You must have seen advertisements for SHEIN before. It’s the only ultra-fast fashion company originating in China. Nobody knew about SHEIN a few years ago. Still, the company has a 100 billion market value equal to H&M and Inditex combined. According to the Business of Fashion, it produces 50 times more items in the US market than other fast fashion companies like H&M, Zara, and Booh, oo.
If you are reading this, you might be familiar with the unethical practices that SHEIN does, like a violation of human rights, copyrights, and environmental standards. However, the reason for some GenZ’s unhealthy obsession with SHEIN is not well known.
GenZ is a generation group that was born around 1997 to 2012. Roberta Katz, a senior research scholar at Stanford, described a typical Gen Zer as “is a self-driver who deeply cares about others, while dismayed about inherited issues like climate change, has a pragmatic attitude about the work that has to be done to address those issues.”
On paper, the behavior of GanZ is totally contradicted, but not so much if you take into account what is going on inside the Social Media.
Social media is a playground for many GenZ to spend much of their time. It allows multiple levels of communication from governments, companies, and individuals in just one platform. The most prominent aspect of social media is that anyone can send out content from anywhere and go viral. Predominantly, TikTok or Instagram reels are only composed of less than a minute, and people enjoy posting multiple outfits and recent big purchases from SHEIN. SHEIN gained popularity by being promoted by UGC (User Generated Contents) for almost free. Traditional commercials are expensive, and GenZ is not into them. However, UGC is created by amateur content creators and costs so little, but the power is phenomenal. Most times, consumers post on Social media willingly, and that content will be shared and shared and shared. At the same time, they create micro trends that die out in a few weeks. Then, to stay relevant on the platform, users must keep buying the latest trends. That’s how SHEIN become a 100billion worth of the company in just a few years.
The blame is not on the social media but the GenZ who repeat overconsumption and the company, SHEIN itself. Social media is just a new type of media, and defining Social Media as the cause of this mess is not going to help the situation and is a perfect example of technological determinism. Social media also has communities spreading the idea of repairing or thrifting. The bad guy is not the media but people supporting the company and itself. In this free democratic country, forcing people not to stop at SHEIN will not work. Still, with our voice, we can demand SHEIN to open up about their unclear supply chain and change the inhumane labor practice.
SHEIN is crazy cheap, but it is only possible with minors working in crowded and dusty rooms for hours and hours and getting paid a dollar a day. This cheapness costs more, causes environmental damage, and continuous human rights violations.
The earth is already trashed, and as a one of GenZ, I do not tolerate the ignorance of injustice. Especially in Japan, not many people know what is happening behind the flashy screen that shows tops sold for just 800 jpy. We need the help of professional journalism from major publications and media outlets. Share, discuss and share. We need your help.