Delaware has entered the fashion conversation about Shein, the juggernaut clothing company that eclipsed Nike in website traffic.  

The new ABC episode of “IMPACT x Nightline: Unboxing Shein,” which streams on Hulu, shines a light on the popular fast-fashion company that’s stolen Gen Z’s hearts on TikTok and Instagram.  

So, what does this have to do with the First State? Part of this “Nightline” episode was filmed at the University of Delaware.  

Sheng Lu, associate professor of fashion and apparel studies at UD, is featured in the episode because he’s been analyzing the mysterious clothing giant’s business practices over the last few years.  

Shein is currently the No. 1 most visited clothing website in the world, besting heavy hitters like Nike, H&M and Zara, according to Similarweb Digital Data. 

Why is Shein popular?

Fast fashion typically refers to stylish and trendy clothes that are priced low and are inexpensive to produce. The goal is to get those products out quickly.  

Top fast fashion brands like H&M and Zara deliver roughly tens of thousands of trendy items per year, whereas Shein produces about a million pieces, Lu said.  

Shein’s hyper-focus on generating so many pieces comes at a cost. “When you [basically] see something is out of stock, then it’s gone forever,” Lu said about Shein items.  

“But also keep in mind, Shein always keeps launching new items to the market,” he added. “There’s so many things for you to choose. So each day or each hour you can see different items on the website.”  

A big draw is that Shein items are very affordable and priced at about half of what Zara charges, Lu said.  

Shein has a strong presence on Instagram and TikTok through the use of influencers. This helps the company reach Gen Z, their core audience.  

The fashion professor said Shein keeps a close eye on the data its customers send through their website, which it uses to create new styles for patrons.

Shein draws controversy  

It’s common for a major fashion company to source their clothing from over two dozen countries. “But Shein, very interestingly, they primarily source from China,” Lu said. 

The fashion professor is surprised Shein sources heavily from China because the country is no longer regarded “as a cheap place to make garments.” 

Since Shein keeps prices low, this has raised questions about how the company can pull this off. Shein is a private company and most of its finances such as earnings are secret, Lu said. 

It’s no secret the fashion industry is hazardous to the environment through pollution like textile waste. “But Shein makes the problem even worse,” Lu said.  

Textile dyeing is the second largest polluter of water globally, and it takes about 2,000 gallons of water to make the average pair of jeans, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.  

In 2019, the United Nations referenced a report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development that stated every year the fashion industry uses 93 billion cubic meters of water, which is enough to meet the consumption needs of 5 million people. 

Shein also has made headlines from lawsuits.  

In July, three fashion designers filed a lawsuit against Shein claiming the retailer violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO. 

The lawsuit alleges that Shein stole the intellectual property of the designers and that the company uses a “byzantine shell game of a corporate structure” to avoid lawsuits. 

Shein claimed the lawsuit is without merit.  

What’s the future for Shein?

At the end of the day, Lu said it’s hard to decide what the outlook is for Shein.  

Even though it’s the top clothing website in the world, Lu said the company’s social currency doesn’t guarantee the company is even profitable because they’re secretive about their financials.   

“When Shein becomes a public traded company, Shein needs to release such information to the public.” 

If you have an interesting story idea, email lifestyle reporter Andre Lamar at [email protected]. Consider signing up for his weekly newsletter, DO Delaware, at delawareonline.com/newsletters.

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