Shein sells very large quantities of clothing that it knows are unlikely to be worn more than a few times, at most. They are intended to arrive in a waste tip sometime very soon after their original purchase.
Garments that are returned to them are apparently routinely binned and not recycled.
This is a company that has set out to abuse the planet.
There are also questions about its tax affairs. It seems to undertake a lot of activity in feeeports.
I know there have been questions about its employment practices.
So, why are so many celebrating this company choosing to have its shares listed in London?
Spud now wants to apply sumptuary laws to who may list on the London Stock Market.
Odd for a supposed economist to miss that, by definition, utility is defined by the doer, not the beholder.
“ Odd for a supposed economist to miss that, by definition, utility is defined by the doer, not the beholder.”
Isn’t this part of why he’s a “political economist”?
Not just that it gives him an excuse for not being able to do economics, but also that he thinks utility should be defined by a committee that does what he says.
My suspicion is that Shien is a dropshipper. Since its catalogue range is also largely available on AliExpress & the delivery times are similar. In which case there’s nothing there. There are no clothes being routinely binned & not recycled. It’s just a marketing operation. A website, some IT, maybe a few people answer a phone if you’re lucky. Some dropshippers forward load fast moving lines into the market area in anticipation of sales. But that’ll be sitting in someone else’s warehousing.
Anyone know any different?
If only there was some utility test for people referred to as professors…
As for returns, I imagine they’re sorted, bulked up & sold into the rag trade by lots. So they’ll end up in the crap end of the boutiques. Or at least that’s what I’d do. You aren’t going to bin something you can make money on.
bloke in spain said:
“My suspicion is that Shien is a dropshipper. Since its catalogue range is also largely available on AliExpress & the delivery times are similar. In which case there’s nothing there”
Which would explain why they don’t resell their returns, if they’ve no warehouse, stock, shipping processes etc.
But, as you say, they wouldn’t miss the chance of a few pennies by selling it on to a discounter, especially since it would cost them to dump it in landfill. I’m sure it’ll end up on a market stall somewhere.
That’s the point that environmentalists always miss – businesses want to make money. But eco fanatics want eco stuff to be done for love of Gaia rather than to make money.
There’s one of these shops just along from me. Carries an enormous range as to variety but none of the individual items make sense. When you buy in stock there’s a formula for the size splits. So many XS, so many S so many M etc. Repeat for each colourway. But none of distribution the items on the rails bear any relation to that Lots of incomplete size & colour ranges.* So either they don’t know their business & the formulas (unlikely) or the stock’s coming in like that. Very cheap though.
*Also high proportion bad seams, missing buttons etc
Note to Spud: If you want to criticise an industry it helps if you understand how the industry functions. But that would actually take some research, wouldn’t it?
I’m sure it’ll end up on a market stall somewhere.
Probably not. The economics of being a stall holder require buying in complete ranges. But there is a market for rag. It gets minced up for the fibre content & is an input for various sorts of composites.
“But there is a market for rag. It gets minced up for the fibre content & is an input for various sorts of composites.”
Isn’t that called recycling? I though that was supposed to be a good thing.
A Hell a lot of supposition going on here:
“it knows are unlikely…”
“intended to arrive in a waste tip…”
“apparently routinely binned…”
“seems to undertake…”
“there have been questions about…”
Let’s not bother to find out if any of this crap is correct, let’s run with the story.
– “This is a company that has set out to abuse the planet.”
Sounds actionable.
@BiS at 8.50
Sounds like the stock in TK Maxx. (AKA TJ Maxx.)
“This is a company that has set out to abuse the planet.”
Sez you. Mind your own business, Spuddo.
But then, that’s the beauty of all this Greenism nonsense, isn’t it? Everything magically becomes your business.
He’s just running over the same tired themes again and again. This is the “other people have stuff I don’t like” post. We’ve just had his maths lesson where “everybody is wrong except me”.
Most bloggers would take a break or rethink things if they found themselves doing this but I guess that requires self insight.
OT but I did enjoy reading this article.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/06/03/woman-visited-ae-seven-times-drunk-on-own-gut-bacteria/
For those that can’t read it, she was diagnosed with “auto brewery syndrome”, where yeasts in her stomach were converting carbohydrates in her diet to alcohol. Of course the first thing one wonders is how does one go about contracting this welcome medical condition? And also, if you did, how long it would take HMRC to be slapping an alcohol production tax bill on you?
BiS
I did like the tale where you’re cured by a faecal transplant.
A whole new meaning to the phrase ‘let ’em eat shit!!!’
Jenny says:
June 3 2024 at 9:34 am
You have no business messing with a private business operating entirely within the law, providing products and services that people are looking for.
Who made you the moral arbiter of what business should and shouldn’t do?
+2
Reply
Richard Murphy says:
June 3 2024 at 9:59 am
Who gave you the right to say I might not express an opinion?
I think the Chinese have a thick enough skin to shrug off attacks from a halfwit. As PJF points out – would be amusing if they decided his words were actionable.
would be amusing if they decided his words were actionable.
I suppose some public spirited person could bring it to their attention… He says himself, he’s a leading opinion former in the world of political economics.
Would amuse me no end if Chinese nationalist cyber-warriors descended on his blog to chide him for interference and imperialism. Nobody who has come across them online could say with a straight face “the Chinese have a thick enough skin to shrug off attacks” from any source. They hyper-sensitively interpret attacks on Chinese companies as an insinuated racist attack on their whole country – which does make you wonder who’s paying them.
1) When the questions come from the Internal Revenue Service, Canada Revenue Agency, or His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, I’m sure Shein will answer them. When they come from a self-important retired CA in Ely, they’ll shrug and ignore them. Maybe giggle a bit.
2) That’s kind of the whole point about feeeports [sic], you dickhead – to attract economic activity by offering a tax break