Online shopping has become an integral part of many people's lives today – convenience, a vast selection, competitive prices, and delivery right to the door are just some of the reasons why enthusiastic e-shop customers are increasing. One of the most prominent names in the field of online fashion is the Chinese brand Shein. This fashion giant has become a hit especially among younger customers and its growth rate surprises the whole world. What is the secret of its success and what should you watch out for when shopping?
What is Shein?
Shein is a global online retailer focusing on fast fashion – that is, quick and affordable fashion. The brand originated in China back in 2008 under the name Sheinside, but it experienced its big boom only after rebranding to Shein in 2015. Since then, it has transformed from a local brand into an international platform operating in more than 220 countries.
Shein primarily sells through its own website and mobile app, without having physical stores. Similar to other well-known brands in the fast fashion sector (e.g., Temu or Aliexpress), Shein offers goods at exceptionally low prices. Its catalog features tens of thousands of products across various categories.
What is Shein's value?
In 2023, the SHEIN app was the most downloaded shopping app in the world with over 200 million downloads. The company's value is currently estimated at 70 to 100 billion dollars, with the company considering an IPO (initial public offering) as early as 2024. This incredible growth makes it one of the main global players in online clothing sales.
What does Shein offer?
While it originally started as an e-shop with cheap women's fashion, Shein now offers a very wide range of products:
- Women's, men's, and children's clothing
- Clothing for fuller figures (plus size fashion)
- Footwear, handbags, jewelry, costume jewelry
- Home accessories, decorations, and kitchen supplies
- Cosmetics and beauty products (Sheglam brand)
- Technical accessories like phone cases, LED strips
- Special editions designed in collaboration with influencers or designers (Shein X)
Advantages of shopping through Shein
Extremely low prices
Shein offers clothing pieces at a fraction of the price compared to competitors. T-shirts from 2 €, dresses for less than 10 €, or shoes under 20 € are quite common. Cheap materials and efficient mass production allow the company to sell products really cheaply.
Constantly new collections
Thousands of new products are uploaded weekly. Shein follows fashion trends in real-time – through social media, sales data, and algorithms – and within a few days, it has the latest "must-have" pieces available.
Flash sales and promotions
Discounts, time-limited offers, and discount codes – Shein knows how to encourage impulsive purchases. It systematically uses the psychology of "urgency," which leads the customer to make a quick purchase.
Loyalty program and rewards
For every review or purchase, you earn points that you can use as a discount. You also get benefits after registration or sharing the app with friends.
Free shipping and easy returns
For orders over a certain amount (usually from 9 €), you get free shipping.
The darker side of Shein: What to watch out for?
Alongside all the benefits Shein offers – low prices, a wide selection, trendy designs, and a simple shopping process – one should not overlook the risks that are inherently associated with this business model. Although it is a globally successful platform, its rapid growth and "ultra-fast fashion" strategy raise many ethical, ecological, and health questions.
Ethically problematic working conditions
One of the biggest criticisms of Shein is the way their products are made. Investigations by various independent organizations have revealed that Shein's supplier factories in China operate with minimal transparency, and employees are often subjected to extremely long shifts (up to 75 hours a week), substandard wages far below the Chinese minimum standard, or dangerous working conditions.
Massive environmental burden
Shein is a prime example of so-called ultra-fast fashion. More than 2,000 new products are added to the platform daily, and the entire life cycle of a fashion piece – from design to sale – can take just 10 days. Everything is influenced by trends on TikTok, Google Trends, and consumer algorithms.
From an environmental perspective, such excessive production consumes enormous amounts of natural resources, pollutes the environment with toxic dyes or chemicals, and fills the oceans with microplastics.
Although Shein claims to strive to be "more responsible" and introduce sustainable collections, in reality, its production is one of the visible problems of overconsumption in the fashion industry.
Product quality matches the price – that is, low
As the saying goes: "I'm not rich enough to buy cheap things." Shein offers extremely low prices only because it saves on all levels – including materials and processing. While some customers praise the purchase as a "great catch for a few euros," others are disappointed that they have to return, adjust, or throw away the clothing.
Copying designs and infringing copyrights
There have been repeated cases where Shein used designs from independent designers, smaller brands, or handmade creators (e.g., from Etsy or Instagram) without permission. These designs were simply copied and sold at a fraction of the price, with the original creators receiving neither credit nor compensation.
How does shopping on Shein work?
Shopping on Shein is simple and intuitive, thanks to a responsive website and a well-developed mobile app available for both Android and iOS users. The app is also localized into Slovak (albeit with minor translation errors), and the shopping process is designed to be quick and smooth.
What payment methods are available on Shein?
Shein offers several payment options that are completely common for Slovak customers:
- Payments by debit or credit card (Visa, Mastercard)
- Google Pay / Apple Pay
- PayPal (often preferred for its security)
- Gift vouchers
- Shein "Wallet" (wallet with points and cash from returned shipments)
All payment data is secured by international PCI DSS security standards, and the e-shop regularly checks the security of the payment gateway.
uičkovský tip: When shopping online, always check that you are on a secure website (with "https" in the URL address) and monitor the access rights you grant to the app – especially during mobile payment.
What should you watch out for when shopping through Shein?
It is important to summarize the main points:
- Clothing quality is often inconsistent – be prepared for possible disappointment (even if for a few euros).
- Goods may contain chemicals (formaldehyde, phthalates), especially in cheap jewelry and synthetic fabrics.
- Fashion trends change daily – Shein perhaps best embodies the so-called "dopamine" shopping model, which can keep you in a cycle of impulsive consumption.
- Exploitation of other designers' copyrighted work: repeated cases of copying designs from Slovak and foreign authors.
- Minimal transparency regarding production conditions in the supply chain.
How do experts and the market view Shein?
Shein is not just a fashion brand – it is a technological platform that represents a new level in the evolution of consumer culture. Fashion analysts, digital sales experts, and ethical commentators view Shein as one of the main representatives of so-called ultra-fast fashion.
The company has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in technologies that enable:
- real-time trend tracking (through Google Trends, TikTok, Instagram),
- user behavior analysis (clickstream data, heatmaps),
- product sales predictions based on algorithms (AI-driven inventory management),
- connecting small factories through its own systems inspired by Toyota production (LATR system – Lean Agile Textile Rapid Response model).
