Shein is officially fast fashion’s biggest polluter; AI is making things worse

In 2023, fast-fashion giant Shein was everywhere. Planes flying around the world, small packages of its ultra-cheap clothes thousands of suppliers Tens of millions of customers in 150 countries have reached their inbox. Influencers’ “#sheinhaul” videos promote the company’s trending styles on social media, and billions of views.

At every step, data was created, collected, and analyzed. To manage all this information, the fast fashion industry began to embrace emerging AI technologies. Shein uses proprietary machine learning applications (essentially pattern recognition algorithms) to measure customer preferences in real time and predict demand, then meet that demand with an ultra-fast supply chain.

Pressure for change

As artificial intelligence makes the production of affordable and trendy clothes faster than ever, Shein is among the brands in this field. increasing pressure and to become more sustainable. The company has pledged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 25% by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest.

But climate advocates and researchers say the company’s lightning-fast manufacturing practices and online-only business model are inherently emissions-intensive, and that using AI software to catalyze those operations could increase its emissions. Those concerns have raised Shein’s concerns. third annual sustainability reportThe report, released late last month, showed the company nearly doubling its carbon dioxide emissions between 2022 and 2023.

“AI is enabling the transformation of fast fashion into ultra-fast fashion, and Shein and Temu are pioneers of that,” says Sage Lenier, executive director of Sustainable and Just Future, a climate nonprofit. “They wouldn’t exist without AI.” (Temu is a fast-rising e-commerce giant with a merchandise market that rivals Shein’s. variety, price and sales.)

Major environmental impact

In the 12 years since Shein was founded, it has become known for its uniquely prolific output, reportedly generating $1,200 million in revenue. 30 billion dollars The company’s revenue in 2023. Although estimates vary, a new Shein design is expected to be at least 10 days to become a garment, and up to 10,000 items are added to the site every day. The company reportedly says, 600,000 products It retails for an average price tag of $10 at any given time. (Shein declined to confirm or deny these reported numbers.) One market analysis found that 44% of Gen Zers in the United States own at least one a substance Every month from Shein.

That scale translates into massive environmental impacts. According to the company’s sustainability report, Shein emitted a total of 16.7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023, more than four coal-fired power plants combined. vomit in a yearThe company has also come under fire for: textile wasteat high levels microplastic pollutionand exploitative labor practices. Polyester — a synthetic textile known for releasing microplastics into the environment — makes up 76% of its total fabrics, and only 6% of that polyester is recycled, according to the report.

And a final investigation Factory workers at Shein suppliers were found to be regularly working 75-hour weeks, a year after the company pledged to improve working conditions across its supply chain. Shein’s sustainability report says working conditions have improved, but it also shows that in third-party audits of more than 3,000 suppliers and subcontractors, 71% received a C or lower on the company’s A to E grading scale — mediocre at best.

The role of artificial intelligence

Machine learning plays a key role in Shein’s business model. Peter Pernot-Day, Shein’s global head of strategy and corporate affairs, told Business Insider last August that AI not central made a statement to the contrary regarding its activities during a presentation At a retail conference earlier this year.

“We use machine learning technologies to accurately predict demand in a way that we think is state-of-the-art,” Pernot-Day said. Shein’s 5,400 suppliers all have access to an AI software platform that provides updates on customer preferences and changes what they produce to match that in real time, he said.

“That means we can make very few copies of each garment,” she said. “It means we waste very little and we have very little wasted inventory.” The company says it stocks 100 to 200 copies of each item on average, a sharp contrast to more traditional fast-fashion brands that typically produce thousands of items each season and try to predict trends months in advance. Shein calls its model “on-demand,” He spoke to Vox in 2021 He called it “real-time” retail.

At the conference, Pernot-Day also noted that technology helps the company pick up on “micro trends” that customers want to wear. “We’re able to spot that and act on it in a way that I think we’re really pioneering,” she said. a recent class action lawsuit It alleges in New York District Court that the company’s AI market analysis tools were used to “engineer systematic, industrial-scale digital copyright infringement of the work of small designers and artists,” by pulling designs from the internet and sending them directly to factories for production.

In an email to Grist, Shein spokesman Peter Pernot-Day reiterated his claim that the technology allows the company to reduce waste and increase efficiency, and suggested that the company’s rising emissions in 2023 could be attributed to booming business. “We do not view growth as being contrary to sustainability,” the spokesman said.

An analysis of Shein’s sustainability report by trade publication Business of Fashion found that the company’s emissions increased by almost 100% last year. twice the income — making Shein the highest-emitting company in the fashion industry. By comparison, Zara’s emissions rose by half as much as its revenue. For other industry giants, such as H&M and Nike, emissions fell from the previous year even as sales rose.

Sheng Lu, a professor of fashion and apparel studies at the University of Delaware, said Shein’s emissions are particularly high because of its reliance on air transportation. “AI has broad applications in the fashion industry. It’s not necessarily that AI is bad,” Lu said. “The problem is inherent in Shein’s particular business model.”

Other major brands ship their products overseas in bulk, preferring ocean freight because of its lower cost and having suppliers and warehouses in multiple countries, reducing the distance products must travel to reach consumers.

According to the company’s sustainability report, 38% of Shein’s climate footprint comes from transportation between its facilities and customers, while 61% comes from other parts of its supply chain. While the company is based in Singapore and has suppliers in several countries, most of its clothing is made in China and shipped to customers by air in individually addressed packages. The company said in July that it had 900,000 Every day, thousands of these go to the United States.

A spokesperson for Shein told Grist that the company is developing a decarbonization roadmap to address its supply chain footprint. The company recently increased inventory amount Having products stored in US warehouses allows it to offer faster delivery times to American customers and increases the use of cargo ships. more carbon efficient than cargo planes.

“Controlling carbon emissions in the fashion industry is a really complex process,” Lu said, adding that many brands are using AI to make their operations more efficient. “It really depends on how you use AI.”

There is research that suggests using certain AI technologies can help companies become more sustainable. “That’s the missing piece,” said Shahriar Akter, associate dean of business and law at the University of Wollongong in Australia. In May, Akter and his colleagues published the following: a study It found that when fast-fashion suppliers used AI data management software to meet major brands’ sustainability goals, those companies were more profitable and emitted fewer emissions. One of the key uses of this technology is to closely monitor environmental impacts like pollution and emissions, Atker said. “This type of monitoring didn’t exist before AI-based tools,” he said.

Shein told Grist that he doesn’t use machine learning data management software to track emissions, which is one of the uses of AI included in Akter’s research. But the company’s much-praised use of machine learning software to forecast demand and reduce waste is another use of AI included in the study.

However, the company still has a long way to go to meet its goals. Grist calculates that Shein’s reported emissions savings in 2023 (through measures like providing its suppliers with solar panels and opting for ocean shipping) will amount to about 3% of the company’s total carbon emissions for the year.

Lenier, of Sustainable and Just Future, believes there is no ethical use for AI in the fast fashion industry. He said the largely unregulated technology has allowed brands to intensify their harmful impact on workers and the environment. “People working in fast fashion factories are now under incredible pressure to work harder, faster,” he said.

Lenier and Lu believe the key to a more sustainable fashion industry is to persuade customers to buy less. Lu said that if companies use AI to increase sales without changing their unsustainable practices, their climate footprint will grow accordingly. “This is the overall effect of being able to offer more market-popular products and encourage consumers to buy more than they did in the past,” he said. “Of course, the overall carbon impact will be higher.”