“Systemic exploitation”, “Hellish rates”, “discrimination” … The scathing report of two NGOs on the giant of Fast-Fashion Shein

“Most of the people told us that they had no contract, that the days could last until 4 pm,” said Tuesday with France Inter, Salma Lamqaddam, who wrote this report for the NGO Actionaid and which was published on Tuesday.

The Chinese giant Shein, specialist in very low cost clothing, is accused of practicing a “Organized exploitation” of its informal subcontractors, according to a report published Tuesday by two NGOs, Actionaid France and China Labor Watch, reports France Inter Thursday July 31. After three years of investigation, the two NGOs denounce “Helling rates”of the “Gender discrimination”and a “lack of social protection”.

Members of Actionaid France and China Labor Watch have infiltrated for several months in the Kangle district (Metropolis of Guangzhou, formerly Canton), a factory city that concentrates “100 000 inhabitants over a square kilometer “. Three investigators from China Labor Watch were hired in textile making workshops.
“Most of the people told us that they had no contract, that the days could last up to 4 pm”reports Salma Lamqaddam, who wrote this report for Actionaid. “We are talking about remuneration for the task, which is a most archaic model there is”. Employees are paid from 0.06 to 0.27 cm of Euro the room in these workshops. The latter “declare that they can obtain a ‘good salary’, provided you devote to it at least 11 hours a day, six to seven days seven, without real rest time – a work pace that far exceeds the Chinese legal thresholds”, report the two NGOs.

The cost of lifestyle, excluding housing, in Guangzhou, “is 4,229 yuan (502 euros)”quotes the report. To hope to reach this level, the workers mustt “produce nearly 300 pieces per day”, Since each room costs 0.5 yuan. “Shein’s ability to offer up to 50,000 new items per day at broken prices is based on the systemic exploitation of an invisible workforce”points the report. A production “Decentralized, unregulated, ultra-flexible”that allows the brand “To escape any responsibility.”
Other methods denounced by the report, the “Recruitment by couple, where women’s work is not independently remunerated” and women “confined to the most precarious, the least paid positions while men retain privileged access to valued positions”Is it written in the report. In order not to lose their jobs, some mothers bring their child to the factory, and “Children play close to high -risk industrial equipment: sewing machines, iron irons, and other chemicals and toxic particles in an environment saturated with synthetic fibers”. NGOs recall that Shein, in his durability report, reports “76% of clothes made up of polyester”.

To this are added “Sexist and sexual violence in workshops, especially verbal violence”Deplore Actionaid France and China Labor Watch. The exploitation of these informal subcontractors by Shein allows the Asian giant of ephemeral fashion “to inject” Each year on the market “Hundreds of millions of orders, an unprecedented volume in the history of the textile industry”denounces the report. The Chinese brand that has revolutionized the “Fast-Fashion” thus generated “38 billion dollars in 2024”According to NGOs based on a survey of Financial time.
A European directive exists on the duty of vigilance of companies, but it was “considerably weakened under pressure from economic lobbies and certain member states, including France”, denounce the two NGOs. Actionaid also regrets that respect for human rights does not appear in the French anti-fashion law law, which aims for Temu and Shein. Adopted in the National Assembly, a year ago, then, in early June, in the Senate, this bill, presented by deputy Horizons Anne-Cécile Violand and supported by the government, must be the subject of a deputy-student agreement during a joint joint commission (CMP) provided for in the fall. Contacted, the company Shein completely rejects the accusations present in the report, which it considers unfounded and provides fairly treating its workers.