In this op-ed, Teen Vogue editor Alyssa Hardy discusses why Shein's most recent circularity fund is about more money, not helping communities impacted by wasteful fashion.
Ahead of its attempts to launch an initial public offering (IPO), Shein is throwing money toward “solving” problems it has decidedly contributed to. The fast fashion retailer wants to sell shares of the company to the public in Europe, but first, it needs to build back some goodwill. Financial Times reports that Shein has started a $216 million “circularity fund” to be used to combat fashion waste and as an investment in artists and artisans. Notably, the outlet highlights the fund is just a small portion of its $66 billion valuation.
Shein has been making these billions by producing cheap clothing at an alarmingly fast rate for the last few years. The brand has amplified increasingly fast trend cycles, pushing competitors to do the same, all the while contributing to the massive clothing waste problems around the globe. Not only that, many accuse the brand of impacting local economies and businesses by flooding markets with cheap clothing. Now, in order for the IPO to come to fruition, Shein has work to do. “Our financial resources, our scale, and leverage [means] we can be, and we will be, a significant guinea pig or applicator of these [technologies] or processes,” said CEO Donald Tang to FT.
While that thought may be true in theory, in practice, how are we supposed to know whether or not the fund is actually doing the good it’s claiming?
If you thought the victory of the U.K.'s Labour Party last week could pose a problem for the brand’s lackluster proposal to fix things, think again. As The New York Times described it, party leader Keir Starmer partly won by “rebranding it as business-friendly, more about economic opportunity than tax-and-spend liberalism.” In June, before the election, a party spokesperson told Reuters that they welcomed the IPO. "Labour has met a range of companies including Shein that are looking to invest or list in Britain," they said. "Raising investment, productivity, and growth is one of Labour's missions for government." The spokesperson added that they believe the British government can regulate the brand better if they go public.
Regardless of whether or not regulation rules from an IPO will actually change anything about the brand's current practices – and there’s not much evidence that it would when the responsibility would be to shareholders – the bottom line is that Shein is willing to buy their way into the public's good graces because the brand wants to make money — not because it's better for the world but because it’s better for business. This isn't about recognizing the ills of their overproducing ways (because they are still producing the same amount). Or acknowledging the impact of an algorithm that mass-produces the work of young designers without credit (collaborations with brands like Monse don‘t negate this practice) . Or changing the supply chain that has been reported to underpay and overwork its workforce.
