“What the devil?”
That was the question raised at the top of his lungs by my 15 -year -old niece, who had just discovered that his favorite retailer, Shein, would no longer be selling clothes at incredibly low prices.
In recent years, as he has become more aware of fashion and more marinated in Tiktok, my niece has fallen in love with Shein, an innovative Retail online Chinese who, until last week, was able to wear an escape in the US commercial law to sell clothing and accessories for low criminal prices.
The escape, known as the “Exception of Minimis” allowed packages valued in less than $ 800 to enter the US. UU. Without being subject to rates. That has allowed China, in particular, to flood the US market with low -cost super -cost goods with minimal customs supervision, delight consumers and hurt national manufacturers and retailers.
Closeing the escape is one of the rare cases of bipartisan harmony these days; Both parties support it. President Biden had asked Congress to do so. President Trump has just moved on and did so in executive order. This can be the only tariff movement that deserves its “beautiful” label.
So how cheap they are, were these clothes? Try $ 6.79 for a graphic shirt, $ 2.79 for a pair of shorts for high waist women, $ 2.85 for a leopard printed cell phone box. (A “closet” of cell phone boxes is apparently one thing).
My niece likes to watch videos of “Shein Haul”, where (mostly) teenagers and women of 20 and many show the many, many items that have bought for almost nothing, sometimes trying them, sometimes only opening delivery boxes and throwing everything on the floor. It is a bit exciting, but also a bit disgusting.
The reaction to these sets is a numbly similar mind.
“Oh my God, see how nice. “
“I bought these because they looked so beautiful together.”
“Can you bear how nice this is?”
(I am sure that Roget would be mortified by his anemic vocabularies. Or disturbed, disgusted and possibly not even. But I am deviating).
Until my niece missed me, I resisted buying these retailers. At the risk of Puritano, I really think she already has enough stuff. Do you really need 20 more hoodie?
And it turns out that there is a very high cost for these low prices.
Chinese retailers have been widely accused of participating in unpleasant commercial practices, more atrociously of the use of forced labor of the uigures to choose cotton in the Xinjiang region of China. (Despite the overwhelming evidence, China continues to deny that it opposes and exploits the population of mostly Muslims).
In the thousands of urban clothing factories where clothing is sewn, workers are subject to long hours with low salaries in sometimes dangerous conditions.
And then there is the disastrous environmental impact of “fast fashion”, which Shein and his competitor Temu exemplify.
Massive amounts of raw materials quickly become modern and economic pieces that can be thrown as soon as the next trend arrives. The fast fashion industry is one of the world's largest contaminating, broadcasting more carbon than international flights and combined maritime shipping, according to Earth.org.
The fast fashion world has radically reformed US consumption habits, and not in good sense. In 2015, around 153 million minimis plots to the United States were sent. That number grew to more than one billion in 2023, according to a report by the Congress Research Service. The average package value, according to the report, was $ 54.
“Buy as a billionaire,” Temu proclaimed in his announcement of 2023 Super Bowl. Reddit forums have been flooded with consumers regretting the new and highest prices (which, to be honest, are not even really so high compared to American manufacturing goods).
“From buying as a billionaire to shopping like a farmer in one day,” a user published.
“It was pleasant, for a brief moment, to pay all the little things we need and also some cheap treats,” another wrote. “Returning to the overwhelming reality of the soul of poverty, just where they love us.”
Both Shein and Temu, who sell household items in addition to clothing, anticipated the end of the exception of Minimis. They are adjusting their commercial strategies. Among the tactics: warehouses and vendors of the United States, allowing them to “send local”.
Last year, I dragged my fashion for low -cost clothes, I decided to make an order with Shein. I bought a pair of jeans for about $ 30 and a purseter for approximately $ 80. I was surprised by the good quality of both.
And I felt guilty for violating my principles. Approximately a month after my Mini Haul arrived from China, a dog that was taking care of a huge hole in the sweater.
I felt sad about that. But I also felt that the universe was punishing me. I deserved it.
Bluesky: @further.bsky.social Rags: @rabcar
