Shein and Temu: Why You Shouldn't Buy on Chinese Platforms

Temu and Shein, the two Chinese e-commerce giants, are continually under scrutiny by the European Commission for blatant violations of EU laws by selling their products at rock-bottom prices. In a single investigation, Temu is accused of offering illegal, unsafe, toxic, and addictive products at deeply discounted prices. The Commission intends to fine Temu a penalty equal to 6 percent of its turnover (approximately 50 billion euros), or 3 billion euros. But without waiting for European fines, we European consumers are the ones who can impose the heaviest penalties on the two Chinese platforms. How? By not buying their products, for at least 10 good reasons.

In the meantime, there is no need to worry about it. ”

The Big Lie. The Shein and Temu catalogues are huge and the prices of the garments are really low-low-cost, even if Donald Tang, president of Shein, has the nerve not to miss any opportunity to say that «it is not a company of the fast fashion» (a clever move to try to avoid all the accusations surrounding the system of fast fashion) and its success is due to an on-demand production model, focused on technological innovation and artificial intelligence. There are no official figures, but Shein's turnover is estimated to be around the combined earnings of Zara and H&M, two other global giants in the sector. fast fashion.
Toxic products. The massive presence of toxic materials in Shein and Temu products has been denounced for several years. The German website Oko-Test conducted a highly significant test. Its editors ordered 21 products from the Shein catalog as if they were regular customers, then sent them to a laboratory to analyze the substances they contained. The result: only a third of the clothing and accessories tested were deemed "safe." A girl's dress, for example, released toxic antimony during the test, which can be absorbed by the body through sweat. Similarly, Shein women's sandals contained 15 volts of flautate, exceeding the limit set by European Union standards. Furthermore, South Korean health authorities seized 144 items of Shein clothing for laboratory analysis, concluding that they contained toxic substances. AliExpress and Temu have also been subjected to similar tests, with similar findings for footwear.
Plagiarism and copies of fashion companies. Shein and Temu are frequently accused of copying designs from established brands and designers without their permission, raising questions about intellectual property protection and fair competition. There are also exchanges of mutual accusations, where the underlying issue is always the same: the sale of counterfeit products.
Zero transparency. It's almost never clear where the materials used to make the products sold by Shein and Temu come from, and how their production systems are organized. It's not always clear where the materials come from and how the production processes are managed, raising questions about the company's ethical responsibility.
Exploited and underpaid workers. There are several documents on the net, such as this video, These documents unequivocally document the slave-like conditions in which employees in the factories contracted to produce for Shein labor. The average workday is 17-18 hours, with one day off per month (Sundays are nonexistent). The base salary is 4,000 yuan per month, approximately 540 euros, although the first paycheck is withheld by the company. Workers are required to produce 500 garments per day. In some Shein factories, workers are paid per piece: approximately 40 cents per piece. However, if one of the garments is found to be defective, two-thirds of the worker's daily wage is withheld.
Sources of compulsive hoarding of clothing products. Precisely because of the way the two Chinese platforms operate (low prices, items that appear to be designed by top designers, and fast delivery), Shein and Temu represent the greatest online incentive for purchasing clothing, including all accessories. These items then go unused and to waste.
Big polluters. With their turnover and their purchasing frenzy, Shein and Temu have become the biggest polluters of the fashion system. Only Shein, with its sales, emits approximately 16,7 million tons of CO₂ per year.
The contribution to waste management of the system. The entire fashion system plays a significant role in global waste production and pollution, and Shein and Temu are the spearheads of this system that floods the world, especially the poorest countries, with garbage in the guise of unwanted clothes and accessories.
Unfair commercial practices. Both Shein and Temu are at the center of specific investigations at the European level for unfair commercial practices. According to the allegations, they deceive consumers by circumventing European regulations on product safety and transparency, thus creating the conditions for widespread unfair competition. Many consumers have also criticized Temu for its lack of transparency regarding shipping times, additional costs, and return policies, creating the impression that low prices are a "luster" that conceals many difficulties during the purchase process.
Tax evasion. Temu has 90 million users in Europe alone, but ongoing EU investigations accuse the platform of a series of illegal practices, including opaque tax management, as its profits, made with European consumers' money, end up evading tax authorities through companies in the tax havens of the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands. In fact, the European Union accuses the Chinese of selling illegal, unsafe, and toxic products. And in 2024 alone, 4,6 billion low-cost products were imported into EU countries, nearly double the previous year, and nine out of ten of them came from China, mostly through Temu. In 2023, a staggering 17,3 million counterfeit items of Chinese origin were seized at European borders, half of which had been purchased online.

Also the fast fashion, clothing at very low prices whose market sees Shein and Temu at the forefront, exploit the word sustainability to capture customers and hide his misdeeds. You can read about the characters and stories in this book.

Temu and Shein: We no longer buy from Chinese platforms

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