Shein X $100K Fashion Challenge: Fashion, Media, and Consumption
In the last decade, Shein has established itself as a dominant force in fast fashion, capitalizing on society’s obsession with microtrends, affordability, and an endless supply of new clothing. The company’s rise mirrors broader shifts in consumer behavior, where the demand for rapid trend cycles has intensified with the expansion of social media and influencer culture. A decade ago, Zara was the face of fast fashion, catering primarily to middle- and upper-middle-class consumers seeking runway-inspired styles at accessible prices. However, Shein, a China-based company, entered the market with an aggressive strategy, explicitly stating in 2016 that its goal was "to take Zara out" (Jin, Li, Chen, Zheng, 2023).
Shein’s explosive growth—initially an online wedding dress retailer—truly took off during the COVID-19 pandemic. The global shift toward digital consumption, combined with restrictions on in-person shopping, sent Shein’s sales soaring (Thomas, Jones, Hooker, 2024). Unlike traditional fast fashion giants which balance in-person locations with e-commerce, Shein operates exclusively online, leveraging a direct-to-consumer model and algorithm-driven data analysis to identify emerging trends and produce garments at an unprecedented speed.
A key factor in Shein’s appeal is its mastery of emotional branding—a strategy that influences consumers' feelings to build brand loyalty (Kim, Sullivan, 2019). Beyond delivering trend-driven styles faster than any competitor, Shein incentivizes repeating purchases through its Shein Points rewards program, where customers earn points for reviewing items, watching live streams, engaging with the platform, and, of course, shopping. This gamified approach fosters a sense of community within its platform, creating a feedback loop that not only lowers the already rock-bottom prices (often as low as $10 per item) but also keeps consumers locked into its cycle of constant consumption. With its aggressive presence on TikTok and Instagram and collaborations with high-profile celebrities such as Rita Ora, Khloe Kardashian, and Hailey Bieber, Shein has become the fastest, most accessible way to "dress the part" in an era where personal branding is inseparable from social media aesthetics. Agnes Rocamora uses the term “mediatization” to understand fashion and its relationship to social media in our contemporary landscape, concluding that the photogenic dimension and its role in practices of the self have transformed and devalued the tactile and material qualities of fashion as an art form (Rocamora, 2016).
By 2020, Shein had already reported close to $10 billion in revenue, marking its eighth consecutive year of over 100% revenue growth (Liu, 2022). But this exponential success has sparked increasing scrutiny—not just from industry insiders but also from its core audience. Gen Z, known for its engagement in "cancel culture" and emphasis on ethical consumption (resurgence of vintage and second-hand shopping), has been confronted with an uncomfortable paradox: Do micro-concerns about always wearing new looks and maximizing impact for the camera trump macro-concerns about labor rights, sustainability, and creativity? (Elan, 2021). The rise of Shein signals a fundamental shift in fashion’s meaning, reducing an art form historically rooted in craftsmanship and self-expression to a one-dimensional, algorithmic cycle of disposable trends.
Fashion has always been a signifier of status. In 18th-century London and Paris, differences in style, fabric, and color visibly distinguished social classes, separating aristocrats from laborers and servants (Sennett, 2007). Today, with the democratization of fashion, brands like Shein blur these distinctions by offering low-cost “dupes” of high-end styles, making luxury aesthetics seemingly more accessible. While this disrupts class-based hierarchies, it also raises questions about fashion’s future—does this mass production of imitation trends rule out creativity and personal style? When everyone can look like they wear couture, what becomes couture? Has fast fashion’s efficiency come at the cost of what made fashion meaningful in the first place?
Shein’s model operates at an almost unimaginable scale, often compared to Amazon in its logistical efficiency. It partners with global third-party suppliers—many based in underdeveloped countries, where laborers work under exploitative conditions for wages far below legal standards—to manufacture and distribute its garments quickly. Once a trend is identified, Shein can produce an item in as little as three days, with most new styles appearing within five to seven days. This rapid turnaround raises serious ethical concerns, particularly regarding the sources of these designs as that process in itself requires time. Many designers have accused Shein of plagiarizing their work, a claim that highlights the inherent contradictions of a system built on speed rather than quality and originality. In 2021 alone, Shein launched 800,000 new products—over 50,000 new items per month—an output far beyond what even fast fashion giants like Zara or H&M can achieve with their test-repeat models (Liu, 2022). When reports of labor exploitation, plagiarism, and environmental harm surfaced, social media did what it does best—users held Shein and by extension its consumers, accountable for perpetuating unsustainable and unethical practices.
Many brands have dealt with PR scandals, and it is interesting to examine how companies mitigate these issues and what that reveals about our cultural and industry landscape. In the past, fashion scandals were often a source of intrigue and publicity, but today, the landscape has shifted. The notion that "all press is good press" no longer applies in an era where social media has democratized fashion discourse. This so-called “citizen journalism” has transformed the role of scandals in fashion; rather than fueling conversations, they now threaten to dismantle and end brands altogether (Vänskä, Gurova, 2024). In response to the backlash, Shein attempted to rehabilitate its image by collaborating with the very force that exposed its unethical practices—social media influencers. The company flew U.S. influencers to China, offering them what was arguably a curated glimpse into its factories and labor conditions. Banking on the credibility of these creators, Shein sought to counter the allegations of forced labor and unethical practices. However, the strategy backfired when one influencer infamously remarked that they “weren’t even sweating,” a statement widely perceived as blatant propaganda and a sign of complete tone deafness (Holman, Maheshwari, 2023). Instead of fostering goodwill, the campaign fueled further backlash, underscoring the risks of relying on influencer marketing rather than genuine corporate accountability.
While Shein attempted to address concerns about labor conditions through influencer partnerships, it had yet to adequately respond to its plagiarism scandals. In 2021, the company launched its own reality TV competition, the Shein X $100K Fashion Challenge, a four-episode series following 30 designers competing for a $100,000 prize and a runway showcase in Los Angeles. Surprisingly, Shein secured A-list industry figures as judges, including celebrity stylist Law Roach, designer Christian Siriano, former J.Crew creative director Jenna Lyons, Khloé Kardashian, and InStyle magazine style director Laurel Pantin (Nanda, 2021). However, the initiative faced immediate backlash, with the featured celebrities criticized for their association with the brand. Law Roach, perhaps the most surprising member of the cast, defended himself by saying that Shein was not going anywhere and that his support of the TV show was an initiative to change it.
This effort was widely viewed as an attempt to reframe Shein’s narrative—from a brand notorious for stealing designs to one that uplifts and highlights diverse emerging designers. Yet, rather than salvaging Shein’s reputation, the competition only reinforced its underlying contradictions. The poor-production of the show contributed to the perception of the show as propaganda, its flashy, fast-paced way of displaying design, creativity, and craftsmanship did not sit well with its audience. The show itself exposed the harsh realities of Shein’s labor practices, forcing designers to work under extreme time constraints with minimal resources in poor conditions (heat, outdated machinery, etc.). Rather than dispelling criticism, it reinforced Shein’s reputation for prioritizing speed and profit over worker welfare. Instead of offering meaningful transparency, the show became yet another example of performative ethics—an attempt to rebrand exploitation as efficiency.
Furthermore, shein captured an audience through similar incentives as the ones operated on their website, discount codes of up to $500 for liking, sharing, or commenting, which felt more like a desperate attempt to manufacture positive buzz than genuine engagement with this rewrite of their brand identity. Viewers unsurprisingly saw through the ploy, recognizing it as a way to drown out criticism and even lawsuits. The inclusion of brands like Freak City L.A., which had previously accused Shein of design theft, only made the paradoxmore glaring. Instead of proving Shein’s commitment to ethical partnerships, and a new future for its brand– it showcased itself as flipping past accusations into PR-friendly collaborations without ever addressing the root issue.
Shein’s rebranding efforts expose more than they resolve. Its reliance on influencer credibility, incentives, social media stunts and reality TV, only underscore its refusal to engage with the core issues of the fast-fashion industry—exploitative labor conditions, environmental destruction, and design theft. While the brand has mastered the art of visibility, it completely failed in managing to rebrand as a new, more ethically aware brand. This backlash suggests that consumers are becoming increasingly resistant to surface-level, performative actions, recognizing these efforts as nothing more than a distraction from the actual problem. While Zara and H&M are still fast-fashion giants, their attempts at rebranding as eco-friendly and luxury brands, have sat better than Shein’s transparent ones.
Shein’s success’ and failures reflects a broader shift in fashion, one where speed and performance often outweigh substance and creativity— making Shein its well-deserved reputation as a tacky, cheap brand. Its consumers reactions to their efforts raise the hopeful question…how long can a company built on disposability outrun its own reputation before becoming disposable itself?
Elan, Priya. "‘Worst of the Worst’: Why Is Fast Fashion Retailer Shein Launching a Reality Show?" The Guardian, 2021, https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/aug/29/fast-fashion-retailer-shein-design-reality-show.
Holman, Jordyn, and Sapna Maheshwari. "Shein Flew Influencers to China to Help Its Image. A Backlash Ensued." The New York Times, 2023, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/29/business/shein-influencers-backlash.html.
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Kim, Youn-Kyung, and Pauline Sullivan. "Emotional Branding Speaks to Consumers’ Heart: The Case of Fashion Brands." Fashion and Textiles, vol. 6, no. 1, 2019, pp. 1-16.
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Vänskä, Annamari, and Olga Gurova. "The Fashion Scandal: Social Media, Identity, and the Globalization of Fashion in the Twenty-First Century." International Journal of Fashion Studies, vol. 9, no. 1, 2022, pp. 5-27.
