Shein: Illegal Working Conditions & Fast Fashion’s Dark Side

Zara pioneered fast fashion in the 1990s – today, Chinese fashion company Shein dominates the market. Working conditions haven’t improved. Precarious safety standards, 75-hour workweeks, and meager wages are the price paid for ultra-fast fashion made in China.

The American Super Bowl in early February offered a surprise: for the first time, the halftime show performer, Bad Bunny, didn’t wear designer clothes from brands like Dolce & Gabbana. Instead, he sported an outfit from Zara. The Spanish fashion chain commissioned the cream-colored ensemble.

Zara is part of the Spanish Inditex group, one of the giants of fast fashion. Its main competitors are Shein, H&M, and Fast Retailing, the owner of Uniqlo, from Japan. Their rising sales demonstrate that consumers crave fast, affordable fashion. These brands are increasingly competitive with luxury labels.

According to company data, Inditex is the third most valuable clothing company globally by market capitalization. In 2024, the group generated sales of €38.6 billion. However, Shein is the most successful and popular brand, though it isn’t publicly listed. In 2023, approximately 90 million people shopped at Shein, 14 million more than the previous year.

Shein and other fast-fashion providers are disrupting the industry, says Christiane Beyerhaus, Professor of Marketing and Trade at the International School of Management. “These companies excel not only in production and manufacturing but also in marketing, logistics chains, and IT, making them a real competitor to Gucci & Co. Or brands in the mid-price segment.”

The Rise of Fast Fashion

Fast fashion isn’t new. The New York Times coined the term in 1989 to describe Zara’s production model. Inspired by runway fashion, the Spanish label produced affordable mass-market goods.

In the early 2000s, Zara released new styles every two weeks. Today, many fast-fashion brands launch a new collection weekly, up to 52 per year – dubbed “micro-seasons.” Ultra-fast fashion brands like Shein and Boohoo produce a constant stream of new items, copying popular designs and responding to current online trends.

Few brands own their factories. They outsource production to maintain flexibility and lower costs. Inditex works with over 6,600 factories, while H&M collaborates with more than 5,700 production and processing facilities.

Most brands, regardless of price point, manufacture in the same countries. China accounts for at least half of all clothing production, with key manufacturing hubs also including Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Pakistan, and Turkey. Eastern European countries are important for supplying Europe, while Mexico and Central America serve the American market.

Shein’s Reliance on Flexible Mini-Workshops

Production ranges from small workshops to large factories. According to textile expert David Hachfeld of the human rights organization Public Eye, “In countries like Bangladesh, production only starts at 10,000 shirts, whereas in Turkey and China, production facilities with 200 to 1,000 employees are more common.” Shein deliberately uses very small workshops, sometimes with fewer than 50 employees. “This is about absolute flexibility. It’s not about large volumes; it’s about producing 200 or 500 pieces quickly.”

Public Eye conducted research in China in 2021 and 2023, interviewing garment workers in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in smaller workshops and larger factories that manufacture clothing for Shein. The research focused on the Nancun Village district of Panyu, where many Shein suppliers are located. These small businesses are often housed in former residential buildings.

Piece-Rate Pay

Most workers are migrant laborers from other provinces, often without formal employment contracts, relying instead on verbal agreements. This means employers don’t pay social security contributions. Safety standards are often inadequate, with blocked emergency exits and flammable materials posing fire hazards. Shein reportedly uses cameras to monitor workers. Cases of child labor have also been reported.

Public Eye’s research revealed excessively long working hours, even by Chinese standards. Workers often toil seven days a week, with minimal time off. According to Hachfeld, “Working hours of around 75 hours per week are still normal. But even by Chinese standards, they are absolutely illegal.” This is driven by piece-rate pay. “To earn a decent wage, people have to work a lot, and they do.”

Shein published its average monthly wages for suppliers in 2023, stating that workers earn around €587 per month, plus overtime, bringing the total to approximately €938. Overtime pay accounts for a significant portion of the monthly income. Shein emphasizes that it pays competitive prices to its manufacturing suppliers, enabling them to pay fair wages to their employees.

Shein uses a specialized app to commission production, requesting small quantities of garments with a fixed price. Workers must complete the order within one to two weeks. The piece rate for a simple children’s garment, for example, is around 30 to 40 cents, taking 5 to 10 minutes to produce. “You can calculate how many pieces they have to produce per day to earn a reasonably good wage.” When online orders are strong, factories must quickly replenish stock within 7 to 10 days.

Real-Time Purchase Evaluation

Shein describes its model as a “data-driven micro-production model.” The online shop is analyzed in real-time: how often is a garment shared on social media, and how many times is it added to virtual shopping carts? Shein attempts to produce exactly what customers want.

Beyerhaus explains that Shein’s success lies in its test-and-learn logistics driven by data. “It constantly experiments with models, colors, cuts, and designs, and then continuously evaluates and adjusts. Everyone in the market can learn from this.”

To produce so quickly, Shein’s suppliers employ experienced seamstresses. Handling frequently changing patterns requires expertise. It’s also common for Shein garments to be made by one or two people, rather than through a division of labor involving five or six workers.

Workers who make mistakes face penalties. If Shein deems the quality insufficient, it may cancel orders, require workers to rework defects without pay, or fine controllers who overlooked the flaws.

“Trade Unions in China Cannot Operate Freely”

How can these precarious working conditions be improved? Hachfeld believes the Chinese government and manufacturers have a responsibility. “We have a special situation in China where trade unions cannot operate freely. Workers can only resist this system to a limited extent.” Shein must reduce massive overtime, pay its suppliers more, and ensure the money reaches the workers. Hachfeld sees little evidence of this happening.

Shein had plans to expand significantly outside of China, with Brazil intended to become a production hub for all of Latin America, creating 100,000 jobs in the fashion industry. However, few local companies have been able to meet Shein’s demands for low prices and fast delivery. Brazil’s stricter labor regulations, with controls on working hours, proved incompatible with Shein’s model.

The Chinese model didn’t work in Brazil. Shein has failed to meet its own goals there.

Shein also faces challenges in Europe. While the EU has softened its supply chain law at the end of 2025, France has declared this year a “year of resistance” against platforms like Shein due to unfair competition. New tariffs on cheap imports from China will soon be implemented in the EU, adding €3 to each small package, aiming to curb the mass influx of low-cost fashion from Shein and others.