Inside Shein: ITV News visits the workshops in China producing clothes at rapid rates
Influencers, AI-technology and rows of sewing machines are fuelling the Shein machine which supplies the world with cheap clothing, ITV News Asia Correspondent Debi Edward reports
On Hengxing Road in Guangzhou there is a row of open shop fronts, behind which we could see banks of sewing machines where workers busily ply their trade.
The first couple of workshops we approached were unwilling to let us in, but we soon met a friendly manager who showed us the clothes they were making for Shein Curve, the clothing line's plus-size range.
Guangzhou is the garment making capital of China and it is here that most of the cheap clothes sold on Shein and Temu are made.
The apparel industry has a long history in this southern city in the former Canton region, and the growth of Shein and Temu - which are focused only on foreign markets - has given several businesses a boost, at a time when the domestic economy has been suffering.
Both companies took off during the pandemic and have enjoyed turbocharged growth thanks to business models which allow them to sell and deliver goods, sometimes for no more than the cost of a cup of coffee.
By sending each item individually, direct to the customer, Shein and Temu can avoid the threshold for import taxes, and AI-driven product development means they effectively make items to order, keeping inventory and warehouse costs to a minimum.
The manager in that first workshop we filmed in told us that Shein will call him to tell him which clothes are selling and which he should stop producing.
They will then specify the quantity of a specific item for him to make and in which sizes and colours.
In a second workshop, the manager told us she’d heard living costs have risen in the West and she said she felt proud that clothes ‘Made-in-China’ could help by providing low cost, convenient goods.
She added that she hoped it would also improve the image of China to foreigners who didn’t have a good impression.
A growing posse of influencers in the UK are behind Shein’s mass marketing strategy.
They’ve made the ‘Shein Haul’ a social media phenomenon, and helped the company steal market share from established brands like Zara and H&M.
Temu on the other hand did as its ads suggest and spent "like a billionaire" getting not one but six ad slots during the Superbowl.
ITV News spoke to Ines Durand from Similar Web who has been tracking the growth of these Chinese companies and told us ASOS has lost market share to Shein.
Meanwhile Temu, which doesn’t just sell clothes, has started to challenge the dominance of Amazon as an online marketplace.
But success has come with scrutiny and questions about labour rights in the larger Chinese factories, to which we were unable to gain access.
The workers in the places we visited told us they worked long hours, sometimes from 8am until 10pm or later if there was a big order on, but they said the pay was pretty good.
Conditions in the workshops were not the cleanest, there were some cobwebs on the ceiling of the first place, and they didn’t appear very orderly.
The workstations were cramped but comfortable, with individual fans for each person to keep them cool in the summer heat.
Shein and Temu have both denied force labour accusations and other charges including claims of selling counterfeit goods and the misuse of data.
The companies have also reignited the debate surrounding fast fashion and the impact of overconsumption on the environment.
Marta Blazquez Cano, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Marketing from the University of Manchester, told us because of the materials they are made with, most of the clothes sold on Shein and Temu cannot be recycled.
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Given the low cost of their products, garments are routinely found in rubbish dumps or charity shops, despite it being free to return most goods.
Ms Blazquez Cano thinks the business model is based on overproduction and therefore promotes overconsumption, people wear something once and throw it away.
Both Shein and Temu say they are committed to sustainability and reducing the impact of their business on the environment.
An insatiable appetite for bargain buys, and the cost-of-living crisis have produced some winners in China.
While we were there, the sewing machines of Guangzhou were churning out clothes, almost as fast as they could be sold.
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