An undercover investigation by Channel 4 has revealed that workers at the Chinese fast-fashion brand Shein are being overworked and vastly underpaid.
What Is Shein?
Shein is a fast-fashion retailer founded in China in 2008. The company has become known for its affordable prices, seeing people move from the likes of ASOS and PrettyLittleThing, over to Shein.
As of 2022, Shein is the world’s largest fashion retailer.
The company seemed to be on the up. However, in August 2021, Shein found itself facing claims of human right violations and health and safety concerns, as reported by the BBC.
Inside the Shein Machine: UNTOLD
In October 2022, Channel 4 aired Inside the Shein Machine: UNTOLD which shows hidden camera footage inside Shein factories, as never seen before.
A woman, using the alias Mei, secretly filmed two seperate factories where she worked for the company.
The show, hosted by Iman Amrani, found out that workers generally receive a base salary of 4,000 yuan a month – about £482 – in return for making 500 pieces of clothing per day.
In a different factory, workers were reportedly being paid per item made, making 3p a garment.
If workers were to make a mistake during the creation of a garment, they would allegedly be fined two-thirds of their daily wage.
It was claimed that workers are also working a minimum of 18-hour days, with only one day off per month. Unsurprisingly, these working hours and conditions violate China’s labour laws.
As well as coming under fire for working conditions, Shein is accused of copying other designers’ items, mishandling customer data and including high levels of toxic chemicals in their clothing.
Shein‘s Response
The fast-fashion company deny any and all allegations.
They told Business Insider, ‘Any non-compliance with this code is dealt with swiftly, and we will terminate partnerships that do not meet our standards.’