From Consumption to Curation
Is this mindset but a pipe dream?
When I am immersed in the world of Li Edelkoort and her trend forecast webinars, life is good, or at least, I know it will be good. Just read her vision for home and interiors, which I feel transcends to clothing as well:
“Witnessing ever-fluid socio-cultural scenarios in our post-virus landscape , it is clear we have to modify our unsustainable behavior patterns and choose for the survival of our species – and that of our planet. We will focus on much less and doing better and living slow. An evolution of taste will see the light of day, one that will search for the soul in design, where the object is conceptualized with care and focus; manufactured with human dignity and consumed with joy, becoming a partner for the long term. This webinar explores the spiritual side of design and interiors, previewing how everyday objects can become animistic icons of veneration. Introducing a new era of conscious thinking and creative living. Redefining design with soul. Less is more is the message.”
I could see this world so clearly. I mean, here I am talking about the spiritual side of shopping, she’s basically my soul sister. We share the same frequency. This vision that she speaks of makes so much sense. Of course, yes of course, this is the only way to live. The only way to behave, if one had common sense. If one cared about this world we call home. Who doesn’t want being surrounded by soul-filled objects of beauty every day?
Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to live in this kind of world, that was expectation.
This is reality:
In the above Instagram post shared by Livia Firth about the workers making clothes for the brand:
“Garment manufacturers in China are often working up to 18 hours a day, being paid as little as 3p per item, with no weekends and only one day off per month, a Channel 4 team has found.”
To rub salt into the wound, this behavior towards its workers is rewarded by consumers, based on the following statistics (data from businessofapps.com):
Shein generated $15.7 billion in 2021, a 60 percent increase on the $9.8 billion it made in 2020
It has an estimated 43.7 million active shoppers, 7.5 million are based in the US
Shein was downloaded 157 million times in 2021, making it the second most downloaded shopping app of that year
It was recently valued at $47 billion ahead of a 2022 IPO
What does this say about its customers?
The obvious would be that they love a good bargain. They get so much for so little. A hundred dollars could get them several outfits, never mind that thrift store shopping could get them as much with way better quality, and they get to save preloved clothes from going to a landfill.
Some have pointed out that they support the brand because of its inclusive sizing. Not all brands offer sizes that go up to 5XL (although is more a size 22 and not a 30-32, as per reviewed.com). Which is a valid point.
But what I don’t get is how many reviews online say shopping at Shein is a “hit or miss” but that doesn’t stop them from shopping at Shein again. Is it because people are used to being let down and disappointed, they’re willing to take a gamble on a $5 t-shirt or a $16 dress? Because there’s not much to lose?
Cheap comes at a cost
In sustainable design, it is said that the biggest impact to sustainability is in the supply chain, more than in operations. Edwin Keh, CEO of the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel, states in a an interview for McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast:
“For sure, if you look at the manufacturing part of the supply chain, that is where the opportunity is. That is where what type of materials we choose, how we process the materials, how we manufacture the materials, how we transport the products—that’s where the biggest chunk of any fashion brand supply chain carbon footprint, that’s where that sits.”
And it is in this sweet spot where Shein’s issue lies. There is a lack in transparency in its supply chain - from environmental impact to labor conditions to animal welfare, Good On You basically rated it as, the worst of the worst:
Because cheap comes at a cost. Not to Shein’s consumers who pay $5 for a top, but to the laborers who make the clothes for so little, to the people living in areas where these clothes are dumped in landfills, to the fish in the ocean and everybody else who ingest the microplastics that leach from the synthetic fabrics used in their clothes. Which come to think of it, affects every body, every single one of us.
Defeating the hydra
There are so many articles talking about Shein’s shady business practices and sustainability issues but that doesn’t stop people from shopping at Shein. Maybe because Shein is relentless? I am often tagged in these weird Shein ads by an account I keep blocking, and a new account tags me again. It’s like dealing with a hydra. You block one account and two accounts emerge and start tagging you again.
I suppose the best way to get the better of Shein is to go the way of Hercules and Iolaus and how they went about defeating the nine-headed hydra. Working as a team, Hercules would cut off the head and Iolaus would cauterize the wound before new heads could emerge. If one person stopped shopping at Shein, and told two people to stop shopping at Shein, and this goes on and on, that’s the best way.
Vote with your dollars, pesos, yuans and reals. Vote for the kind of world you want, “where the object is conceptualized with care and focus; manufactured with human dignity and consumed with joy, becoming a partner for the long term.”1
As Li Edelkoort puts it, shopping for clothes should be more like…
“aiming for precise choices that become objects infused with energy and camaraderie; clothes that are like friends. These items are timeless and ageless, and will be wise investments for the long run.”
In a world where each one of us has a mindset of curation over consumption, we all end up well-dressed, well-fed and healthy. What a wonderful life for all that would be.
https://www.edelkoort.us/shop/p/animism-spirited-lifestyles-beyond