it is, but hopefully this publicity will force more public scrutiny and make it harder for UK politicians to greenlight the IPO! it's hard to argue with these numbers being so public!!!
the fact that Nike CEO "left abruptly" right after getting his money is so funny 💀 he knows they're cooked, or he got fired for poor performance and probs saw it as relief 😮💨
It makes me so angry that all the corporations that made maximum profits by exploiting the labor of the people in Bangladesh can just pull out and find other factories in other countries without any consequences while Bangladesh suffers
literally, it's criminal how they still have no binding agreements or fear of repercussions 😭 and brands then have the audacity to demand suppliers invest money they don't have to improve sustainability that will directly benefit brands??? it's insaneee
My university recently hosted a Shein campus tour which apparently was trying to recruit students to become ambassadors of the brand, including an entire new wardrobe for the students to represent during classes for 6 months. I can't fathom just how wasteful the ambassador program is and how much Shein is willing to do to get the young market to buy from them.
@@katierobinson I'm in the Philippines, so Shein itself costs a bit less than traditional Western fast fashion brands, but the overall student population for my university does have the funds to buy from these kinds of stores at least semi-regularly Shein advertising themselves to a customer base that can afford better and can afford local/secondhand really disgusts me, especially when their practices lead to a lot of textile waste and secondhand donations ending up in our landfills and stores
@katierobinson quite mixed actually, while I know a good number of students who were angry that Shein was advertising within the school, others also signed up for the free prizes and the ambassador program. Honestly shows how much opinions on a certain topic can vary in such a diverse space like a university
I can confirm H&M having the "pre-loved" section in one Stockholm store (Götgatan, their most recently opened one) and I also noticed it has old H&M, mixed in with other brands as well - however, the pricing felt steep to stay the least. I'm not sure on the original price of the items, but I felt like the secondhand price was just as much or even more (even with possibly correcting for inflation). anyhow, this is a trend among Scandinavian brands (or other brands in Scandinavia), for example Monki and Urban Outfitters also have these second-hand sections, and the prices are also similarly steep (especially considering that while Stockholm has a lot of gentrified thrift stores with high prices (Arkivet, Beyond Retro), there are also a lot that have stayed very affordable (Myrorna, Stockholms Stadsmission) and since these stores work from lokal donations, finding preloved H&M, Zara, Monki, Gina Tricot, etc. is very common)
ooh thank you for confirming, off topic but kinda crazy to me that my channel has the reach to have things confirmed in another part of the world 😭 Really interesting that their pricing seemed so high??? I don't see how from the brand's POV they're imaging customers will pay the prices when the new clothes are right there, and the same price? what are they thinking, why go to the trouble of implementing this? unless the higher prices were for better quality brands pieces? 🥴 my head hurts trying to figure out their motives lol
@@katierobinson honestly, I just think the motive is profit, the store is in an affluent part of town and people will pay those prices nevertheless, bc wearing secondhand is considered very cool (and some of it is paying the price of having a more curated selection) interesting tidbit on H&M pricing: the same garment (down to the same SKU number) is 20-50% more expensive in Stockholm compared to Budapest (they are the only brand I still somewhat regularly browse at that is present in both countries but they are probably not the only ones) so yeah... they know that they can sell things at a relatively high price in that market
I do understand how it's important to the creators to get some feedback, so here is one for you. I really enjoy your videos since i like fashion and clothing but not that much and not in a way of being obsessed with brands or history. Also, I am concerned with the pollution factor and just how fast and soulless it is. Your videos are really interesting to watch because they give a fresh and new point of view which is not so widely spreaded. So thank you!
Thank you for mentioning the difficult situation in Bangladesh. Fashion industry is exploiting the cheap labour and washing off their hands whenever a challenge comes for decades. No one to protect the people, not our own government, and definitely not those billion dollars companies.
the more of us aware of what’s happening and fashion’s role in it then the more public pressure there’ll be for brands to honour their contracts ❤ how has the situation there been recently? is there still a lot of unrest?
A lot of the poor quality clothing sent to Ghana is burned on the side of the road. I've seen it. It's sad that all these clothes end up in Ghana, because the locally made clothes is so much more beautiful and higher quality.
it’s criminal that the influx of secondhand clothes stifle the growth of a local fashion industry, think how many more beautiful clothes we could have from Ghanaian businesses if the government prioritised them and the North didn’t treat it like a dumping ground 😢
i would love for you to do an episode on fabric production and sourcing but at the same time learning about it would make me cry. i'm positive that the news would not be good. i love making my own clothes but there's no way to win.
i absolutely love your videos! i'm not super well versed in fashion itself, but the industry is something that is very intriguing to me. your videos are always so well put together and i feel you have such a way of explaining things in layman's terms without removing the substance of the conversation. another well done video!
Even worse, I read that Nike actually *recommended* that their shareholders vote against the sustainability proposal! 🤬 At this point, it’s obvious that businesses are not going to hold themselves accountable, nor are the brainwashed masses going to stop buying unless there is a financial penalty for doing so…we need actual laws to address this, NOW.
I dont know if you've seen on tiktok. But I have seen so many new videos of shein hauls. Specifically from larger influencers or fashion girls who previously probably didn't shop there much. I know there was that video of a girl buying a jaded london top and it had shein written on the tag. I think that kinda spark this discussion that all fast fashion is the same and they all use the same manufacturers and stuff. So now I'm just seeing this huge wave of people now saying f it all brands are the same I might as well save a few bucks and buy from shein instead of zara or hm etc. I think this is so sad. Like yes the quality is often the same and its all cheap garbage but I thought we were moving away from shein because its so cheap and terrible and it was kinda embarrassing almost to have new things from shein. Now people are almost proud to say they saved the money and got the same thing like they are somehow hacking the fast fashion system. Sigh lol
omg no I haven't seen this 😭 I wish these ppl would turn to secondhand instead of the cheapest store possible, then you have the added benefit of bragging it's good for the environment as well as a bargain!!!
@@katierobinson I went to check out a few secondhand shops here in Berlin Mitte, and let me tell you, there were no bargains to be had :( Like, I'm not going to spend 30 Euro on vintage Massimo Dutti (lol). I know it's probably extreme where I live, but generally I think secondhand shops i Europe aren't exactly cheap, at least not compared to thrift shops in the US for example. And they're certainly not cheap enough to rival fast fashion. I'm pessimistic about where we're collectively going in terms of fashion consumption, sadly.
Part of the reason people are drawn to cheap clothes is because of this idea that it's all the same. And to be fair, there are a lot of companies that charge a lot of money for low quality, sweatshop produced clothing. I can't fault people for being jaded. But a lot of people are just not very good at discerning quality. And I think some people just come up with excuses to justify buying junk, lol.
@@lja530 Even in the US, a lot of thrift stores have gotten pretty pricey. The prices would be fine if the clothes were decent quality, but this is mostly fast fashion junk selling for the same price (or more) as retail.
There should be regulations in the use of acrylic and polyester for non-activewear. I can see how use of synthetic fibres is necessary for "performance wear", but outside of that category regular clothing should be made of natural fibres. Fast fashion uses plastic fibres to keep prices down, and that is a huge contributor. I also believe large companies should pay a tax proportionate to annual sales toward land and ocean cleanups; i.e. the more successful you are in your fiscal year (i.e. the more rubbish you've put out), the more you should be contributing towards funding cleanup efforts. Also, N*ke asking for full-time standard work at intern prices is exploitative. As if they can't afford it pfft.
I loved your video however, I want to point out that in your last point, you make it seem like big corporations like threadup or vestiaire collective want this tax to be erased for social reasons: to help lower income families however, I think we should make it clear that these businesses do not care about the environment or overconsumption as a whole, their existence depends on these issues. the abolition of this tax would benefit them greatly economically and signing this petition makes them look like the good guys.
In Latvia they implemented resource tax this year which applies to second hand clothing as well. Not sure how I feel about it , but I haven't seen changes in pricing in at least one of the second hand stores I go to from time to time.
I discovered your channel recently and I've been really enjoying your videos. You're the only channel I've found where it feels like your research about the environmental issues of fast fashion is ongoing, rather than isolated for an occasional video on the topic. As much as the topic is often pretty negative, I like getting news that I've not seen before, every time.
this is really nice to hear, ty!! I definitely try make it a bit more optimistic so I hope that's coming through bc ik the topics are often kinda negative 😌
Okay, so, I work in the biggest H&M of the world (they pride themselves on this fact) as a truck/logistic person. Every day we get from 35-150 totes of store replan(boxes of clothes) and every tote can have from 1 piece of clothing to be up to 20 pounds heavy; not including the new product totes that are about 8-35 totes per day. We get new products everyday and each department in the store gets at least 3 new items (can’t tell how many pieces in total) per week.
Btw, idk if its part of the de minimis loophole but shein and its ilk also take advantage of being able to import illegal products via loopholes. Remember when we were getting sent random seeds from ali express? Stuff like that which can have disastrous outcomes.
Nike has fallen so far since their original company. I haven't bought from them since the mid 2000s when they were pointed out as being part of the Mariana Islands/Saipan fiasco and I will continue boycotting them. And Shein is just gross. However, I will be curious to see how things play out with some other companies with this sort of thing. I get so frustrated when I watch your channel, how did so many people become brainwashed into thinking this kind of overconsumption, as well as the materials used, were okay? Thank you for doing what you do!
for anyone who also wasn't aware of the Mariana Islands issue, approximately 80,000 Nike brand shoes were lost overboard on May 27, 1990, in the north Pacific Ocean and many washed up on North American beaches 6-12 months later!! had no idea this had happened, did the brand ever do anything to help?? given their denial / lack of response to forced labour concerns in 2024 I'd guess no...
@@katierobinson I didn't even know about this! I was more referencing their involvement in the slave labor trade in the 90s and early 2000s, they were one of the brands that didn't take a stand against the contractors who were doing it. But ugh!!!! This makes things even worse.
@@katierobinson Let me see if I can find you some links, I'll e-mail you. Awful story and really turned me off on a number of brands over it. Unfortunately people have short memories.
Primark is much better quality now than it was before. People just continue to only wear it once because they are so obsessed with pictures on social media and other peoples opinions. I have primark clothes for years people are just using poor quality as an excuse for wearing them once and getting rid of them.
Great episode - I hope the tax ends up getting eliminated from second hand goods. The legislation makes total sense to me. It reminds me that Rit dye also doesn't charge customers taxes on their products (online), perhaps under the same premise.
Nike said they'd would stop selling in Israel but haven't stopped! This was years ago when Ben and Jerrys did it. They took all the glory but never followed through!
To be honest most of my wardrobe is Penneys (Primark but I’m Irish so we have the OG) and I’ve had a lot of it for years and yes some pieces don’t last that long but I’ve found most of them hold up quite well
The in store resale option can improve the sale of better quality higher price options. After all, a big part of the problem is customers wanting to buy, just for single use. By having a visible resale section, changes the calculation. It reminds you, you can bring it back and get some of the money back. Fast fashion brands have hard time selling anything better, because their customers aren't willing to pay more, because they don't see the difference. Better quality clothes are investments, bd investments are expensive.
Glad you mentioned the de minimis, that likely plays a big part as to why Shein is big in the US. Ugh to the live shopping. This os something that they do in China and it is soul sucking.
your videos are lovely time spent. its amazing learning all of this. i buy as much of my clothes as i can from depop. and used to use vinted all the time when i lived briefly in england. i just learned a new word from your video: waste colonialism. i knew what it was just didnt know the term. the reality of it is disgusting. astronaut Mike Massimino said the other day on the today show that we are all star voyagers and our space ship is planet earth. he said that we tend to think we are in a cocoon here on earth. each decision we make has a result, especially the one that involve consumption. it would do us well to become wiser and more caring.
Now, is it really their fault?! Or is it ours? As we keep giving them our money Who is really polluting? Them by producing cheap clothes for us? Or people who have an insane and compulsive behaviour when it comes around shopping?!
There is such a thing as over production. Many people over 28 ain't buying Shein. We know how evil the company is. There are some folks who don't care and buy the clothes for their children who need and need the parents who don't know how to say no. That's partly to blame but why should a company like Shein have a right to operate how they do in the first place?
@@Iquey Shein operates like that because there is a market for them. We can’t expect them to change if they are making billions with the business model they have, can we? So instead of blaming them for the harm they are doing to the world, why don’t we learn how to say no and stop shopping in a compulsive way?
because trying to solve everything with a free market economy clearly does not work for prisoners dilemma issues like the pollution and climate crises. YES the company is to blame, YES the consumer is to blame and YES the regulatory system allowing this type of operation is also to blame. Many consumers are already changing, it's about time for the other 2 to take their part of the blame and responsibility and to act.
@@danielh96s You make a great point about shared responsibility. However, I think we need to recognize that companies like Shein will continue to thrive as long as there’s a market for their products. Blaming them seems a bit futile when they’re just responding to consumer demand-something we all understand in business. Instead of trying to boycott or pressure these companies to change, it might be more effective to focus on educating consumers about their choices and the power they hold. If we can shift the mindset around shopping, encouraging people to seek quality and sustainability over trends, we might create a more lasting impact on the industry. Change starts with us! We need to be proactive, there is no more time for a miracle to happen from governments and companies
I'm also sick & tired of brands exploiting fashion students to intern for free and either have to perform as a real employee, without even a clue what they are doing (which is really stressful :S), or as an "ordinary seamstress" so they learn nothing on the job in terms of designing or production :S Meanwhile the brands and designers profit from this free labor.
I'm only half way through and already thoroughly depressed. Like...how do you spend (probably) all day researching these issues? It just seems like such an impossible task to turn things around at this point. Because the people in charge don't really want to. Any changes they make are likely just green washing or other publicity stunts. They don't care about the damage they do and nor do the vast majority of people shopping from these big brands.
sorry this one was kinda depressing 😭 I think I just keep focusing on the incoming legislation and how that will hopefully change things, and this community also keeps me knowing that ppl do care and will hold brands accountable!!
Ugh, yes...the fact that these brands can just ship stuff to you straight from the factory for a pittance *has* to stop. It's been a major pet peeve of mine for a while now. It just further encourages mindless shopping behavior and how is it fair to shops, that actually operate from within the country or an economic union like the EU? It drives me nuts, that you pay less postage for a package from China, than from one that's posted the next town over, never mind the whole tax issue.
The thing I don't understand nor agree is, like ok, these are fast fashion brands.. but, I have pieces from all these brands that I wear 10+ years with good care. Meanwhile some people are saying, for ex. this creator, these products are produced to be worn just once and have no resale value. Which I also disagree, since where I live these brands, like inditex, h&m, M&S, and even sub brands of primark, are coveted almost as high end for common everyday folks.. So if you go to second hand apps we have in our country, these brands sell like hot cakes and have so much resale value combined with the high inflation. To sum it up, even though fast fashion brands are seen as disposable products by the global west, they do hold so much more value in other parts of the world. Hence why I think the westerner customers' outlook on these brands should also change toward these products for achieving sustainability. Because even an acrylic jumper can hold up pretty well over the years with proper care.
I do definitely agree that the throwaway fashion mentality of fast fashion is a potentially bigger issue than the actual quality of the clothes, but it's also known that brands today are creating much worse quality clothes than they were when you bought those pieces from 10+ years ago - they've come to depend on polyester for such a large % of clothes, the production and stitching on clothes today is shocking etc. Obviously an individual's approach to caring for the garment is really important but brands also need to be producing better quality items!
I’ve personally bought clothes from SHEIN that I am still using and loving 🥰. I understand peoples concerns. I also have worked in a fashion retail store that is US based and is known for their plus size clothing. Their quality and that of SHEIN is quite comparable on many items. I made a $500 dollar order in January and I’m still wearing most of the pieces on a regular basis their is only two that I need to have tailored or will donate because they don’t quite fit right. I’m just sharing my experience as a 2xl/3xl gal on a budget. I bought these clothes because they were cheaper than my alternatives and I needed more winter clothes for living in a colder climate than I was prepared for. So I was trying to find more sweaters, long sleeve tops, pants, and a jacket 🧥 for around 500 dollars. I usually buy clothes once or twice a year and this was a particularly larger size haul for me only because I was so ill prepared for most days not reaching over 20 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. I don’t think I could have gotten as many pieces that actually fit and were my style at another company.
I also would order clothes from them again if I was looking for certain items in my size. I also have now found many options for basics from Amazon that are now in my size. I went from living in Southern Oregon in the Rogue Valley to living in Eastern Washington which would be similar to a European moving from Spain 🇪🇸 to Poland 🇵🇱 in terms of climate for those who aren’t familiar with the Pacific Northwest of the United States. I was living in a Mediterranean climate and then moved to a semi arid climate.
I should add I usually keep most clothing items for 2-6 years depending on what it is. Usually underwear 🩲 and socks I end up replacing more frequently than coats, jeans, and sweaters.
I feel the urge to comment on the same issue again and I'm begging for you to hear me this time: PLEASE please please stop talking over the text clippings you show and PLEASE show them for a bit longer. I love your videos, but I end up having to pause and repeat your videos multiple times because it's impossible to read and listen to you talk at the same time - especially sinve you sadly only show the screenshots for milliseconds! Please include pauses and/or try actually reading the text for the audience (like other content creators do). That would be GREATLY appreciated.
I REALLY disliked how you kept moving the graphs around. I was trying to zoom in and they kept moving. Maybe putting them all up on the screen at once when talking about them? Or fill the screen properly?
hey!! sorry to hear, I did put the graphs full screen right at the start of the story & thought it would be a good moment for people to pause if they needed - but I'm linking to the story below so you can see really easily! www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/shein-emissions-fashion-biggest-polluter/ [paywall, I use 12ft to get round it xx]
the fact that people know many genocides💣💥🩸👼🏽👧🏻🧕🏽👳🏼♀️ are happening and yet still decide temu/shein/h&m is for me 🤡 at this point where is everyones humanity? 💔 nobody will be the same after whats about to happen to all of us.
![[안방1열 직캠4K] 베이비몬스터 치키타 'DRIP' (BABYMONSTER CHIQUITA FanCam) @SBS Inkigayo 241110](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tnlxo79cAqY/mqdefault.jpg)
The fact that the amount of emissions from shein has gone up after it was already so high is terrifying.
it is, but hopefully this publicity will force more public scrutiny and make it harder for UK politicians to greenlight the IPO! it's hard to argue with these numbers being so public!!!
the fact that Nike CEO "left abruptly" right after getting his money is so funny 💀 he knows they're cooked, or he got fired for poor performance and probs saw it as relief 😮💨
It makes me so angry that all the corporations that made maximum profits by exploiting the labor of the people in Bangladesh can just pull out and find other factories in other countries without any consequences while Bangladesh suffers
literally, it's criminal how they still have no binding agreements or fear of repercussions 😭 and brands then have the audacity to demand suppliers invest money they don't have to improve sustainability that will directly benefit brands??? it's insaneee
My university recently hosted a Shein campus tour which apparently was trying to recruit students to become ambassadors of the brand, including an entire new wardrobe for the students to represent during classes for 6 months. I can't fathom just how wasteful the ambassador program is and how much Shein is willing to do to get the young market to buy from them.
Shocking. The university shouldn't allow this.
oof what university was this??? the level of wastefulness is insane 😮
@@katierobinson I'm in the Philippines, so Shein itself costs a bit less than traditional Western fast fashion brands, but the overall student population for my university does have the funds to buy from these kinds of stores at least semi-regularly
Shein advertising themselves to a customer base that can afford better and can afford local/secondhand really disgusts me, especially when their practices lead to a lot of textile waste and secondhand donations ending up in our landfills and stores
@@MisterAnonymousOwO oh interesting, thank u for context!! what's the reaction from other students - pro or similarly disgusted?
@katierobinson quite mixed actually, while I know a good number of students who were angry that Shein was advertising within the school, others also signed up for the free prizes and the ambassador program. Honestly shows how much opinions on a certain topic can vary in such a diverse space like a university
I can confirm H&M having the "pre-loved" section in one Stockholm store (Götgatan, their most recently opened one) and I also noticed it has old H&M, mixed in with other brands as well - however, the pricing felt steep to stay the least. I'm not sure on the original price of the items, but I felt like the secondhand price was just as much or even more (even with possibly correcting for inflation). anyhow, this is a trend among Scandinavian brands (or other brands in Scandinavia), for example Monki and Urban Outfitters also have these second-hand sections, and the prices are also similarly steep
(especially considering that while Stockholm has a lot of gentrified thrift stores with high prices (Arkivet, Beyond Retro), there are also a lot that have stayed very affordable (Myrorna, Stockholms Stadsmission) and since these stores work from lokal donations, finding preloved H&M, Zara, Monki, Gina Tricot, etc. is very common)
ooh thank you for confirming, off topic but kinda crazy to me that my channel has the reach to have things confirmed in another part of the world 😭
Really interesting that their pricing seemed so high??? I don't see how from the brand's POV they're imaging customers will pay the prices when the new clothes are right there, and the same price? what are they thinking, why go to the trouble of implementing this? unless the higher prices were for better quality brands pieces? 🥴 my head hurts trying to figure out their motives lol
@@katierobinson honestly, I just think the motive is profit, the store is in an affluent part of town and people will pay those prices nevertheless, bc wearing secondhand is considered very cool (and some of it is paying the price of having a more curated selection)
interesting tidbit on H&M pricing: the same garment (down to the same SKU number) is 20-50% more expensive in Stockholm compared to Budapest (they are the only brand I still somewhat regularly browse at that is present in both countries but they are probably not the only ones) so yeah... they know that they can sell things at a relatively high price in that market
@@throughalfanoir7302 think you’re sadly right, which is so disappointing 😭 their pricing strategy is diabolical
I do understand how it's important to the creators to get some feedback, so here is one for you. I really enjoy your videos since i like fashion and clothing but not that much and not in a way of being obsessed with brands or history. Also, I am concerned with the pollution factor and just how fast and soulless it is. Your videos are really interesting to watch because they give a fresh and new point of view which is not so widely spreaded. So thank you!
haha it’s definitely nice to hear lovely feedback like this so ty!!!! and thanks for watching! 🫶
Thank you for mentioning the difficult situation in Bangladesh. Fashion industry is exploiting the cheap labour and washing off their hands whenever a challenge comes for decades. No one to protect the people, not our own government, and definitely not those billion dollars companies.
the more of us aware of what’s happening and fashion’s role in it then the more public pressure there’ll be for brands to honour their contracts ❤ how has the situation there been recently? is there still a lot of unrest?
@@katierobinson situation is still challenging. Need a lot of attention and rebuilding. Thanks for shining light on the topic.
A lot of the poor quality clothing sent to Ghana is burned on the side of the road. I've seen it. It's sad that all these clothes end up in Ghana, because the locally made clothes is so much more beautiful and higher quality.
So true! Ghanaian fashion is incredible. A friend brought me some gorgeous fabric from Ghana several years ago, and I treasure it.
it’s criminal that the influx of secondhand clothes stifle the growth of a local fashion industry, think how many more beautiful clothes we could have from Ghanaian businesses if the government prioritised them and the North didn’t treat it like a dumping ground 😢
i would love for you to do an episode on fabric production and sourcing but at the same time learning about it would make me cry. i'm positive that the news would not be good. i love making my own clothes but there's no way to win.
as someone who is learning to sew I would also be interested in fabric production and equally as depressed
@@FranciTalksAsianArts it's so tough out here :(
i’ve been thinking about making a similar video actually so good to know it’s a sought after topic!! but yh it’s not gonna be a fun one 😭
@@FranciTalksAsianArts😭😭😭
@@katierobinson sobbing already
i absolutely love your videos! i'm not super well versed in fashion itself, but the industry is something that is very intriguing to me. your videos are always so well put together and i feel you have such a way of explaining things in layman's terms without removing the substance of the conversation. another well done video!
aw this is so lovely to hear, tysm for watching!!! 🫶
Even worse, I read that Nike actually *recommended* that their shareholders vote against the sustainability proposal! 🤬 At this point, it’s obvious that businesses are not going to hold themselves accountable, nor are the brainwashed masses going to stop buying unless there is a financial penalty for doing so…we need actual laws to address this, NOW.
agreed!! legislation is in the pipeline but governments need to stop stalling and push it through asap 🥴
I dont know if you've seen on tiktok. But I have seen so many new videos of shein hauls. Specifically from larger influencers or fashion girls who previously probably didn't shop there much. I know there was that video of a girl buying a jaded london top and it had shein written on the tag. I think that kinda spark this discussion that all fast fashion is the same and they all use the same manufacturers and stuff. So now I'm just seeing this huge wave of people now saying f it all brands are the same I might as well save a few bucks and buy from shein instead of zara or hm etc. I think this is so sad. Like yes the quality is often the same and its all cheap garbage but I thought we were moving away from shein because its so cheap and terrible and it was kinda embarrassing almost to have new things from shein. Now people are almost proud to say they saved the money and got the same thing like they are somehow hacking the fast fashion system. Sigh lol
omg no I haven't seen this 😭 I wish these ppl would turn to secondhand instead of the cheapest store possible, then you have the added benefit of bragging it's good for the environment as well as a bargain!!!
would love to see examples if you have any saved / come across any in the future if u remember / have time!!
@@katierobinson I went to check out a few secondhand shops here in Berlin Mitte, and let me tell you, there were no bargains to be had :(
Like, I'm not going to spend 30 Euro on vintage Massimo Dutti (lol). I know it's probably extreme where I live, but generally I think secondhand shops i Europe aren't exactly cheap, at least not compared to thrift shops in the US for example. And they're certainly not cheap enough to rival fast fashion. I'm pessimistic about where we're collectively going in terms of fashion consumption, sadly.
Part of the reason people are drawn to cheap clothes is because of this idea that it's all the same. And to be fair, there are a lot of companies that charge a lot of money for low quality, sweatshop produced clothing. I can't fault people for being jaded. But a lot of people are just not very good at discerning quality. And I think some people just come up with excuses to justify buying junk, lol.
@@lja530 Even in the US, a lot of thrift stores have gotten pretty pricey. The prices would be fine if the clothes were decent quality, but this is mostly fast fashion junk selling for the same price (or more) as retail.
There should be regulations in the use of acrylic and polyester for non-activewear. I can see how use of synthetic fibres is necessary for "performance wear", but outside of that category regular clothing should be made of natural fibres. Fast fashion uses plastic fibres to keep prices down, and that is a huge contributor.
I also believe large companies should pay a tax proportionate to annual sales toward land and ocean cleanups; i.e. the more successful you are in your fiscal year (i.e. the more rubbish you've put out), the more you should be contributing towards funding cleanup efforts.
Also, N*ke asking for full-time standard work at intern prices is exploitative. As if they can't afford it pfft.
Another country where all the extra clothing goes is Chile in South America, to the Atacama desert 😮💨
oh definitely, the landfills in the atacama can be seen from space 🥴
I loved your video
however, I want to point out that in your last point, you make it seem like big corporations like threadup or vestiaire collective want this tax to be erased for social reasons: to help lower income families
however, I think we should make it clear that these businesses do not care about the environment or overconsumption as a whole, their existence depends on these issues.
the abolition of this tax would benefit them greatly economically and signing this petition makes them look like the good guys.
good point - these companies definitely are thinking about their profits first and potential social benefits second 🙃
In Latvia they implemented resource tax this year which applies to second hand clothing as well. Not sure how I feel about it , but I haven't seen changes in pricing in at least one of the second hand stores I go to from time to time.
I discovered your channel recently and I've been really enjoying your videos. You're the only channel I've found where it feels like your research about the environmental issues of fast fashion is ongoing, rather than isolated for an occasional video on the topic. As much as the topic is often pretty negative, I like getting news that I've not seen before, every time.
this is really nice to hear, ty!! I definitely try make it a bit more optimistic so I hope that's coming through bc ik the topics are often kinda negative 😌
I'm really glad, that due to algorithms, your channel poped in my feed 🎉
aw ty for watching!!
Okay, so, I work in the biggest H&M of the world (they pride themselves on this fact) as a truck/logistic person. Every day we get from 35-150 totes of store replan(boxes of clothes) and every tote can have from 1 piece of clothing to be up to 20 pounds heavy; not including the new product totes that are about 8-35 totes per day. We get new products everyday and each department in the store gets at least 3 new items (can’t tell how many pieces in total) per week.
Btw, idk if its part of the de minimis loophole but shein and its ilk also take advantage of being able to import illegal products via loopholes.
Remember when we were getting sent random seeds from ali express? Stuff like that which can have disastrous outcomes.
Nike has fallen so far since their original company. I haven't bought from them since the mid 2000s when they were pointed out as being part of the Mariana Islands/Saipan fiasco and I will continue boycotting them. And Shein is just gross. However, I will be curious to see how things play out with some other companies with this sort of thing. I get so frustrated when I watch your channel, how did so many people become brainwashed into thinking this kind of overconsumption, as well as the materials used, were okay? Thank you for doing what you do!
for anyone who also wasn't aware of the Mariana Islands issue, approximately 80,000 Nike brand shoes were lost overboard on May 27, 1990, in the north Pacific Ocean and many washed up on North American beaches 6-12 months later!!
had no idea this had happened, did the brand ever do anything to help?? given their denial / lack of response to forced labour concerns in 2024 I'd guess no...
@@katierobinson I didn't even know about this! I was more referencing their involvement in the slave labor trade in the 90s and early 2000s, they were one of the brands that didn't take a stand against the contractors who were doing it. But ugh!!!! This makes things even worse.
@@flohough1870 oof I didn't know about that part, what on earth 😭
@@katierobinson Let me see if I can find you some links, I'll e-mail you. Awful story and really turned me off on a number of brands over it. Unfortunately people have short memories.
Primark is much better quality now than it was before. People just continue to only wear it once because they are so obsessed with pictures on social media and other peoples opinions. I have primark clothes for years people are just using poor quality as an excuse for wearing them once and getting rid of them.
Great episode - I hope the tax ends up getting eliminated from second hand goods. The legislation makes total sense to me. It reminds me that Rit dye also doesn't charge customers taxes on their products (online), perhaps under the same premise.
me too, it makes total sense!
omg im so glad to hear abt the taxes !! i totally agree
hoping they make a difference!!
Nike said they'd would stop selling in Israel but haven't stopped! This was years ago when Ben and Jerrys did it. They took all the glory but never followed through!
Chinese companies also take advantage of lower USPS rate. Forbes did an article about this a few years ago.
To be honest most of my wardrobe is Penneys (Primark but I’m Irish so we have the OG) and I’ve had a lot of it for years and yes some pieces don’t last that long but I’ve found most of them hold up quite well
Thanks for this very informative and eloquent video!!!!
tysm for watching!!!! 🫶
The in store resale option can improve the sale of better quality higher price options. After all, a big part of the problem is customers wanting to buy, just for single use. By having a visible resale section, changes the calculation. It reminds you, you can bring it back and get some of the money back. Fast fashion brands have hard time selling anything better, because their customers aren't willing to pay more, because they don't see the difference. Better quality clothes are investments, bd investments are expensive.
ooh love this thought, definitely makes sense for brands to think this way!
Great informative video, thank you
ty for watching!!
I got an ad for shein on this video
Glad you mentioned the de minimis, that likely plays a big part as to why Shein is big in the US. Ugh to the live shopping. This os something that they do in China and it is soul sucking.
saw an article saying either shein or Temu are open to these incoming changes and it's like, sureeeee 🥴
your videos are lovely time spent. its amazing learning all of this. i buy as much of my clothes as i can from depop. and used to use vinted all the time when i lived briefly in england. i just learned a new word from your video: waste colonialism. i knew what it was just didnt know the term. the reality of it is disgusting. astronaut Mike Massimino said the other day on the today show that we are all star voyagers and our space ship is planet earth. he said that we tend to think we are in a cocoon here on earth. each decision we make has a result, especially the one that involve consumption. it would do us well to become wiser and more caring.
Now, is it really their fault?! Or is it ours? As we keep giving them our money
Who is really polluting? Them by producing cheap clothes for us? Or people who have an insane and compulsive behaviour when it comes around shopping?!
There is such a thing as over production. Many people over 28 ain't buying Shein. We know how evil the company is. There are some folks who don't care and buy the clothes for their children who need and need the parents who don't know how to say no. That's partly to blame but why should a company like Shein have a right to operate how they do in the first place?
@@Iquey Shein operates like that because there is a market for them.
We can’t expect them to change if they are making billions with the business model they have, can we?
So instead of blaming them for the harm they are doing to the world, why don’t we learn how to say no and stop shopping in a compulsive way?
because trying to solve everything with a free market economy clearly does not work for prisoners dilemma issues like the pollution and climate crises. YES the company is to blame, YES the consumer is to blame and YES the regulatory system allowing this type of operation is also to blame. Many consumers are already changing, it's about time for the other 2 to take their part of the blame and responsibility and to act.
@@danielh96s You make a great point about shared responsibility. However, I think we need to recognize that companies like Shein will continue to thrive as long as there’s a market for their products. Blaming them seems a bit futile when they’re just responding to consumer demand-something we all understand in business. Instead of trying to boycott or pressure these companies to change, it might be more effective to focus on educating consumers about their choices and the power they hold. If we can shift the mindset around shopping, encouraging people to seek quality and sustainability over trends, we might create a more lasting impact on the industry. Change starts with us! We need to be proactive, there is no more time for a miracle to happen from governments and companies
I'm also sick & tired of brands exploiting fashion students to intern for free and either have to perform as a real employee, without even a clue what they are doing (which is really stressful :S), or as an "ordinary seamstress" so they learn nothing on the job in terms of designing or production :S Meanwhile the brands and designers profit from this free labor.
I love the clothing waste zombie 😂 it's really reminiscent of guerilla at and punk public performance activism.
same - literally forcing ppl to stop and confront the realities of fast fashion waste!!
I'm only half way through and already thoroughly depressed. Like...how do you spend (probably) all day researching these issues? It just seems like such an impossible task to turn things around at this point. Because the people in charge don't really want to. Any changes they make are likely just green washing or other publicity stunts. They don't care about the damage they do and nor do the vast majority of people shopping from these big brands.
sorry this one was kinda depressing 😭 I think I just keep focusing on the incoming legislation and how that will hopefully change things, and this community also keeps me knowing that ppl do care and will hold brands accountable!!
Ugh, yes...the fact that these brands can just ship stuff to you straight from the factory for a pittance *has* to stop. It's been a major pet peeve of mine for a while now. It just further encourages mindless shopping behavior and how is it fair to shops, that actually operate from within the country or an economic union like the EU? It drives me nuts, that you pay less postage for a package from China, than from one that's posted the next town over, never mind the whole tax issue.
great video
tysm!!
The thing I don't understand nor agree is, like ok, these are fast fashion brands.. but, I have pieces from all these brands that I wear 10+ years with good care. Meanwhile some people are saying, for ex. this creator, these products are produced to be worn just once and have no resale value. Which I also disagree, since where I live these brands, like inditex, h&m, M&S, and even sub brands of primark, are coveted almost as high end for common everyday folks.. So if you go to second hand apps we have in our country, these brands sell like hot cakes and have so much resale value combined with the high inflation. To sum it up, even though fast fashion brands are seen as disposable products by the global west, they do hold so much more value in other parts of the world. Hence why I think the westerner customers' outlook on these brands should also change toward these products for achieving sustainability. Because even an acrylic jumper can hold up pretty well over the years with proper care.
I do definitely agree that the throwaway fashion mentality of fast fashion is a potentially bigger issue than the actual quality of the clothes, but it's also known that brands today are creating much worse quality clothes than they were when you bought those pieces from 10+ years ago - they've come to depend on polyester for such a large % of clothes, the production and stitching on clothes today is shocking etc. Obviously an individual's approach to caring for the garment is really important but brands also need to be producing better quality items!
No sales tax on used products would be based
Uncle Sam's already got his bombm oney from the sales when they were new
£7.50 to replace a button!? I almost fell off my chair. Straight up a profiteering scheme.
literally the costs are so sneaky 😭
WOW, I had no idea about Accra beaches. Speechless and angry,
let's hope this campaign + incoming legislation on product responsibility changes the situation soon!
I’ve personally bought clothes from SHEIN that I am still using and loving 🥰. I understand peoples concerns. I also have worked in a fashion retail store that is US based and is known for their plus size clothing. Their quality and that of SHEIN is quite comparable on many items. I made a $500 dollar order in January and I’m still wearing most of the pieces on a regular basis their is only two that I need to have tailored or will donate because they don’t quite fit right. I’m just sharing my experience as a 2xl/3xl gal on a budget. I bought these clothes because they were cheaper than my alternatives and I needed more winter clothes for living in a colder climate than I was prepared for. So I was trying to find more sweaters, long sleeve tops, pants, and a jacket 🧥 for around 500 dollars. I usually buy clothes once or twice a year and this was a particularly larger size haul for me only because I was so ill prepared for most days not reaching over 20 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter months. I don’t think I could have gotten as many pieces that actually fit and were my style at another company.
I also would order clothes from them again if I was looking for certain items in my size. I also have now found many options for basics from Amazon that are now in my size. I went from living in Southern Oregon in the Rogue Valley to living in Eastern Washington which would be similar to a European moving from Spain 🇪🇸 to Poland 🇵🇱 in terms of climate for those who aren’t familiar with the Pacific Northwest of the United States. I was living in a Mediterranean climate and then moved to a semi arid climate.
I should add I usually keep most clothing items for 2-6 years depending on what it is. Usually underwear 🩲 and socks I end up replacing more frequently than coats, jeans, and sweaters.
I feel the urge to comment on the same issue again and I'm begging for you to hear me this time: PLEASE please please stop talking over the text clippings you show and PLEASE show them for a bit longer. I love your videos, but I end up having to pause and repeat your videos multiple times because it's impossible to read and listen to you talk at the same time - especially sinve you sadly only show the screenshots for milliseconds! Please include pauses and/or try actually reading the text for the audience (like other content creators do). That would be GREATLY appreciated.
I REALLY disliked how you kept moving the graphs around. I was trying to zoom in and they kept moving. Maybe putting them all up on the screen at once when talking about them? Or fill the screen properly?
Would it help to pause the video? Or take a screenshot
hey!! sorry to hear, I did put the graphs full screen right at the start of the story & thought it would be a good moment for people to pause if they needed - but I'm linking to the story below so you can see really easily!
www.businessoffashion.com/articles/sustainability/shein-emissions-fashion-biggest-polluter/ [paywall, I use 12ft to get round it xx]
the fact that people know many genocides💣💥🩸👼🏽👧🏻🧕🏽👳🏼♀️ are happening and yet still decide temu/shein/h&m is for me 🤡 at this point where is everyones humanity? 💔 nobody will be the same after whats about to happen to all of us.