A shopper sued a boutique for allegedly selling a Shein swimsuit for $40, four times the product’s original price.
In a TikTok video, Lauren Harris (@laurharr22) shared with viewers a blue bikini with Shein tags still for sale at a boutique. The bikini was priced at $40, even though it sells for a measly $8 on Shein’s website.
“If your boutique sells Shein clothes for 4x the price,” Harris wrote in the video’s overlay text. “At least remove the labels and hide the evidence.”
The video, which Harris shared the week before, has since gone viral, garnering more than 1.5 million views on the social media platform. Viewers took to the comments section to express similar frustrations with small businesses passing off products from fast fashion companies like Shein and Temu as their own.
One person commented: “THIS is why I hesitate to go to boutiques or small stores. I swear every time I pay like $70 for a dress and it gets damaged within the first three wears.”
“All these boutiques I see selling $6 temu slippers for $35-40 have me gagged,” another person wrote, to which Harris responded, “My understanding is they need to raise prices to make any kind of profit, but at least they do it.” They make brands where we don’t know how much they really cost.”
“That’s why I don’t trust most boutiques,” adds a third. To avoid running into this problem, one commenter shared that he performs reverse image searches for items he plans to purchase from small boutiques and businesses. “This is why I do a reverse photo search of online boutiques,” they wrote. “Most of the clothes are on Shein or AliExpress.”
It’s not just brick-and-mortar boutiques that have been criticized for selling expensive clothing from cheap and fast fashion companies, but also online boutiques, also known as “ghost stores” or “double brands,” according to voice – who do exactly the same thing on platforms like Instagram.
In a 2021 video, video essayist Lisa Fevral explained that online boutiques like Cider, Kollyy, Emmiol, and Juicici notably capitalize on trends and tirelessly target consumers with ads. But a simple Google search can show you that all of these brands sell clothes from the same Chinese suppliers.
“These companies are clearly targeting young women, but it seems like they are trying to adjust their language to make it seem more sustainable or ethical without changing their practices much,” Fevral explained to voice. “There is no way a company can keep up with TikTok styles and trends unless it produces a lot of very cheap clothing.”
However, in the retail industry, the practice of ordering wholesale clothing from abroad is common. Whether it’s Instagram boutiques or Macy’s, reselling cheap clothes for 200-500 percent is how many businesses can make a profit. United fashion describes wholesaling as selling products in bulk to other businesses, and most wholesalers supply styles to boutiques, department stores or online stores, who ultimately sell the products to consumers.
