Here Is How We Defeat SHEIN Culture

Last week in a moment of sheer disappointment I wrote something protesting SHEIN's appearance at Web Summit. The post went what I guess is viral and so many messaged me privately asking if Web Summit made a comment on it given the virality and of course they did not.

I never wrote the post in the hopes that Web Summit would disassociate from SHEIN. Web Summit is a company not a charity organisation , and they will do what a company needs to do to make money. If it pisses off a certain group then so be it. I get this.

I wrote the post out of genuine disappointment and honestly did not imagine it going viral past the typical 10 likes my Linkedin content usually gathers. I wrote it because I hoped even one person would want to have a conversation about why I think Web Summit's decision to give SHEIN credibility is dangerous. Being a capitalist engine does not shield you from criticism. Whether you react to that criticism essentially is your choice.

I have had the opportunity to meet with and talk to several people about SHEIN culture and the fashion sustainability agenda.

A common question was "Do you think you can ever stop SHEIN? What are your plans?"

The first time someone asked me this I thought they were kidding.

Me? stopping SHEIN? Plans? I never said I was the one to do it...oh, wait.

I realised that the very essence of why I started my company , previous comments on fast fashion and now this viral post has perhaps always been crystallised by my hatred for SHEIN and everything it stands for (mostly everything) and I had almost unknowingly placed myself in a 'David Vs Goliath' ring.

Once this realisation took shape in my brain, I decided I was happy for Klëm to be a David to SHEIN's Goliath in the many rings against fast fashion.

Here is how I think we win this fight.

Money : To defeat SHEIN , one of the major weapons needed is money. This is where SHEIN is really strong and powerful. They are throwing so much money to be able to get away with bad behaviour such as stealing designs from minority and young designers, paying terrible wages and not taking accountability for the level of waste their model contributes to the climate crisis.

Culture & Influence: People seem to believe that fashion creates culture but this could not be further from the truth. Culture creates fashion. What we socially accept is what we wear. Often also what is going on around us will dictate what trends take root. Military coats became popular during what era? How about baby doll dresses? or even closer to us, dopamine dressing? Could we use this understanding to forecast how the customer can respond to current events in a sustainable way? I think so.

Culture is often influenced by a certain group and we need that group to start speaking up loudly for sustainable fashion.

I respect the Kardashians and what they have been able to achieve but I also think it is a mistake to try and pretend they can be poster children for sustainability, maybe in a few years from now, people do change after all .

I believe we need the likes of Naomi Campbell, Oprah, hell even Kate Moss. We need the mature in wisdom generation of fashion icons to be at the front and centre of changing fashion for the better not Donald Tang from SHEIN.

Customer Obsession : 'Meeting people where they are' is the Klëm motto. I want to understand the problems people have with their wardrobe and then create solutions specifically for those problems in real time. It is important to write a page long essay on an item product page about where it was sourced but will the average consumer choose that item if it doesn't fulfil their core need in real time? Studies show , probably not. You cannot make change for what you do not understand. We need to innovate at the level of the user if we want to create real impact.

Policy :There is a lot of movement here especially from the EU but governments need to make the fast fashion problem their problem. I really love the push that people like Natasha Franck at EON are doing to champion policy that creates for a more transparent supply chain.

You see, I did not mention Tech because without the four things above, you could make the moon dance and SHEIN will still be making billions in revenue.

In conclusion I do not think it is impossible or too late to defeat SHEIN, we need concentrated efforts that bring the average person to the table as a decision maker in order to turn this script.

Personally, I am very excited for how fashion will look like 3-5 years from now.

If you would like to brainstorm or talk more about this or just what we are doing at Klëm, here is my schedule, we can have a chat.