An Honest Conversation About Fast Fashion

Kailan: Be honest - how many fast fashion pieces do you own?

Fairuz: What is your personal experience with Shein? 

Caryn: My experience with Shein has been good so far. I am really picky with my online shopping. I read over the reviews extensively with the items I’m interested in before I make a final decision. Their clothes aren’t always the best quality but I have got some pieces that were better quality than what I paid for. 

Kailan: I’ve had a different experience than Caryn.  I bought eight dresses from them a few years ago and I regret it because only one of them was good enough quality. Most of them fit kind of weird. Shein definitely doesn’t have the highest quality clothes, but they’re not extremely bad in comparison to some other online shops I’ve purchased from in the past. (See Kailan’s last weird fitting dress from Shein, below.)

Fairuz: Yeah I’m with both Caryn and Kailan on this because I have pretty mixed feelings. Whenever I have bought outfits from there, it was a hit or miss. At times, I got great outfits that I was able to wear for the occasion I bought it for. Other times, I was really disappointed with the clothes I bought because of the bad quality or the size was not the one I had wanted. I think I am at the point where I am no longer buying clothes from Shein as I don’t trust the clothes and don’t want to waste anymore money. 

Kailan: Yeah, same. I just don’t trust the clothes anymore and I’m done spending money on items that are basically a gamble.

Nouf: They don’t last as long as higher quality stuff, too. I only buy coats and jackets from them. Although I try to be particular about what I choose to buy and they end up being alright and are able to do the job that they were made for.

Nouf: What do you think about the impact fast fashion has on girls growing up, and even on young women?

Kailan: I think it’s definitely creating a negative impact on young girls because fast fashion is now so normalized. 

Caryn: Especially with “Shein Hauls” on apps like TikTok and YouTube. Influencers encourage young girls and women to purchase fast fashion by what they wear and advertise too. (See: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTR4au1wE/)

Nouf: And since it’s readily available and affordable, they may not look to other more sustainable and ethical alternatives. 

Fairuz: Plus the impact that fast fashion has on small businesses that actually create their clothing ethically and sustainably. 

Kailan: And growing up the pressures to stay with trends and micro-trends is hard to deal with, because you feel like you constantly need to spend money just to look good. I remember I used to spend a ton of money and it never felt like enough because a couple months later that trend was gone. If you weren’t on top of trends super fast, you weren’t considered pretty or cool. Which really hurts your self esteem and mental health. 

Nouf: Exactly, and then that just snowballs and propels forward consumerism even more. 

Fairuz: Like how you’ll literally shop for summer clothes one year and the next year, half the stuff you bought isn’t “in” anymore. And then you end up feeling like nothing you buy or do is good enough, it’s a quick fix basically. 

Fairuz: What do you think about the consumerism of fast fashion, where people purchase cheap clothing that’s in style for a few months, it’s worn a couple times, and then it’s donated or trashed?

Caryn: I think it’s super problematic. 

Nouf: I agree. It wasn’t something that I thought about much until I actually started shopping on my own and being more aware of my spending habits.

Kailan: Me neither, I wasn’t really aware of the severity of consumerism until a few years ago.

Fairuz: Personally, I think the primary issue with consumerism is that there is so much waste that is being created because of how much clothes people are buying.

Caryn: Especially with how fast trends come and go, people will swarm for certain items when it’s in season and fast fashion usually has it ready to go and in stock. Once that trend is replaced, people will buy the next one and abandon the last one or trash it out. It generates so much waste and it’s so incredibly bad for the environment. 

Fairuz: And even brands that are more sustainable will be following these trends to please their customers. 

Kailan: I think that as a society, we’re so consumerism-based that it’s not even something we think about. Which makes sense, because our society is also very fast-paced so our fashion is fast too. It doesn't help that the fashion industry has a new “collection” every season, either. 

Caryn: In our research, we saw many posts on social media about Shein copying the designs of others, particularly the designs of small designers.  Nouf had the opportunity to speak to one such designer - Tomoia Sorojah. The comments on some of these social media posts state or imply that Shein has the right to do so because the original designs are too expensive. What are your thoughts on this? 

Kailan: I think that people try to justify unethical behavior by saying that the original designs are too expensive. Shein makes a lot of money, and they should just create their own designs instead of stealing them. If you can’t afford to buy a $500 dress, that’s fine, but don’t buy that same dress as a stolen design for $20 and try to justify it to yourself to make your conscience feel better. I’m sure there’s a $20 dress you can find that isn’t a stolen design, at least. 

Fairuz: As a college student, I understand their perspective on wanting to provide people with cheaper alternatives to brands that produce more expensive clothes. 

Kailan: I don’t think Shein is trying to provide people with cheaper alternatives, though. They just want as much money as possible for as little effort as they can get away with. 

Fairuz: That’s true. I do think that it’s unethical of Shein to be stealing designs from any businesses, big or small. Especially for small businesses, they put in a lot of effort to make original designs for their customers and when Shein steals these ideas, the amount of customers buying from the small businesses decreases significantly. Both Graham Wetzbarger and Barbara Kolsun mentioned to us that small business owners and companies can really take a hit from brands stealing their work as they do not have the same resources that other big companies like Coach and LV have. They do not have the budget to have lawyers defend their work and that really makes these small businesses a good target for fast fashion companies like Shein to steal their work. 

Caryn: Small businesses tend to put a lot of love and attention on their designs. They are most definitely better quality than the knockoffs that Shein mass produces. By buying the copies from Shein, you’re disrespecting the creator of the design and doing yourself a disservice with buying lesser quality and shorter lasting pieces. 

Nouf: Exactly, and whether or not it’s legal, it’s still unethical. When buying things from a small designer you have to realize you are paying for both quality and the designer’s time and effort, because they often are making every piece on their own by hand. When buying copied designs from Shein, you are supporting theft and paying for lesser quality. And speaking of my interview with Tomoia, she explained how negative comments on social media affected her and how pressured she was to have sales on her website, which is something that she had never done before.

Kailan: I agree with Nouf. At my father’s art shows I met a fashion designer who actually explained to me why the clothing prices are as high as they are. If you want clothing that is high quality and the person making it is paid a livable wage, that’s just the price you have to pay. If you can’t afford that price, it doesn’t necessarily make you a bad person for not wanting to pay it. But at the very least don’t try to justify theft. 

Caryn: Why do you think this topic is so important? 

Kailan: I think it’s important because a lot of the time, ignorance is bliss. It’s easy to just look the other way and think “well there’s nothing I can do about Shein stealing designs,” but every single person can make the decision to not support companies that behave this way.  

Fairuz: I agree with Kailan, people who buy from Shein most likely know about the topic, but don’t think about it too deeply. It’s important for people to be aware of these negative aspects of fast fashion so we can slowly decrease the amount that people buy from these brands. 

Kailan: Exactly, power in numbers, basically. Knowledge on the topic can potentially create a culture shift, too. Like how younger people tend to care more about the environment and go thrifting. 

Caryn: I think it’s important for small designers to be aware and know how to protect themselves. Usually fashion isn’t just a side hustle and it could be their full time career. But fast fashion ripping off their designs and selling it for cheaper makes it difficult for them to succeed, and can make them lose business. 

Fairuz: Yeah it takes many hours to even create one piece of clothing. 

Nouf: It’s also important because of how widespread fast fashion has become. Small designers are not getting the recognition they deserve. People are swarming to buy the next trendiest thing, and throwing it out without regard to its side effects. Also, some are not even aware that they are shopping on fast fashion sites and think that they are being sustainable, but they are just unknowingly participating in fast fashion. In my interview with Tori Soudan, I asked whether or not the copying of designs was a big problem in the industry. She said definitely, and recalled witnessing that even before social media and Shein became a thing. She went to trade shows and noticed people walking around with their cellphones recording all the designs to send them to overseas factories. So, copying was already widespread, but social media and the Internet just made copying easier.