Can Shein Improve Garment Workers' Lives Without the 'Flashy PR Play'?

When David Hachfeld saw Shein’s press release extolling what the e-tail Goliath said was the continuation of its “drumbeat of support” for the factories in its supply chain, his immediate thought was that it sounded like the “same old PR tactics.”

Hachfeld is the textiles expert at Public Eye, a Swiss watchdog group whose investigations into Shein’s Chinese supply chain, most recently in 2024, uncovered widespread evidence of excessive overtime, poverty wages and dangerous conditions, often in violation of local labor laws. He greeted with skepticism the Singapore-headquartered firm’s claims that it would be earmarking $70 million until 2028 to “empower its ecosystem of third-party manufacturing suppliers and the workers within.” It was the same feeling he felt when he saw Shein’s photos of gleaming factory floors, polished canteens and even a newly renovated “multipurpose” recreation room.

“It’s quite telling that while they boast in detail about every square meter renovated at a supplier, they still steadfastly refuse to disclose their authorized supplier list,” he said. “Credibility and secrecy don’t go together. And this lack of transparency makes it impossible to independently verify their claims of improvement.”

Shein, which doesn’t operate its own facilities but rather contracts from a vast network of partners, said it has to date upgraded 203 factories spanning 500,000 square meters as part of its so-called Supplier Community Empowerment Program, which it unveiled in 2022 on the heels of allegations by Britain’s Channel 4 that employees at two Guangzhou suppliers were toiling 18-hour days, with only one day off per month, for as little as 3 cents per hour. The Temu nemesis refuted most of the claims, denying, for instance, that the factories withheld or deducted wages if mistakes were made or quotas unmet. As of 2024, Shein has disbursed more than $33 million to SCEP initiatives in southern China, including $7.5 million for factory upgrades and expansion, $280,000 for the construction or renovation of canteens for workers and $430,000 to build or enhance free accommodation options for migrant workers.

But Hachfeld would need to see it to believe it, he said.

“In 2023, when we looked into Shein’s claims about their Supplier Community Empowerment Program and revisited production clusters in Guangzhou, we unfortunately couldn’t confirm any tangible improvements on the ground,” he said. “In fact, workers interviewed at different manufacturing sites reported again severe violations of labor standards, including shocking 75-hour work weeks. We asked Shein to disclose the facilities supposedly covered by the program back then, but they refused to be transparent, and they continue to refuse their suppliers to this day.”

These were the days, as rumor had it, when Shein was still pursuing a U.S. initial public offering. But bipartisan backlash from Capitol Hill, which urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to hold off with registration until the fast fashion purveyor could independently certify that it didn’t use forced labor from China’s persecuted Uyghur minority, sent Shein—reportedly—to seek a float in London, where it was criticized at a parliamentary hearing for failing to say whether it uses Chinese cotton, 90 percent of which hails from Xinjiang. (The answer, as it turned out? It depends, Shein appeared to say in a written response later.)

By all appearances, Shein’s provision of summer camps for hundreds of workers’ children, a commitment to establish and staff dozens of childcare centers for free afterschool care, and its offer of financial assistance for funding medical expenses, children’s education or “other personal challenges” would be good things.

Not so, however, for author and Columbia University fashion policy and sustainability lecturer Elizabeth Cline, who said that she found all of this “honestly disturbing.”

“Why should a person working for multi-billion dollar Shein need ‘financial aid’ for health expenses?” she said. “These programs raise questions that urgently need to be answered: Are the childcare services running after school, or do they exist so parents can work well into the night? Are parents paid enough to feed and house their kids, or does the company-owned dormitory exist to keep wages at a level of dependence?”

Ditto with the “technology enhancements” that the Missguided owner says it’s investing in through research and development at its sprawling Centre of Innovation for Garment Manufacturing in Guangzhou—the same one that a group of influencers toured in 2023 to public ridicule and outrage. Shein said it has spent more than $23 million on developing innovative “lean production” solutions for garment manufacturing, such as the use of automated guided vehicles. In 2024, the center submitted 30 patents for new technology that Shein says are employed in complex craftsmanship methods, including dealing with specialized fabrics.

Cline isn’t sold. “Shein is primarily investing in more automated machinery to speed up production,” she said. “We do not need faster fast fashion. It threatens to push garment workers to sew faster, does nothing to improve the lives of workers, and will add more waste and consumerism to our world that only benefits these giant companies and their shareholders.”

Katrina Caspelich, chief marketing officer at the fashion advocacy group Remake, is well-versed in PR speak. She said that at first glance, Shein’s Supplier Community Empowerment Program “reads like a well-crafted PR play: full of big numbers, strategic facility upgrades and worker-focused initiatives.” But she also urged those scanning it not to be “blinded by the flashy headline.”

“Let’s focus on the root cause of why Shein’s supply chain has needed such a massive overhaul in the first place,” Caspelich said. “Shein built its empire on an ultra-fast fashion model that thrives on rapid production speeds, low costs, and a lack of transparency. The brand’s historical issues with worker exploitation, unpaid wages, excessive overtime and even child labor allegations aren’t solved by upgrading canteens or adding robots to factory floors.”

A $70 million largesse may sound impressive, she said, but Shein was valued at $66 billion—with a b—in 2023. It’s Caspelich’s belief that its commitment is a “tiny drop in the bucket” that is more about making a good public impression than driving meaningful improvements.

“The true test isn’t how many childcare centers they open or how many QR codes workers can scan for financial assistance; it’s whether Shein will fundamentally change the exploitative business model that fuels its success,” she said. “Genuine change would mean slowing down production, ensuring living wages, embracing transparency, and allowing independent audits—not just controlled, self-reported narratives.”

Shein has said that any supply chain partner that signs its code of conduct must agree to shun the use of forced labor, including prison and bonded labor, while complying with the International Labour Organisation’s forced labor conventions in their direct or indirect procurement activities. Even so, audits, as experts have previously pointed out, are especially inadequate when it comes to state-sponsored forced labor, which is what Beijing is being accused of promoting both in and outside of Xinjiang.

Hachfeld didn’t mince words. “Honestly, Shein should stop trying to distract with summer camps and charity programs for workers in need,” he said. “What they really need to focus on is [to] ensure that all workers in their supply chain, from the seamstress to the warehouse picker, earn living wages within regular working hours and social security so they don’t need charity in the first place.”

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