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The rapid rise of Shein, Temu, and other ultra-fast fashion brands has altered the price perception of consumers. If you ever browsed these sites, you were likely shocked by the low prices and asked yourself: “Is this too cheap to be true?”. Well, it is! The rock-bottom prices come with a hefty cost for the environment as well as for workers & consumers health & safety.
In this article, we will dig into Temu’s and Shein’s pollution and exploitation. Before doing this, let’s see where ultra-fast fashion is coming from.
What is ultra-fast fashion?
If H&M and Zara were already fast, Temu and Shein took the fashion industry’s speed to the next level. While traditional fast fashion retailers release new collections every few weeks, Temu and Shein churn out new products daily! Through their vast network of manufacturing facilities throughout China, Shein alone releases an estimated 2000-10000 new styles every single day.
And their success speaks for itself. Shein’s revenue more than doubled from $15.7 billion in 2021 to $32.5 billion in 2023. Temu has done even better and is now the most successful shopping app globally with more than 314 million downloads.
In a world already suffering from overconsumption, it seems like we’re entering a new era of ever cheaper online shopping sprees.
So, let's see whether the fashion model run by Shein & Temu is sustainable. Spoiler: It’s not!
Environmental impacts
Carbon footprint
The carbon footprint of fast fashion brands is massive. Shein’s climate impact is mostly due to its production process, which generates around 6.3 million tons of carbon emissions annually. That’s about as much as 180 coal-fired power plants!
Overall, the fashion industry is responsible for around 10% of all global carbon emissions, making it the third-most polluting industry after fossil fuels and agriculture.
There are several factors contributing to this huge carbon footprint:
Fast fashion brands use mainly synthetic materials like polyester, because they are cheaper to produce. Most synthetic materials are derived from fossil fuels;
The energy-intensive production process requires significant resources and often doesn’t rely on renewables;
Items travel thousands of miles before ending up at your door.
Water pollution and consumption
The fashion industry is known for being a major contributor to water pollution. All over the world, rivers and lakes have died because of the chemicals emitted by fashion factories.
Temu and Shein use toxic chemicals to dye their trendy fabrics. These compounds can then spill during production, pollute the surrounding waterways and kill aquatic ecosystems.
Additionally, microfibers can leach into the environment from the production facilities, finding their way through the smallest cracks.
Not only do these e-commerce giants pollute water, but they also use a lot of it to produce their garments. The fast fashion industry “drinks up” around 93 billion cubic metres of water, which is enough to supply 5 million people and is responsible for around 20% of industrial water pollution because of textile treatment and dyeing.
If messing with our water wasn’t enough, Temu’s and Shein’s environmental damage has also got a solid component.
Textile waste
The most obvious environmental impact of Shein and other fast fashion brands is the literal mountains of textile waste they create. One source of textile waste is the production itself. When textile raw materials are cut, there naturally are leftovers, which are discarded and often dumped in a landfill. But it does not stop there.
Because the garments they produce are very low quality, consumers often wear them only a few times.
In 2023, the fashion industry was responsible for an incredible 97 million tons of waste, a big portion of which associated with textile leftovers. And that does not even include the unrecorded textile waste from consumers.
Although Shein’s and Temu’s are clearly bad for the environment, we cannot go without mentioning the human cost behind these ultra-fast fashion giants.
The human cost
Poor working conditions
Both Temu and Shein have been in the spotlight for the poor treatment of their workforce. Only recently, Temu needed to defend itself against child slavery allegations.
Lawmakers stated that there is an “extremely high risk” that products bought on Temu are made in Chinese factories through forced and/or child labor.
In 2022 lab tests done in the U.S. found that Shein products were made with cotton from China’s Xinjiang region. The cotton harvested in that area was tied to horrific abuses against the Uyghur community.
Even if a product is not from Xinjiang, there is a high chance that it was produced under excruciating working conditions. Staff across China claim they often work 18 hours and barely make a living. If that wasn’t enough, the workers are sometimes exposed to toxic chemicals.
Are Shein & Temu clothes toxic?
Workers are not the only ones you should be concerned about. Products from Temu and Shein have been gaining scrutiny because of unsafe quality.
An inspection of 144 products from Temu, Shein, and AliExpress revealed high levels of toxic substances. In particular, one pair of shoes from Shein contained a level of phthalates 229 times above the allowed limit. So, do Shein clothes cause cancer? Tricky to say as there has not yet been a direct link between clothes and illnesses. However, phthalates are known to cause cancer and other health issues. So, better safe than sorry, right?!
Conclusions
As awareness about the environmental and ethical impacts of Shein & Temu grows, these ultra-fast fashion brands are being pressured to improve the sustainability of their operations.
Nevertheless, before looking for more sustainable fashion materials and circular approaches, we must tackle the overarching problem of overconsumption.
Supported by cheap labour and clever marketing, Shein & Temu business model is pushing our planet and our society to its limits. Therefore, we must re-evaluate our relationship to material goods, trying to buy less things that last more.
If we do not act now, we will be trapped in this downward spiral, just waiting for the next fashion player to go even faster.
Guest Author: Lars is the co-owner of SWOP – shop without plastic, a zero-waste online marketplace and blog. He is passionate about protecting the environment and educating about plastic pollution.
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