Renaissance Doesn’t Want Your Shein Donations

Shein, the China-founded, Singapore-headquartered fast fashion company has endured its fair share of controversy, with scrutiny surrounding product safety, environmental impact, and regulatory breaches—not to mention its supply chain links to child labour.

Back on August 18, Shein announced its fourth annual pop-up in Montreal, which came to a temporary Sainte-Catherine West storefront from Thursday, August 27 to Sunday, August 30.

Given Shein’s reputation, it’s no wonder that many opposed the pop-up, or at the very least were confused why the province, with its protective labour laws, has allowed a company notorious for its roster of blunders (to put it lightly) to sell on Quebecois soil year after year.

To reuse or not to reuse: companies at odds

Upon hearing about the pop-up’s return, Renaissance Quebec CEO Eric Arnauld took to LinkedIn, writing (and translated here in English):

The arrival of Shein in downtown Montreal worries me. At Renaissance, we work every day to give clothes a second life and divert tons of textiles from landfills. However, the rise of ultra-fast fashion directly threatens this mission. Clothes designed to be bought at very low prices, worn a few times, and then replaced reduce their reuse potential and fuel a throwaway culture. I share the concerns expressed by Damien Silès of the CQCD. The problem isn't the opening of a pop-up shop. The problem is the business model behind it. While France is trying to better regulate ultra-fast fashion, I feel that Quebec and Canada remain inactive. If we truly want to develop a strong circular economy, we must promote products designed to last, to be repaired, donated, and reused. What will become of reuse if the clothes we buy today can no longer have a second life tomorrow?

There are surely several “whys” beyond Quebec and Canada’s regulatory inaction regarding ultra-fast fashion, and speculating on all of them would be pointless. But for Arnauld, a few significant issues arise.

“When [Shein] came the first time… I bought three things from them: a pair of jeans, a sweater, and a shirt,” Arnauld shared. “I put [them] in the washer, and each piece lost something.”

The hemming on the jeans came undone, the buttons on his shirt fell apart, and the sweater—well, he didn’t quite get to that. Instead, he continued, “I always wash my clothes when [they’re] new, because I know [companies like Shein] put products to transport it.”

Here, he references studies that show PFAS or “forever chemicals” in Shein’s clothing.

The case for reuse

Beyond the company’s quality and Shein consumers’ inability to trace the product’s supply chain like they can with Quebec-based companies like Simon’s, Arnauld explains, is the matter of reusability.

For the CEO of a company like Renaissance, whose entire business model lies on its self-proclaimed mission to divert “millions of kilograms of clothing and household items from landfills each year” and “help thousands of people return to the job market,” this perspective is part of the job title. But Arnauld isn’t trying to stop consumers from shopping retail entirely.

In fact, “Retail is a service for customers and citizens,” he says, “It’s still a good thing that new retail [stores] are opening. My major concern is mostly about… we should talk more about circularity. We should talk more about reus[ing garments] for as long as we can.”

Instead of buying new wardrobes at the commencement of every trend cycle, Arnauld advocates for buying “four good pair[s] of jeans with the same amount of money” you could use to buy 20 pairs at Shein. Then, when you grow out of them, “you give them away, and somebody else can wear [them] again.”

“The quantity of merchandise,” Arnauld explains, “is too much, and we really need to rethink how we consume.”

“I don’t want to blame. I want to educate.”