Many of us rely on fast fashion companies to purchase clothing cheap, stay up to date with trends, and feed shopping addictions. “Fast fashion,” a term popularized by a 1989 New York Times article[1], refers to “a business model that focuses on the production of garments in bulk.”[2] Popular stores like Zara and H&M rely on this business model to stay on top in the industry, but in an ever-changing world the online market is steadily growing.[3] Aside from a staggering environmental impact[4], there is a troubling humanitarian cost to society’s ever-growing need to purchase more clothing.[5] Labor exploitation, common in fast fashion, accounts for eighty-one percent of total human trafficking cases.[6] Experts estimate that the fast fashion industry employs about seventy-five million factory workers, only two percent of which are paid a livable wage.[7]
Shein, a company incorporated in China in 2008[8], embodies this problem in many ways. Shein has grown in popularity largely due to “Shein Hauls” and other displays of merchandise on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.[9] This aggressive marketing, combined with hard-to-beat prices, have catapulted Shein into a global behemoth.[10] The fast fashion giant constantly has as many as 600,000 items available for retail on its site.[11] Shein also gamifies purchases and interactions with the app to draw in young shoppers.[12] Large discounts mean that someone else is bearing the cost and in this case, it is the workers residing in Guangzhou, China.[13] In a neighborhood nicknamed “Shein Village,” workers typically work seventy-five-hour weeks and ten to twelve hour days with only one day off each month. This is the staggering cost that allows Shein to charge the rock-bottom prices.[14] Often fueled by migrant workers trying to earn a better wage, Shein contracts with factories who hire temporary workers and pay them a substandard wage.[15] Workers are often paid per piece based on the difficulty of the item; the rate is often less than a dollar per piece.[16] While still low, wages are higher than can be found in workers’ home towns.[17] Employees often work hours that amount to two full-time jobs with no overtime and no contract.[18] In total, they make about $1400 in a good month and $400 in a less-lucrative month.[19]
When reading these staggering statistics, there is a natural response: how is this legal? The short answer is that it is not; the long answer incorporates economic nuances that depend on the exploitation of vulnerable populations.[20] Chinese labor law states that a working week cannot exceed forty hours, overtime cannot exceed thirty-six hours a month, and workers must have one day off per week.[21] The law also calls for holidays and payment of minimum wage[22], which is the equivalent of $3.50 per hour.[23] Shein relies on the fact that these workers are desperate for wages and will “forgo even a minimum degree of safety, free time, and quality of life.”[24] China enacted new labor laws in 2008.[25] The goal of the Entitled Labor Contract Law was to satiate the working class. However, the support of labor unions is simply a façade as the ever-growing economy demands labor deals that are often made against in the workers’ best interest.[26] While labor laws were enacted to promote worker safety and welfare, the government relies heavily on localized enforcement provisions, the legitimacy of which depends on the local government’s relationship with the workforce and its overall social and economic goals.[27] Poorer local economies tend to be more business-friendly which lends their workers to more abuse and unfair labor practices.[28] Rampant globalization of textile industries has thrust Chinese workers into a reality where their rights and working conditions are ignored in the name of the economic development of their community.[29]
China has enacted labor laws to combat these practices, but overreliance on these industries and unwillingness to comply has rendered them moot.[30] So what is the solution? First, global companies like Shein need to embrace corporate social responsibility initiatives and work to establish better labor practices in their factories.[31] Consumers often rely on low garment costs to save their own money in a world of increasing inflation; the factories rely on low-cost workers to feed their bottom line.[32] Companies must lead the campaign for better global labor practices. Without the threat of their economy collapsing, Chinese communities are more likely to enforce the existing laws.[33] In the meantime, consumers can “put their money where their mouth is,” and find alternatives to fast fashion brands like Shein through fair trade sellers and ethical clothing brands.[34] For the cost conscious, second-hand stores and sites can offer a worthy alternative[35]. While shopping through fast fashion may seem convenient, the lives of these workers rely on the average consumer paying attention to the practices of the companies they frequent.
[1] Anne-Marie Schiro, Fast Fashion; Two New Stores That Cruise Fashion’s Fast Lane, New York Times (Dec. 31, 1989), https://www.nytimes.com/1989/12/31/style/fashion-two-new-stores-that-cruise-fashion-s-fast-lane.html.
[2] Amaya McDonald and Taylor Nicioli, What is fast fashion, and why is it so controversial?, New York Times (Nov. 24, 2023, 11:28 AM), https://www.cnn.com/style/what-is-fast-fashion-sustainable-fashion/index.html.
[3] Id.
[4] See Madeleine Cobbing and Yannick Vicaire, Timeout for fast fashion, Greenpeace, https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-international-stateless/2018/01/6c356f9a-fact-sheet-timeout-for-fast-fashion.pdf.
[5] Supra note 1.
[6] Susan Peters, Fast Fashion & Labor Trafficking, UNBOUNDNOW (Oct. 5, 2020), https://unboundnow.org/fast-fashion-amp-labor-trafficking.
[7] Emma Ross, Fast Fashion Getting Faster: A Look At The Unethical Labor Practices Sustaining A Growing Industry, GW Int’l Law and Policy Brief (Oct. 28, 2012), https://studentbriefs.law.gwu.edu/ilpb/2021/10/28/fast-fashion-getting-faster-a-look-at-the-unethical-labor-practices-sustaining-a-growing-industry.
[8] Daniel Thomas et al., The rise and rise of fashion giant Shein, BBC (June 7, 2024), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp991n2v0m2o.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Laura Bicker, The truth behind your $12 dress: Inside the Chinese factories fueling Shein’s success, BBC (Jan. 12, 2025), https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrylgvr77jo.
[14] Id.
[15] Id.
[16] Id.
[17] Timo Kollburnner, Toiling away for Shein, Looking behind the shiny façade of the Chinese “ultra-fast fashion” giant, Public Eye (Nov. 2021), https://stories.publiceye.ch/en/shein.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Id.
[22] ARTICLE: TROUBLE BEHIND THE GREAT WALL? A CRITICAL LOOK AT WORKERS’ RIGHTS IN CHINA, 18 SCHOLAR 1 https://plus.lexis.com/document/?crid=f3ecf077-d36a-4424-9c5b-68cc09fbb33d&pddocfullpath=%2Fshared%2Fdocument%2Fanalytical-materials%2Furn:contentItem:5J7V-TJX0-00SW-50JJ-00000-00&pdsourcegroupingtype=&pdcontentcomponentid=243718&pdmfid=1530671&pdisurlapi=true.
[23] Qian Zhou, A Guide to Minimum Wages in China (As of February 18, 2025), China Briefing (Feb. 18,2025), https://www.china-briefing.com/news/minimum-wages-china/,
[24] Supra note 17.
[25] Supra note 22.
[26] Supra note 18.
[27] Id.
[28] Id.
[29] Id.
[30] Supra note 22.
[31] Id.
[32] Supra note 13.
[33] Supra note 22.
[34] 5 ALTERNATIVES TO FAST FASHION, The Borgen Project (Nov. 19, 2021), https://borgenproject.org/alternatives-to-fast-fashion/
[35] Id.
