Are you comfortable with this ?

Certainly not. I would never buy from Shein or Temu.

No, and I have never been happy with this. Having a low budget does not mean it is acceptable to clothe you or your children on the misery of other people, including children. Undoubtedly, there will be those who think that it is ok, or say it is alright for those who can afford to shop elsewhere to criticise, but nothing is worth the price of another human being's slavery.

No I'm not BlueBelle I don't buy from these cut price sites. However I do wonder what would happen to that workforce without them .

No. There may be a cultural difference in that the workers accept the long hours etc., but that doesn't make it right.

It's not always possible, but I try not to buy Chinese-made goods whenever I can.

I wouldn’t and never have purchased from Shein or Temu.

I can understand that in some households on a strict budget, they are the only solution to clothing ever growing children.

Low-paid job or no job at all? Food or no food ?

I’m another who would never buy from these companies. Terrible for the workers and terrible for the planet.

Septimia

No. There may be a cultural difference in that the workers accept the long hours etc., but that doesn't make it right.

It's not always possible, but I try not to buy Chinese-made goods whenever I can.

same here, but it can be difficult.

I would never buy from them and try to buy British as much as possible. On BBC TV news the item was followed by a retail expert who said young people are now turning away from these companies preferring to buy better quality items even if they are second hand. Hopefully our generation will do likewise

GrannyGravy13

I wouldn’t and never have purchased from Shein or Temu.

I can understand that in some households on a strict budget, they are the only solution to clothing ever growing children.

No, the 'only solution to clothing ever growing children' is not exploitation of someone else's children. The major supermarkets have huge ranges of very reasonably priced children's clothing.

crazyH

Low-paid job or no job at all? Food or no food ?

This.

eddiecat78

I would never buy from them and try to buy British as much as possible. On BBC TV news the item was followed by a retail expert who said young people are now turning away from these companies preferring to buy better quality items even if they are second hand. Hopefully our generation will do likewise

My adult children refuse to buy from these companies, preferring to buy a combination of good quality items which will last, charity shops and Vinted.

HousePlantQueen

GrannyGravy13

I wouldn’t and never have purchased from Shein or Temu.

I can understand that in some households on a strict budget, they are the only solution to clothing ever growing children.

No, the 'only solution to clothing ever growing children' is not exploitation of someone else's children. The major supermarkets have huge ranges of very reasonably priced children's clothing.

I am not going to argue with you HPQ

There may be supermarkets and the likes of Primark who sell reasonably priced children’s clothes, but where and how do you think they are produced and in what conditions?

They are still a lot more expensive than Shein and Temu, including trainers.

I have never bought from them and never will. In fact bothe DH and I try not to buy goods made in China. Not possible always, but we try. I try to be ethical in my clothes buying, as with everything else.

In a word ‘no’. If am struggling to pay for good clothes I would go to a good high street charity shop. My grown family often do this or use vinted.
And avoid anything with this label.

No, I’d never buy from these rubbish companies. I also try to buy British manufactured items.

I was on a very limited budget when my children were growing up and most of their clothes came from charity shops or from friends whose children had outgrown them. I found that, as children grow out of their clothes so quickly, the clothes were almost like new after being washed and ironed.

Clothes that were outgrown and still in reasonable condition, were either passed on to friends or taken back where they came from. This was the norm among my friendship group as we preferred our children to wear clothes that had been worn by other peoples' children to those made by other peoples' children.

Having said that, no doubt some of the clothes that found their way into the charity shop had been made in sweatshops in China.

There is also the moral dilemma that is posed by the fact that if people boycotted these goods the workers would loose what little income they earn and they and their families would face extreme hardship.

It’s good to know so many of us won’t buy from them I can’t bear the thought of the hours and conditions, but so many intelligent people I know do and it really upsets me.

Yes there is the dichotomy of knowing these workers would be without a job at all if these factories were closed down so the only way forward as I see it is to fight and petition for better work conditions but I don’t know how achievable letter is

“There is also the moral dilemma that is posed by the fact that if people boycotted these goods the workers would loose what little income they earn and they and their families would face extreme hardship.”

There is that Indigo8. Is the same with child labour, often in war zones where older children lose their parents they are left to provide for younger siblings or children abandoned because their parents can’t look after them end up having to work. There is no welfare system to look after them.
Taking away the work will mean they end up on the streets preyed upon by sex traffickers etc.
I don’t know what the answer is. Perhaps if the large companies who use these sweat shops, instead of not using them, could go over there and make sure the employees are paid a living wage and that working conditions are not exploitative. It would mean prices here going up slightly but if this was explained through advertising they might just attract a whole new market.

But so much of what we buy is from China. Look at your smartphone. Car. White goods. Medical equipment. Parts from China are everywhere.

Lots of complaints about how the workers are treated in many factories, not just Shein and Temu.

And in other parts of the world, let's not forget the horrendous conditions cobalt mining. For our clean batteries for electric cars.

I have never used either, but .......

I wonder what these people would live on if we all boycotted these companies. I am sure they do not like the working conditions (no-one would), but they live where they live and may prioritise being able to feed their families. In the short term, whatever we in the west do is not going to make a difference for them and they need the income. It would not be good to see this cut off.

I also look at mainstream garments and their countries of origin and wonder whether the conditions are much better - we have no control over this.

I read a line in a novel recently that said wtte that there isn’t a material thing that we enjoy that hasn’t caused someone else or something else to experience pain and sorrow. Cheap clothes are one of those things. It isn’t just the sweat shops but the mountains of fast-fashion clothes that will be throw away to end up polluting some country far away. We have human waste fouling our seas and rivers to feed the greed of Chinese billionaires while we in turn pollute African beaches with our discarded clothes.

There are already enough clothes in the world to dress the next six generations.

This:

www.theguardian.com/fashion/2024/sep/24/where-does-the-uks-fast-fashion-end-up-i-found-out-on-a-beach-clean-in-ghana

Extract:

This is how the conversation always goes whenever my 12-year-old daughter, Evie, asks me to buy fast fashion for her. “Please, please, please can I have this,” she’ll say (it’s usually from Shein). Sorry but no, I’ll reply – I’m sure we can find an alternative on Vinted. “One person buying something new won’t make any difference,” she argues. “And besides, it’s so cheap!” There is sulking (her), tutting (me), and dissatisfaction all round.

That’s where adults could start to make a change; parents and grandparents all agree to say no to the pestering.

Don’t be guilt-tripped about job losses. Guangzhou manufactures a huge range of goods. People would be deployed into other industries (although the conditions may be no better). Demand fuels manufacture not the other way around.

Remember what happened at Rani Plaza in 2013? 1134 people died and over 2500 were injured. Why. Because Primark, Maltalan, Zara and the likes were demanding more and more and cheaper and cheaper clothes.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rana_Plaza_collapse

We have learned nothing in our clamour for new things.

I bought a dress from Shein once, not knowing anything about them. It was unwearable -- a sleeve caught up in a side seam, very poor stitching (coming apart & "loopy"), weird shape (same width top, middle & bottom), cheap fabric not even good enough for dusters. When I asked for a refund, I was told "certainly, just return the item" -- the address was in China! I vowed never to buy from them again. Later I discovered their employment ethics and will DEFINITELY never buy from them again!