Shein Launches Fund to Invest $10 Million in Sustainability

The process to make one year's worth of virgin polyester develops as much CO2 en masse as 180 coal-fired power stations, that's around 700 million tonnes of CO2 per year. Reports estimate that this could double again by 2030. Carbon emissions are at the heart of global warming, meaning that every tonne of CO2 released into the atmosphere makes our planet increasingly uninhabitable. The effects of our warming climate have been all too evident in recent months, from devastating forest fires and heatwaves to deadly floods and hurricanes. The recent IPCC report on climate change was called "code red for humanity. When we take fashion retail giant Shein for example the company launches between 700 and 1,000 new items a day according to CEO Molly Miao. Shein says that each product is only produced in small quantities (between 50 and 100 pieces), which minimises the number of raw materials that go to waste. When a product is popular, it is mass-produced on a larger scale. Shein Launches Shein Care Fund The e-commerce giant, which has been accused of lacking transparency, has launched the Shein Cares Fund, a project that aims to support social and environmental causes. IIn July this year, the app became the most downloaded app with more than 17.5 million downloads in the Google Play and Apple shops. But why does Shein's rapid growth have sustainability experts so concerned? Having launched in 2008, Shein was originally a wedding dress retailer. Since then, the Chinese company has expanded rapidly, with particular success in social media marketing. It’s the most mentioned brand on TikTok, far outstripping Netflix in second place. Shein has been tagged more than three times as often as McDonald's or Starbucks; it has successfully tapped into the Gen-Z market more than any other brand. The fashion industry is the world's second-biggest polluter and fast fashion brands, like Shein, are a key part of that pollution. As a means to ease the situation, Shein has launched Shein Cares Fund, a ten million dollar fund through which it plans to invest in non-profit organisations and social, circularity and recycling initiatives, the group announced in a statement. Shein Cares Fund was created with an initial investment of 500,000 dollars over two years in Vital Voices, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to women entrepreneurs in sustainable projects. The capital disbursement will be used for training, mentoring and start-up programmes for women around the world. Shein's fund will invest in projects related to "supporting disadvantaged communities, animal welfare and promoting recycling and the circular economy", according to the statement. The e-commerce retailer, which specialises in low-priced fashion, raised suspicions last August when it was found to be in breach of the UK's Modern Slavery Act, which requires a minimum level of transparency about the supply chain of companies with an annual turnover of more than £36 million (42.5 million euros). Shein's UK subsidiary didn’t comply with this legal requirement, despite having a section on its website that lists the company's corporate social responsibility actions and takes a stand against practices such as child labour and forced labour. A spokesperson for the company said it was in the process of finalising the transparency documents required by law, with the aim of making them public on its website in the coming weeks. To this day, the Chinese retail giant has still failed to comply with these claims. Perhaps this new funding project is a strategy to get consumers to look the other way? Whether this will quench the public’s concerns or not is yet to be seen.