Shein is a big fashion brand out there, no two ways about that, and of late, you must be hearing a lot about this brand in the headlines. But this time, it is not for the right reasons, actually, and if you’re wondering why we say that, well, there is this Shein Class action lawsuit going on. Why exactly? Well, it is not about the quality of their products; instead, it has more to do with the copyright violations, privacy of their customers, data breaches, and even some shipping-related issues. So, if you’re not following up with this case yet, just keep on reading to find out more.
What Exactly Is Shein?
For those who know little to nothing about Shein yet, well, it actually is a China-based fashion retailer that is quite literally famous everywhere in the world. Why? Well, Shein is super famous for following up with the fashion trends and quite literally replicating them overnight with super low prices.
Because of this super simple approach, sure, Shein became super famous in the world, but this was also the very reason why it became the center point of major controversy as well. How? Well, many designers out there have protested against Shein because it is crossing the ethical lines by replicating the original designs and selling them at much lower prices. Some reports out there even say that Shein is using data-driven tools and even AI to find trending designs online and then recreating them as they like.
The AI Copyright Lawsuit
While many of you may be happy with the lower prices of Shein for their designer products, in reality, it hits the original creator big time, and that is pretty much the core of this lawsuit. First let’s talk about the AI lawsuit.
It all started when, back in 2023, a group of independent designers came together in the USA and filed a major lawsuit against Shein. The main allegation of this lawsuit was that Shein is actually using automated systems like AI to scrape the original designs and violate the copyright laws.
In this very lawsuit, we came to know how Shein has some sort of internal system that is allegedly known to scan other websites, social media, and even online stores for original designs that are trending on the internet, and then they create pretty much a copy of that design to sell at much lower prices to stay competitive in the niche.
According to the lawsuit, Shein’s internal system allegedly scans websites, social media, and online stores, copies the original design patterns, and forwards them to manufacturers for mass production. In simple words, it’s not “inspiration,” it’s direct duplication, as the lawsuit claims.
And just in case you’re not getting the scale of this lawsuit, well, let’s just look at some revenue numbers here. So, as per their revenue report, the numbers jumped up from around $3 billion in 2019 to over $30 billion in 2023. In just a matter of 3 or 4 years, this 10x growth is insane. And this was the main thing that raised quite a lot of suspicion in the West about this brand.
The Do-Not-Call Lawsuit
We’re past the main lawsuit against Shein, but there is one more lawsuit or case that is being talked about along with this main case. See, back in 2024, a person filed this Do-Not-Call Lawsuit against Shein down there in Indiana, United States.
Why? Well, he says that he had registered his number on the National Do-Not-Call registry, but still, he is getting promotional text messages from Shein. And that right there is a clear violation of the law, and that is why he is suing Shein. The case is still ongoing, though, so let’s see what becomes of this down the line.
