Influencers who gave glowing reviews to conditions at fast fashion brand Shein’s Chinese factories are receiving serious pushback from fans who say they are peddling Chinese Communist Party propaganda.
Social media fashionistas Dani Carbonari, AuJene Butler, Marina Saavedra and Destene Sudduth toured several Shein facilities in Guangzhou, China, as part of a new documentary series about the company. The videos, which featured the influencers talking to several workers and singing the praises of the brand, went viral on TikTok.
Shein has been accused of several human rights violations in their factories including extremely low pay, dangerous working conditions and having toxic materials in their clothing.
But the influencers said the conditions in the factories are excellent, workers seemed “chill,” and the employees they talked to were surprised to hear about the allegations that the company uses child labor.
Viewers on TikTok found the videos distasteful. Nearly every comment on the influencers’ videos is negative. The comments ranged from accusing the influencers of selling out for a free trip to claiming that they were tricked by the company and only showed the cleanest and least horrific parts of the factory.
Ms. Carbonari said that one of the things she learned from the experience was to be an “independent thinker” and that many of the accusations about Shein are “rumors.”
Ms. Carbonari is the only influencer who has responded. In a now-deleted TikTok response to the backlash, she said that the criticisms of her and the others on the tour were unfair. She said some of the comments are xenophobic toward Chinese people.
“I know who I am, I know exactly what I’m doing, and to be a pioneer, you gotta take a lot of s—- sometimes,” she said.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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