This Tik Tok Trend is Harming- Well Everything

Recently I caved and re-downloaded tik-tok, after deleting it to focus on my mental health. One of the first things I saw was a 'shopping haul' video, a popular genre of videos within the app. It didn't interest me so I was just about to scroll past, not thinking twice until two things caught my eye. The first being that it was a $2000 doller 'haul'. The second being that the video had gotten over 120 thousand likes. On the surface this doesn't seem too bad, I follow a general sentiment of 'it's your money, spend it however you like', but as I looked into it I realised this trend is more than damaging. The amount of money spent on Shein hauls within this trend was on average over five-hundred dollers per haul. These videos, each getting approximately over 100 thousand likes, were clearly being encouraged and promoted within tiktok, many people liking and not thinking twice about the utterly damaging effects these videos can have on the fashion industry, labour industry, younger audiences, and the environment.

Shein, as a company, does not have the best reputation. They have been incredibly secretive about their labour practices. Although they insist they 'provide a living wage' to all employees, the lack of transparency about concerning the location of their warehouses is worrying. Furthermore Shein has actively profited off of stolen designs, and cultural appropriation. They have sold traditionally muslim prayer mats under the guise of 'Frilled Greek Carpets', and following this sold a necklace with a swatstika on it, actively promoting nazi symbols. Shein took to their instagram stating that they are 'so so sorry', however in my opinion this should have never been bought to the boardroom, let alone produced and sold. Tiina Menzel, a designer, alleges that Shein have stoled their designs over six times, and when threatened with legal action offered a small sum, or removed the designs. Many other small fashion businesses have come out with the same accusations including Valfre, and Flaws of Couture.

Shein is what is called a 'Fast Fashion' brand, which essentially means that they react quickly to trends, making clothing as quick and cheaply as the company can. This is one of the most attractive features of fast fashion brand like Shein, the clothes are all priced incredibly low because they are made only to last until the next trend cycle, when they will produce even more clothes for you to replace your broken items with. This which leads to people creating trends of buying boxes of clothes for under 500 dollers. It must be taken into account that many people buy from these fast fashion brands simply because they cannot afford to buy clothes from any other retailers. This is not the problem with consumers of Shein, the problem is masses of people spending thousands of dollers, when they can clearly afford to buy sustainably produced clothing. The fast fashion industry is detrimental to the environment. The average UK shopper will contribute to 70 kilograms of landfill annually, solely in textile waste. Because of the lowered cost and quickly produced nature of Shein products, most are created using cheap synthetic fabrics such as polyester and nylon. These materials can take up to a thousand years to biodegrade. Even the act of washing these synthetic fabrics can create up to 1900 micro plastic fibres within the water washed in.

Every aspect of the mass Shein hauls trend is damaging the environment.

These mass Shein hauls on TikTok are not only promoting irresponsible spending habits to its many viewers, it is actively supporting a company that has profited off of incredibly insensitive products, allegedly repeatedly stolen small POC-owned designs, and is not transparent about labour practices. Moreover the trend is valuing and promoting overconsumption, contributing to landfill, and water pollution. My suggestion to those who like spending alot of money on clothes is to do your research! Find sustainable brands, support small business, or shop second hand, but please anything but the Shein hauls.