Does shopping at SHEIN make you a bad person?

I'm labelling this as #GirlTalk because I've seen this going around so much lately. I'm anticipating a lot of backlash, but let's talk about it anyway.

For quite a while now, I've been seeing gurlies shaming other gurlies for shopping at SHEIN. Flaming influencers for promoting SHEIN, giving other girls looks for wearing SHEIN products, and ultimately making other girls feel bad about themselves for shopping at SHEIN.

But is it really so terrible to shop at SHEIN?

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First of all, here's a TLDR of why people are hating on SHEIN - fast fashion, allegations of exploiting their factory workers, and allegations of plagiarising designs of smaller indie creators.

Let this be clear that I DO NOT support any of such behaviour, and I think that it is both wrong and very distasteful.

But I would also like to explain why people (me included), still shop at SHEIN regardless.

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1. SHEIN is really, really cheap.

I'm not gonna lie and say I'm poor etc etc and use that as an excuse for shopping at SHEIN, but let's be fair here - SHEIN is way cheaper than most brands out there.

A dress that would cost you $80-90 at H&M and ZARA would probably cost you $20 at SHEIN (and yes, these are ALL fast fashion brands).

Some people argue that the quality is better - is it really? Most of these pieces are made in the same chinese factories as SHEIN, but sold for a much higher price.

If I'm getting something of similar quality, why would I want to pay more?

2. It's convenient

Hey, I love thrift shopping, but it's honestly not the most time-efficient thing to do. You dig through racks and racks of clothes for hours just to find a few pieces of clothing you like (if at all).

Most of the time, even if you do find something that you like, it's not even in your size.

This makes it especially hard for people with different measurements (such as plus-sized gurlies, tall gurlies, etc) to find clothes that fit them, much less that they feel pretty in.

Most of the clothes at thrift stores aren't exactly the best quality either (lots of them are also from fast fashion brands), and really high quality stuff isn't cheap either.

Cost-wise and time-wise, it's not something that everyone can commit to.

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"BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT OKAY!!"

Of course it doesn't.

The main concern of shopping fast fashion is the waste. And yeah, we shouldn't ever be buying more than we need!

The buy-and-throw-away culture is very predominant in fast fashion, but that doesn't mean that mentality isn't present in thrift shoppers and high-end fashion shoppers.

It's simple - don't just buy something for the sake of buying it. Because it's cheap, or because you *think* it might pair well with that one skirt you have.

Buy what you *know* you will wear, and plan to wear for a long, long time (there's really no shame in repeating outfits yall 😭)

At least a good half of my wardrobe are hand-me-downs, and at least another 30% are fast fashion items (mainly from SHEIN and Taobao).

I've been wearing all these pieces for years and years, and as much as people hate to admit it, items from SHEIN and Taobao do last a pretty long time if you take care of them.

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On the topic of how they treat their workers and the allegations of their design-stealing, my answer is this:

This happens literally everywhere, even in other fashion brands. There's really no helping it.

Does that make it okay? No.

But is it something we can truly fix? Also no.

As much as we hate to admit it, these things are not going to go away.

(I know a lot of people are gonna have a lot to say especially on this topic, and I respect that, but this is my personal opinion and I would rather not go into a lengthy explanation of it.)

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I love how our generation is trying to make our way of living more and more sustainable. As we should.

But should we really be shaming others for not sharing the same views as us?

Some of us are much stricter and more disciplined with ourselves than others - good for you! Some people choose to go vegan, recycle all their waste, and do other amazing things.

But you of all people should know that starting and MAINTAINING such a lifestyle is hard.

It's a very difficult commitment, and not everyone can afford it (most of us know how sustainable items are typically much more expensive and inaccessible due to the way they're manufactured)

Most of us are trying in little ways, but maybe can't do so much as others just yet. That doesn't make us bad people.

I don't like or encourage waste - but not everyone who shops at SHEIN or purchases fast fashion has the intention of encouraging or promoting the buy-and-throw-away culture.

Let's aim to gently educate, rather than viciously bash.

There's many ways to encourage sustainability, but shaming others and weaponising cancel culture is really not the way ❤️

Again, I am not encouraging people to shop fast fashion, or trying to garner support for SHEIN.

Instead, I'm hoping we can stop shaming and cancelling each other over our lifestyle choices. There's a lot of talk about girls supporting girls, and another way we can do that is by gently educating one another and being respectful of our different choices.

#lemon8singapore #lemon8shopping #Lemon8fashion #Fashion #shein #Shopping #WhereToShop #lifestyle #MyLemon8Diary