Shein has officially been crowned the world's most popular fashion brand. According to Euromonitor International, the market research company was able to determine SHEIN as the world's most popular online-only fashion company. Despite its many, many controversies, it has quite literally taken over the world with its fast fashion, trendy and cheap clothing pieces. Let's take a closer look.
The rather controversial Chinese brand was founded back in 2008, but in the past few years has gained international attention like never before. SHEIN is constantly providing customers worldwide with "trendy" pieces at an affordable price point, which explains its number one spot as the world's most popular brand this year. Not only have they been labeled the world's most popular brand, but it was also determined as the most Googled clothing brand in 113 countries globally. Let's break this down real quick. In 2020, Shein made $10 billion dollars in revenue, while its competitor, Asos, took home $4.4 billion dollars that same year. Fast forward two years, and the brand is valued at $100 billion dollars. You heard us, $100 billion.
However, SHEIN has suffered from a whole lotta bad press over the years. To start, the e-commerce platform is known for its design theft, specifically recreating pieces from emerging and independent designers. Fast fashion is the way of the world now, but SHEIN takes first place when it comes to the knock-offs. Besides copying designs, the fashion company is known for its questionable working conditions in China. It has been reported that brand employees work 75-hour shifts with hardly any time off, plus they are reportedly being underpaid for their time. According to the Public Eye, "numerous informal workshops [have] no emergency exits and [come] with barred windows that would have fatal implications in the event of a fire," providing an apparent unsafe workplace.
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Although the brand has been deemed as the world's most popular brand of 2022 despite its working conditions, the verdict comes at a time when people are looking to spend less on clothes but still want to be on trend. For further information on the fashion brand, check out the documentary, Inside the Shein Machine: UNTOLD.
