Fashion Editor Polly Rogers explains the actual impact of our impulse purchases, disclosing where they come from and what is sacrificed to make something you'll wear once or twice. Should we really be shopping for occasions instead of styling what we already have?
Before you press order on that Shein haul, perhaps consider: you might be in trend for the next five minutes, it might arrive fast and save a few quid upon purchase… but have you ever wondered, what impact does this impulse purchase have on the environment? Follow along for the journey and life cycle of your generic item from Shein, from source to wardrobe… to potentially the landfill. Open your eyes on why these purchases of microtrends really are a bad idea, and get inspired to change those compulsive shopping habits to help curve this fast fashion epidemic.
Shein's garments are primarily produced in Panyu, Guangzhou, in southern China, an industrial intersection with over 5000 sweatshops. Most seamstresses work for up to a month without a day off. Their wages can be around as little as the menial sum of 6 cent per hour, and average at around 1 cent per garment. Working up to 75 hours a week, their wages aren't even clearing €20 per month. The fabrics used in production are almost all synthetic and manufactured from chemicals which are spun into fibers woven into materials. Microplastics are dispersed every time they are laundered. These fabrics are outsourced from sweatshops in regions such as Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and India. There is a reason you're purchasing that top for a €4 bargain - it's all down to the blatantly unethical exploitation of cheap labour and the environmentally damaging fabrics that combine to create the “perfect” tank you’ll wear for one night out, and never again.
In transit, while your purchase comes from an industry which causes more carbon emissions annually than airlines or maritime cargo combined, these items are also flown and shipped in excessive layers of plastic packaging. But what about after? You’ve grown, your aesthetic has changed, and this item you once repeatedly checked tracking in anticipation of arrival is now deemed redundant within your wardrobe rotation. Even responsible methods of recycling these garments such as donation or reselling do little to reduce the carbon footprint - charity shops are becoming a graveyard of last year's trends; these cheap polyester products are cluttering shelves. With next to no hope of resale, eventually these textiles will be dumped. Polyester is a synthetic fabric made from protochemicals, its natural decomposition can take between 20 and 200 years, and is responsible for a large section of the pollution that's clogging up landfills. On reselling sites such as Depop and Vinted, every second item is a Shein, or Primark listing, marketed as vintage. Pilling from poor quality products, dyes running, ripping and an overall lack of durability leaves you with items that are essentially unwearable. Cheap and cheerful isn't enough in the current overconsumption crisis.
So what can you do? First and foremost, you already have more than enough items in your wardrobe - do you actually need anything else? Try to limit your purchase - ask yourself, will you wear it again and again? And as always, hit the thrift before any high street shop - with so many garments already existing, you can get exactly what you want without buying one brand new. Because as we all know, the remnants of child labour and environmental exploitation sewn into every materially lackluster stitch is not cute.