Chinese fast fashion retailer Shein can't donate its way out of the waste its products create in west Africa.
Chinese retailer Shein is hoping to balance the export of its secondhand clothing to Ghana by throwing money at the waste that clothing generates.
During a global fashion summit in Copenhagen last week, Shein announced plans to donate $15 million over three years to The Or Foundation, a nonprofit that studies fast fashion waste in Ghana. The foundation described the donation as “groundbreaking,” and director Liz Ricketts lamented the “backbreaking” requirements of today’s Ghanian fashion-waste workers. “We have been calling on brands to pay the bill that is due to the communities who have been managing their waste,” Ricketts said. “This is a significant step towards accountability.”
It is a step, but how significant is up for debate. Shein’s pledge fails to do one important thing: Stop secondhand Shein products from adding to the problem.
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