Low-quality fabric. Loose stitching. Untrue to size. Lost items. Excessive amounts of plastic.

Searching for trendy outfits without burning a hole in their pockets, these are some of the things shoppers are willing to accept in return for large packages full of five-dollar items. Not only does “cheap” hint at poor quality on the receiving end, but it also often relates to poor conditions in the process of production.

From couches to phone chargers to jeans, online shopping websites such as Shein receive sales from over 150 countries. Shein’s website reports that its headquarters are located in Singapore, but offices in cities such as Los Angeles, London, Dublin, and Washington D.C. serve as more global outreach. This helps reduce delivery times as well as expand their influence and profits.

According to MobiLoud, “Shein’s average order value is $75, according to ChinaTalk. If they did $24 billion in revenue in 2022, we can estimate that they did 320 million orders over the year, which would equal roughly 880,000 orders per day.”

Along with its own branded clothing, Shein also serves as a marketplace for third-party sellers. Its website has a “Shein Stores” category and a “Trending Brands” section on its homepage, which leads customers to independent sellers.

As Marketplace Pulse puts it, “Originally a fast-fashion retailer built on consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) from China, Shein is evolving from a fast-fashion low-price slow-delivery retailer to a broad-category retailer to a retailer and marketplace hybrid combining all of the above. To get there, it is adding local and international sellers, often with a physical presence in the U.S. (including Amazon FBA).”

With ongoing options of wardrobe basics, party outfits, jewelry, workout sets, and shoes, online fast fashion websites cater to multiple demographics. With the growing influence of Shein and Temu halls on social media, as well as sponsored events such as California’s Stagecoach country music festival, customers continue to order items from these websites.

The cheap pricing allows customers to buy multiple products without spending large amounts of money, and because of this, the cheap quality or faulty items seem less serious.

“[I like shopping on Shein] because it’s cheap. If you don’t like something, it’s not a huge commitment because you didn’t spend a ton of money on what you were buying. It’s definitely cheaply made. It’s more of a convenience thing, really.” West Chicago resident Iris Pegg said.

In fact, many customers resort to online stores specifically for convenience. Occasions such as spring break vacations, summer wardrobe refreshes, and back-to-school shopping call for long wants and needs lists, and some feel the easiest way to shop for them without spending so much money is through fast fashion businesses.

“I myself use Shein. If you go to buy two items and it’s 50 or 150 dollars [in other stores], now I can buy ten for the same price. I think fast fashion is a good thing for our fashion trends, [but] it could also be a bad thing because you get what you pay for,” West Chicago Community High School fashion teacher Amber Miles said.

But does convenience outweigh the scandals that go on behind the scenes?  Many customers never stop to ask who is paying the price.

Over the years, Shein, Temu, and other stores have been involved in child and forced labor allegations. Additonally, workers are often paid less and without a proper contract.

According to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, “companies like Shein and Temu keep their prices low is by using garment workers, typically in Southeast Asia, who work long hours for low pay and typically without an employment contract.”

Along with the sketchy workflow, the constant production of fast fashion negatively impacts the environment due to constant use of resources, large amounts of plastic and waste, mass transportation emissions, and the constant cycle of it all. The cheap material consistently found in products from these websites contains synthetic fibers, which are practically non-renewable and not easily decomposed.

The Center for Biological Diversity explains, “In fast fashion, wool is commonly blended with fibers derived from fossil fuels and coated with chemicals, further increasing the environmental cost of production and disposal of these garments.”

Recently, President Donald Trump’s tariff war with China has affected the costs of these fast-fashion brands. The 145% tariffs on Chinese goods caused even the cheapest brands and clothing to double in cost, and online stores such as Temu are placing “import charges” on their items.

“One of the things I have found most interesting about fashion and the tariffs is that even if a company decides to make their clothes in a different country, the materials are all still in China. So they can decide what to charge for it, if they want to send it, and that alone can make it more expensive,” chief marketing officer of the Democracy Clothing Division at Kellwood Company Amy Randall said.