 (video below), that Shein is not a fast-fashion company. Now, he confirms it again: “We are not a fast-fashion company.”
This claim, however, dangerously distorts the reality of Shein’s practices. In an exclusive interview with a French newspaper, Tang insists that Shein is simply “a global e-commerce platform with an on-demand production model, focused on technological innovation and artificial intelligence.”
In this narrative, there is no mention of human rights violations or environmental impact. Should we believe that Shein is virtuous, as Tang suggests?
“We are committed to offering fair and affordable prices”
According to Tang, Shein’s on-demand model guarantees “the best value for money.” He argues that Shein produces “what customers want, when they want it, where they want it.”
“We are aware of the environmental issues related to our industry.”
This is how Shein’s president frames the company’s efforts toward climate goals. However, the numbers tell a different story.
With $31 billion in sales in 2023, Shein became the largest polluter in the fashion industry, emitting 36.8 million tons of CO2 that same year. These statements come in France, a year after the adoption of the anti-fast fashion law, which still awaits Senate examination. The law aims to ban advertising for “ultra-fast fashion” and introduce fines for extremely polluting products while rewarding sustainable companies.
“We are fully aware of the environmental issues related to our industry and the role we must play as a global player. That’s why we are ramping up our sustainability efforts,” says Tang.
However, these efforts don’t match the reality of Shein’s business model. A report from Friends of the Earth, published in June 2023, estimated that Shein’s website offered around 470,000 items in real-time. The NGO criticized Shein’s ultra-fast fashion model through daily replenishment, stating that “Shein offers on average 900 times more products than a traditional French brand”.
With 7,200 new designs each day, it is estimated that at least one million garments are produced daily, releasing between 15,000 and 20,000 tons of CO2 every day. Overproduction has been deemed “incompatible with planetary boundaries and decent working conditions,” according to the NGO.
And what about forced labor?
We are all aware of Shein’s ongoing accusations of profiting from human rights violations within its supply chain. Yet, Shein’s CEO continues to emphasize the company’s zero-tolerance policy on forced labor within its online platform.
He insists that Shein will require its suppliers to adhere to a “code of conduct in line with the International Labour Organization’s convention” and conduct “unannounced factory visits”.
However, following accusations from the Swiss NGO Public Eye that contradict these claims, the BBC conducted its own investigation. Visiting the “Shein village” in Guangzhou, China, the findings speak for themselves: workers there are putting in about 75 hours a week and receive only one day off per month, which violates Chinese labor laws.
