Why fast fashion’s allure comes with environmental and human costs

John Yang:

It's easy to see the allure of fast fashion, affordable, trendy clothes that land in stores as soon as the style is in vogue. The industry is valued at over $100 billion. The brands are particularly popular with young consumers.

But the industry is under scrutiny for poor working conditions and using cheap textiles that end up in landfills after only a few wears. Ali Rogin tells us how Chinese company SHEIN which is one of the fastest growing fashion brands in the world is trying to repair its public image and the reaction to it.

Ali Rogin:

Recently, SHEIN invited a group of influencers from the video sharing app TikTok on a paid trip to its so called Innovation factory in Guangzhou, China. The influencers posted glowingly about the company and the factories conditions. But that is just one of the company's 6000 factories.

In its other facilities, SHEIN has faced accusations of worker abuse and abusing materials linked to weaker slave labor. The company denies this. Journalist Iman Amrani investigated SHEIN in the documentary "Inside the SHEIN Machine: Untold."

Man (through translator):

If you want to take a day off or go back to your hometown, your wages will be deducted.

Woman (through translator):

This is completely unreasonable because there is no rest at all. I feel really, really tired, exhausted.

Ali Rogin:

And Iman Amrani joins me now tell us more about the accusations that SHEIN faces.

Iman Amrani, Host, "Inside the SHEIN Machine: Untold": So thank you for having me, Ali. We discovered that there were people who were working 18 hour days that which is against the law in China, it's also against SHEIN's code of conduct. People were given one day off a month.

And many people came to the factory and lived nearby in these kind of dormitories, which meant they couldn't visit their families and they couldn't go back home very easily or they would have their paddock.

There were other concerns about the fact that the environment was very pressured because the production level is so high and it's so fast, they have to make so many items of clothing, and they have to work on commission. So, it means that it's a very, very stressful environment to work in and not one that I think most people would want to work in.

Ali Rogin:

Before we get into this trip that recently happened that influencers have come under fire for let's talk about the relationship between SHEIN and TikTok and other social media influencers. There's a very symbiotic relationship here.

Iman Amrani:

Well, SHEIN is a brand doesn't really have a face as it was. So the influencers that the partner with become the face of the brand. So the partner sometimes with micro influencers, which are influencers with around 10,000 followers or less, who generate trust with their followers, because it's a small community of followers. They feel very connected to those influences.

But the influencers who went on this trip, some of them have half a million or a million followers. So they really work with influencers across the spectrum, hoping that they will advertise to consumers that will spend money with them.

Ali Rogin:

And now tell us a little bit more about the backlash that's happened to these influencers that went on this trip. It seems that the conditions that they spotlit in the videos that they produced and the content that came out from the trip was very different from the conditions that you and your colleagues uncovered in your documentary.

Iman Amrani:

Yes. Well, I was quite surprised when I saw the videos that were posted by these influencers because I have seen the undercover footage that our journalist found and it was interesting that when these infamous as when they were describing themselves as investigative journalists jokingly and saying that they were speaking to these workers who seemed very happy but also didn't seem to be making many items of clothing.

It will look like a showroom to me the place that they were taken to. And as you have said in the introduction, there are many, many suppliers that make clothes for SHEIN. So I don't think it's actually very honest, to try and portray this one factory as being a place where the clothes that people buy on the website are coming from.

Ali Rogin:

Is it your understanding that other fast fashion companies also engage in these sorts of tactics? Or is SHEIN a bit of an outlier?

Iman Amrani:

I would say that many, many clothing companies are engaging in similar tactics, but not to the extent that SHEIN is. SHEIN outstrips all other fast fashion brands, it is the biggest fast fashion brand in the world. It has more Google searches than Nike, for example.

And I think that the point about the focus on SHEIN is because it is the biggest, it sets the tone, if it is engaging in really aggressive ways of making clothes and marketing to people, then other companies and other brands are going to feel like they need to compete with that by doing the same thing.

Ali Rogin:

The Influencers themselves have been coming under a lot of criticism for going on this trip and accepting SHEIN's spin without really challenging it. What do you make of that criticism?

Iman Amrani:

I think that it's really unfair for this criticism to be laid at the feet of the influencers. The responsibility is with the brand. And as I say, the brand doesn't have a face. So the influences become the face of the brand. And you end up with people arguing about the influences and forgetting about the bigger picture here, which is about what the brands practices are like.

And I think it's also unfair to put influencers in this position. There is a reason why they don't invite journalists to come and have a tour of the factories. They invite influencers who operate in a clout economy. They are people, young people who are aspirational, they want to be seen to be fashionable and to see to be seen to be in demand.

What I don't understand is why they didn't do their research in the first place. Although I do think that now they've definitely had a backlash. And I think that we need to take a step back from that and keep focusing on the brand.

Ali Rogin:

Some observers have also pointed out that SHEIN appeared to invite only a certain segment of the influencer community, particularly those from underrepresented groups, there was a plus size influencer, there were a few women of color on the trip. What do you make of that observation?

Iman Amrani:

I think that they are very savvy about audiences. They know that young people are more into accessibility and fashion and they want representation. And I also think that by using minority influencers or people who are underrepresented in the fashion industry, it means that they we can have these arguments we talk about the fact that it is difficult to buy clothes that fit plus size women, but that isn't the focus here.

The focus here is about the practices and yes, all women should be able to buy clothes that make them feel comfortable, but it shouldn't be at the expense of people who are working in factories and having to make those clothes

Ali Rogin:

Absolutely journalist Iman Amrani, the documentarian behind Inside the SHEIN Machine: Untold, thank you so much for joining us.

Iman Amrani:

Thank you for having me.