SHEIN in Our Schools: Why Fast Fashion Has No Place in Education
A new, troubling trend has emerged of SHEIN, the world’s largest and most controversial fast fashion retailer, has set its sights on high schools. Through sponsored clubs and school-sanctioned events created in conjunction with principals and districts, the brand is weaving itself into secondary education. This follows their playbook from a few years back, the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) partnered with SHEIN to create the SHEIN X Project Launchpad.
This partnership offered scholarships and a path to market for student designers. It was framed as a golden opportunity, yet the sustainable fashion community erupted, exposing the profound contradiction of an institution teaching sustainability while aligning with a brand synonymous with environmental harm and ethical abuses.
The institute has hosted an "Innovative Materials Collection" and taught courses on social responsibility, yet it partnered with a company “suspected” of using forced labor and whose entire model is built on excessive resource consumption and pollution.
Students, like sustainable fashion influencer Lexy Silverstein, led petitions begging FIDM to sever ties, arguing the school had a responsibility to partner with brands that aligned with its stated values. Now, imagine that same conflict, but within the more impressionable ecosystem of a high school.
High School Meets Fast Fashion Sponsors
High school clubs sponsored by SHEIN would not be innocent extracurriculars. Instead, they would be brand incubators, normalizing overconsumption for a captive audience. Events co-created with school authorities lend SHEIN a cloak of legitimacy and trust it should not be able to earn. And yet SHEIN uses its resources to excuse allegations against them and provide funds when school districts face tight budgets, and navigate adolescent social dynamics, where the desire to fit in is powerful.
[Photo Credit: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg/Getty Images, Lucas Aguayo Araos/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images]
This money is significant when high schoolers can use it for a prom, new club T-shirts, or a "design contest" with SHEIN gift cards. Yet, a SHEIN-sponsored club in a high school sends a devastating message that institutional endorsement outweighs environmental and human suffering. It undermines lessons in civics, environmental science, and ethics by presenting a company with a wrecked track record as a worthy community partner. It teaches them that their educational institutions are for sale to brands bidding for their students time and attention.
So, we should ask ourselves: What is the responsibility of an educational institution?
That question is even more urgent for our public high schools that should foster critical thinking, civic responsibility, and prepare students to build a better future. Partnering with SHEIN does the opposite and it prepares them to accept business as usual in a world on fire.
A Call to Action Against Fast Fashion
We cannot allow the SHEIN in our hallways, and so we must be proactive in the following ways:
Principals and School Districts: They must reject this model outright and understand that their endorsement is priceless. They cannot trade it for SHEIN's sponsorship and should be creating ethical guidelines for corporate partnerships that prioritize community values over sinister funding.
Parents and Students: They must be aware and in consultation with school administration about their partnership policies. If a SHEIN club is proposed, there should be space and decision making if concern is present. They must cite the history: the labor allegations, the environmental damage, and the contradictory lessons while advocating for clubs centered on true sustainability, circular design, or thrifting.
Learn from the Past: All of us should create well-intentioned opportunities versus partnering with institutions that push our support for unethical fashion practices. We all have the responsibility of having schools that are pillars of integrity and community, versus case studies of unhinged capitalism and greed.
The Bigger Picture of Fashion Lessons
Educational institutions should not be complicit in fast fashion, which exacerbates social injustice, exploitation, and climate crisis. The fashion industry is a major contributor to textile waste, and SHEIN is its most aggressive accelerator.
These initial collaborations are the tip of the iceberg. Let's not let that iceberg sink our high schools. The lesson our students need right now is how to say "no" to a bad deal, even when it comes wrapped in a shiny, sponsored package.
If we continue to let brands like SHEIN into institutions, it isn't just a misstep; it's a pedagogical failure. It tells the next generation that when resources are tight, ethics are negotiable. We must demand our schools do better, that they become drivers of a sustainable future we need for future generations to come.