Shein is blurring the lines of the old proverb, “If you can’t beat them, join them,” as the ultra-fast fashion juggernaut invests in what seems to be a polyester paradox.
On the heels of its charity consolidation, Shein announced a polyester recycling process developed in collaboration with an academic institute established by the Chinese Ministry of Education.
The polyester purveyor’s carbon emissions are rising at almost double the rate of Shein’s revenue—effectively making Shein the highest-emitting company in the fashion industry. It’s one of the “particularly critical” challenges the TikTok beloved faces, as Shein’s CEO, Sky Xu, stated in the brand’s 2023 sustainability and impact report.
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“We are using more responsible materials in our garments and packaging, and are engaged in research to scale the use of textile-to-textile recycled polyester and water-saving processes in our supply chain,” Xu wrote in the report published late last August. “We are also engaging more of our customers in circularity, by expanding our circular platforms and programs to more geographies.”
In fact, Shein’s absolute emissions skyrocketed from 9.17 million to 16.88 million metric tons of CO2e emissions in one year—more than what “four coal power plants spew out a year,” per Yale Climate Connections—as self-reported in the Forever 21 stakeholder’s 2023 sustainability report. Also in that report are details of Shein’s paralytic plastic habit: polyester accounted for 76 percent of Shein’s total fibers, with less than 1 percent of recycled origin—though the London IPO hopeful has publicly stated commitment to using 31 percent recycled polyester by 2030.
Considering the clock against Shein’s rampant, rapid use of virgin polyester—and the sheer volume of fossil fuel that polyester production requires—the brand is taking a stab at recycling.
“Our goal is to leverage innovation and technology to help solve industry-wide challenges,” said Leonard Lin, president of EMEA, global head of public affairs, and general manager of Singapore, in a statement. “In line with our EvoluShein strategy, we have invested in the research and development of a new polyester recycling process that allows us to incorporate a broader variety of feedstock, achieve better cost efficiencies, and recycle polyester multiple times without compromising the material properties of the polyester produced.”
This process—slated to start large-scale production in June with an annual target of 3,000 metric tons —will use a broader range of recycled materials (like textile waste and PET bottles), including both pre-and post-consumer polyester feedstock, resulting—ideally—in improved cost efficiency and repeatedly recyclable polyester. At this stage, Shein said it will partner with “selected partner fiber manufacturers” to scale this tech from out of the laboratory level to a facility capable of producing recycled polyester fiber in commercial-scale quantities.
“This will be a critical step toward our goal of reducing our reliance on virgin polyester and supporting a broader industry transition,” Lin said. “Shein will continue to look for more opportunities to partner with ecosystem players to accelerate use of recycled polyester.”
Donghua University—the first “ecosystem player” partner, for reference—is a public university affiliated with China’s Ministry of Education as part of the country’s “double first-class” construction policy from 2015 and its 1995 counterpart, Project 211.
Its Shanghai International College of Fashion and Innovation (SCF College) is a “non-independent legal person Chinese foreign cooperative school running institution of international cooperative diploma education,” Donghua said, jointly developed with Edinburgh University. The resulting research institute specializes in textile innovation. It is known for its programs in fashion design, textile engineering and material science, as well as international trade and information technology.
SCF College did not respond to Sourcing Journal’s request for comment.
Take into consideration Shein’s fast fashion foothold. The e-tail leviathan holds a 50 percent market share of fast fashion sales in the United States, per Statista’s calculations, with that market share doubling since March 2022 (which doubled against 2020). For context, the second biggest brand in the states—Zara—has a 13 percent market share. And as company continues to grow, so does its carbon footprint.
The recycling initiative aligns with Shein’s broader sustainability strategy, “EvoluShein,” which also includes partnerships to use deadstock fabrics and other recycled materials.
“In 2023, we continued to grow our EvoluShein by Design product initiative and increase our use of preferred materials in our products and packaging, continued our partnership with Queen of Raw to rescue deadstock fabrics for use in new products, and grew our Shein Exchange usership,” Shein said in its 2023 report. “We also embarked on a multi-year research partnership with Donghua University to study how to achieve commercially scalable production of recycled polyester through mechanical and chemical recycling.”
That Aloqia (fka Queen of Raw) partnership “rescued” 19,927 meters of deadstock in 2023.
“Materials included fabrics comprising polyester, recycled polyester, spandex, nylon and rayon,” the report reads. “Through repurposing other brands’ excess inventory, Shein avoids consuming new textile resources, conserving over 155,000 cubic meters of water, over 3,000kg of chemicals and over 28 metric tons of CO2e that would have been generated through conventional production methods according to Materia MX in 2023.”
Materia MX—Aloqia’s proprietary, flagship software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering—launched in 2021 to address problems plaguing the apparel supply chain that eroded profits and margins. In 2023, Shein integrated Materia MX into its own sourcing system.
“Seeking to close the loop on waste, we have also started to incorporate textile-to-textile recycled polyester into our products,” per Shein’s report. “Separately, in line with our commitment to innovation, we have also started a multi-year research partnership with Donghua University, a university specializing in engineering and material sciences, to study how to achieve commercially scalable production of recycled polyester fibers through mechanical and chemical recycling.”
