Are Shein workers okay?
Are Shein workers okay?
SNL sketch highlights conspiracy theories
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Last weekend, Saturday Night Live released a sketch parodying conspiracy theories about Chinese fast fashion brands.
During the satirical ad, the narrator breaks the fourth wall with its models, telling them not to worry about why the products are so cheap. She emphasizes nothing was made with forced labor or prisoners. Jake Gyllenhaal finds a note sewn into his jean vest, which is quickly confiscated. “That’s a thank you note from a happy worker,” the narrator says.
SNL’s made-up company “Xiemu” is a not-so-subtle reference to Chinese fast fashion brands Shein and Temu. And the suspicious thank you note? That joke was based on a real conspiracy theory.
A TikTok from May of 2022 posited Shein workers “need help.” Almost two years later, sustainability influencer Milla Kozak – in an Instagram reel –showed similar clips of Shein tags with messages like “help me” and “I have dental pain” sewn into the labels. The theory was going viral again.
Snopes, a fact-checking website, debunked the original TikTok video in June 2022. “Not all of the images included in the video could be described as fast fashion clothing tags,” Bethania Palma wrote. “Some of the images were screenshots taken from older news stories, while others were not necessarily linked to stories about garment labor.”
Overall, Snopes deemed the Shein workers claim “mostly false,” lacking evidence to disprove a few points.
“Most of the images included in a viral TikTok video, which decries the labor practices of Shein and other so-called ‘fast fashion’ brands, were misleading. They were not from incidents in which genuine notes from people seeking help were found in clothing packages. However, in at least two instances, the origins of the notes were unclear, and the results of investigations launched when they were found were unknown to us as of this writing.”
-Snopes, Misleading TikTok Video Claims Shein Clothing Tags Contain Cries for Help
Last May, TikTok account @livekindly addressed Shein rumors in a video of her own. “This is why Shein is the best: they pay their workers as little as four cents per item and make them work up to 18 hour days….Shein has the best designs, and that’s because they simply steal from small businesses.”
Shein has been under scrutiny for its labor practices and environmental impact for years. Clothing haul videos blew up on TikTok, with influencers and regulars alike dumping dozens of Shein packages on their bed. Gen Z is known to be a huge part of their demographic. The Shein hashtag on TikTok currently has 5.9 million posts.
“The business model known as fast fashion has proved wildly successful,” Allegra Catelli wrote for Bloomberg News. “But there’s a dark side: The boom in the production of garments has increased carbon emissions and other ecological harms, and generated enormous clothing waste.”
Last June, the company invited influencers to an all-expenses-paid trip to one of their factories to counter negative press. In a statement, Shein said the trip was one way they were listening to feedback and “committed to transparency.” The internet was suspicious of the move.
Shein was sued for copyright infringement and racketeering in July, according to Time Magazine. In April of this year, Fortune reported “Shein has been slapped with yet another lawsuit alleging copyright infringement, data scraping, and AI to steal art.”
Just like with the cry-for-help videos, it’s hard to determine what claims about Shein’s working environment are true and which are false. Shein is a minefield for misinformation. Without clarity, negative sentiments and conspiracy theories are cursed to repeat, like a fashion faux-pas Groundhog Day.
Personally, I thought after an anti-Shein wave last year, the company would be cancelled, but it seems fast fashion’s draw is too addicting for the public to give up completely. In the SNL video, the narrator asks the models if they would stop buying from Xiemu if the company was proven shady.
The characters eventually all agreed – no.
Read my last fashion story: The slays and nays of MET Gala's 'Garden of Time'
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